For now, links to reports from Agence France-Press, the Kyiv Independent, Tass, the Associated Press, and Reuters, and to commentary from ScheerPost; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE.)– MCM

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Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine injure 11. From AFP.  Ukraine said today that it downed 35 Russian drones across the country, including in the capital region, while a strike on an eastern town injured at least 11 nine people. Military authorities said the drone strikes . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrenergo: 2 energy substations damaged by Russian drone strikes in past day. From the Kyiv Independent. Two energy substations in southern and central Ukraine were damaged by Russian kamikaze drone attacks on Saturday, state electricity grid operator Ukrenergo said today. Consumers were not cut off from electricity and repairs are . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones. From AFP. Russia said on Saturday it had destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones over its southern regions overnight, mostly in the Rostov area bordering Ukraine. Kyiv has regularly . . . READ MORE . . .

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Foreign mercenaries unveiled near Avdeyevka — DPR head’s advisor. From Tass. DONETSK — Russian intelligence services have unveiled a group of mercenaries from Poland and Georgia in the area of the Tonenkoye and Orlovka settlements near Avdeyevka, according to an advisor to the DPR’s head. He said they are reportedly at work at this front sector near. . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 9  Poland’s foreign minister says the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is ‘not