For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, the Moscow Times, Tass, and the Kyiv Independent, and to commentary from Indian Punchline and, via Popular Resistance, MintPress News; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. (GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE.) — MCM

–   –   –

Putin says Russia is planning a buffer zone to protect against Ukrainian cross-border attacks. From AP. Russia won’t relent in its invasion of Ukraine, with one of its forthcoming goals being to establish a buffer zone along the border to help protect against long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids, Russian President Vladimir Putin said late Sunday. “In view of the current tragic . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

2 killed, 4 injured in air strike on Russia’s Belgorod. From the Moscow Times. Two people were killed and four others were injured in a Ukrainian air strike on a village in western Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities saidtoday. Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said . . . READ MORE . . .

–    –   –

Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod Region kills 11, injures 82 over week. From Tass. BELGOROD — A total of 11 civilians of Russia’s Belgorod Region have died and 82 have been injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling during the week of March 12-18 and 40 remain in the hospital, according to regional Health Minister Andrey Ikonnikov. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham arrives in Kyiv, by Elsa Court | The Kyiv Independent  KYIV — Republican U.S. senator Lindsay Graham arrived in Kyiv, the U.S. Embassy said today. His visit comes as U.S. aid to Ukraine remains delayed. While the Senate . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  Failed IJC case against Russia backfires, by Kit Klarenberg | MintPress News / Popular Resistance  As January became February, the International Court of Justice delivered a pair of legal body blows to Ukraine and its Western backers. First, on Jan. 31, it ruled on . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 10  ‘Novorossiya’ rising from ashes like phoenix, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  Vladimir Putin’s meeting on March 6 in Moscow with top officials of economic ministries and leaders of the southern and Azov sea regions — ‘Novorossiya’ historically — signifies . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press, and to commentary from Responsible Statecraft via Popular Resistance; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM   

–   –   –

Deadly strikes hit Gaza as Israel prepares return to ceasefire talks, by Andrew Mills and Maayan Lubell | Reuters  DOHA / JERUSALEM – At least 61 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli bombardments in Gaza, as Israel prepared to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks on a hostage deal with the militant group Hamas. This comes as the main United Nations aid agency operating in Gaza said on Saturday that acute malnutrition was accelerating in the north of the Palestinian enclave. Shelling and  . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

How should Israel bring to justice the perpetrators behind the worst attack in its history? by Tia Goldenberg | AP  TEL AVIV — Hamas’ unprecedented raid on southern Israel has prompted a legal predicament: How does a country scarred by the deadliest attack in its history bring the perpetrators to justice? Israel is holding hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack that . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  Mission creep: Will pier become beachhead for U.S. in Gaza? by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos | Responsible Statecraft / Popular Resistance  The Pentagon’s plan for floating piers and a causeway to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza is drawing fire from military experts for its lack of detail, potential danger to U.S. troops, and risk of mission creep. Bottom line, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. “Biden is committing the United States military to . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from Agence France-Presse and the Kyiv Post, commentary from Responsible Statecraft and the Berkshire Eagle, and an interview from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

–    –   –

Wave of drones target Russia on final day of voting. From AFP. Russia said it was targeted by a wave of Ukrainian drones today, as thousands headed to the polls for a final day of elections set to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule. Queues of people were seen forming outside polling stations in Moscow and Saint Petersburg at noon, when . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Drone swarm attacks another Russian oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban. From Kyiv Post. Explosions hit another oil refinery in southern Russia at around 3 a.m. local time today. The Nefte Peregonnyy Zavod in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, in the Krasnodar region was attacked by at least seven . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  Does Putin want to end the war? We should test him, by Branko Marcetic | Responsible Statecraft  “It would be ridiculous for us to start negotiating with Ukraine just because it’s running out of ammunition,” Putin told interviewer Dmitry Kiselyov, on Wednesday, according to one particularly viral and widely cited tweet by Wall Street Journal chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov.  . . .  Except that’s not what Putin said. In fact, by reading the full text and . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 16  Russia faces tense first presidential election since Ukraine invasion, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle  Some people are spoiling Vladimir Putin’s carefully choreographed presidential election party. On Tuesday, Ukraine launched three days of drone attacks deep into Russia. In the largest air attack on Russia since World War II, three . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 16  How the war in Ukraine has reshaped NATO.  Scott Detrow of NPR talks with Jack Detsch, a national security correspondent for Foreign Policy, more than two years into Russia’s war on Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

For today, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and Reuters, and to commentary via ScheerPost from MintPress News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM   

–   –   –  

Netanyahu approves plan to invade Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. Reported by Scott Simon and Fatma Tanis | NPR  Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves a plan to invade the heavily populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Plus, the first food aid to arrive by sea. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

Cease-fire talks with Israel and Hamas are expected to resume Sunday in Qatar, by Samy Magdy | AP  CAIRO — Stalled talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in earnest in Qatar as soon as Sunday, according to Egyptian officials. In recent days, both sides . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

UN agency says one in three children under 2 in northern Gaza is acutely malnourished. From Reuters. One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the UN Relief and Works Agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said today. “Children’s malnutrition . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  Proposed U.S. resolution would back global efforts for an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza, by Edith M. Lederer | AP  UNITED NATIONS — The United States circulated the final draft of a United Nations Security Council resolution late Thursday that would support international efforts to establish “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war as part of a deal to release hostages taken captive during Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The U.S. . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  A very different Ramadan in Gaza. Reported by Aya Batrawy | NPR  The religious traditions and cultural hallmarks of Ramadan are impossible to observe in Gaza this year, where people are starving, displaced from their homes, mourning their dead and under threat of continued airstrikes. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  How the UN is recruiting locals in Gaza to secure food aid to a starving population. Reported by Daniel Estrin | NPR  The UN is recruiting the heads of major clans in Gaza to secure food aid to a starving population. The role these families could play now could also lay the ground for who runs Gaza after the war. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 29, 2022  WikiLeaks docs show top Hollywood producers working with Israel to defend its war crimes, by Alan MacLeod | MintPress News / ScheerPost  As Israel was launching a deadly [2014] assault on Gaza, killing thousands of civilians and displacing more than 100,000 people, many of America’s top TV, music and film producers were organizing to protect the apartheid state’s reputation from widespread international condemnation. READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from Agence France-Prese, Reuters and National Public Radio, and to commentary via Consortium News and Popular Resistance; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

–   –   –

Russian strikes kill 20, including rescuers, in ‘vile’ Odesa attack, by Oleksandr Gimanov | AFP  Russian missiles pounded Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa on Friday, killing more than a dozen people including rescue workers in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “vile.” Bodies covered by blankets were strewn . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Ukraine hits Russian city and oil refinery on day two of presidential vote. From Reuters. MOSCOW — A Ukrainian missile attack killed two people in western Russia and a separate drone strike set an oil refinery ablaze today, the second day of an election that President Vladimir Putin has accused Kyiv of trying to disrupt. In the Belgorod region where . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russian border city closes malls, schools after Ukrainian attacks. From AFP. Authorities in the Russian border city of Belgorod announced today they were closing schools and shopping centres due to an uptick in Ukrainian strikes coinciding with Russia’s presidential election. “Based . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russia says repulsed more Ukrainian border attacks. From AFP. Russia’s defence ministry said it had thwarted today more Ukrainian attacks on the Belgorod border region which the Kremlin says are aimed at disrupting an ongoing three-day presidential election. “Attacks were . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  Ukrainian authorities launch mass evacuation in northern region. From Reuters. — Ukrainian authorities have begun mass evacuations of communities in the country’s northern Sumy region close to the Russian border after extended periods of intense shelling of the area, local officials said on Friday. The military administration . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  Major European leaders meet to show solidarity with Ukraine. Reported by Eleanor Beardsley | NPR  The leaders of France, Germany and Poland met Friday in Berlin in a show of unity over Ukraine. French President Macron sparked concern by suggesting NATO troops might have to fight there. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  After Nuland, the chances for peace in Ukraine, by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies | Consortium News  / Popular Resistance  The assumption of the U.S. political elite that President Biden has had a viable plan to defeat Russia and restore Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders has proven to be one more triumphalist American dream that has turned into a nightmare. Ukraine has . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM   

–   –   –

Hamas presents ceasefire proposal detailing exchange of hostages, by Samia Nakhoul | Reuters  DUBAI — Hamas has presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators and the U.S. that includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences, according to a proposal seen by Reuters. Hamas said the initial release of Israelis would . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

The first ship to use a new sea route approaches Gaza with 200 tons of aid, by Wafaa Shurafa | AP  WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip — A ship carrying 200 tons of aid approached the coast of Gaza today in a mission to inaugurate a sea route from Cyprus to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave five months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Operated by the Spanish aid group Open Arms, the ship left Cyprus . . . READ MORE . . .

For today, links to reports from the Kyiv Post, Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, and the Kyiv Independent; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

–   –   –

NEWER  Toll from Russian ‘double-tap’ strike on Odesa rises to 14.  From Kyiv Post. At least 14 people were killed and dozens more injured today in a Russian strike on the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, which has come under repeated aerial attacks. As a result . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russian missile attack kills two in Ukraine’s Odesa, governor says. From Reuters. — A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa today killed at least two people and wounded others, the regional governor said. “There are . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Shelling of Russia’s Belgorod kills 1, injures 2. From the Moscow Times. At least one person was killed and two others were injured in an attack on the Russian city of Belgorod this afternoon, local authorities said, just shortly after pro-Kyiv militias warned of an imminent strike. Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said air defense systems shot . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

UN-backed human rights experts decry new evidence of torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia, by Jamey Keaten | AP  GENEVA — U.N.-backed human rights experts said today they have gathered new evidence of “horrific” torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war by their Russian jailers, saying such practices could amount to war crimes. The Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russia uses effective strategies on battlefield, Ukrainian expert admits. From Tass. NEW YORK — The strategy Russia is using to hit key targets in the Ukraine conflict zone has proved effective, Newsweek quoted Ivan Stupak, advisor to the Verkhovna Rada’s national security, defense and intelligence committee, as saying. “Russia has rolled out . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Ukraine wants to reopen airports during war. Will its ambitions take off? by Dominic Culverwell | The Kyiv Independent  More than two years since Ukraine shut down its airports after the start of the full-scale invasion, Kyiv wants to resume air travel, even as Russia continues to launch drones and missiles across the country. This week, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister . . . READ MORE . . .

 For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio, and to commentary via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM   

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  Israel says it plans to direct Palestinians out of Rafah ahead of anticipated offensive, by Tia Goldenberg | AP  TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Wednesday it plans to direct a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory ahead of its planned offensive in the area. The fate of . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  Israeli tank strike killed ‘clearly identifiable’ Reuters reporter — UN report, by David Gauthier-Villars, Laila Bassam and Tom Perry | Reuters  ISTANBUL — An Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon last year by firing two 120 mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law, a U.N. investigation into the Oct. 13 incident has found. The . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  An Israeli responder’s work on Oct. 7 shows the challenges of investigating atrocities. Reported by Becky Sullivan | NPR  PETAH TIKVA, Israel — By the time first responders reached the site of the Nova rave, it was 10 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, and the rockets and gunfire were still ringing out. The bodies were everywhere. Among the responders was Chaim Otmazgin, an officer in the Israeli . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  In Jordan, American companies see boycotts sparked by the U.S.’s support for Israel. Reported by Jane Arraf | NPR  Consumers are boycotting U.S. products and companies to protest Washington’s support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 13  A medieval object with Arabic and Hebrew writings shows the collaboration of its time. Reported by Ari Daniel | NPR  Scientists identified an 11th-century astrolabe with Arabic inscriptions and Hebrew writings, highlighting a period when Muslims ruled in present-day Spain and scholarship and idea-sharing flourished. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 12  The debate over Israel as ‘U.S. aircraft carrier,’ by Diana Johnstone | Special to Consortium News  Our recent article on “The Myth of Israel as ‘U.S. Aircraft Carrier’ in Middle East,” far from settling this controversial issue, aroused numerous objections. We see these disagreements as an invitation to respond, in the hope that a friendly debate can contribute to clarifying the issues. READ MORE . . .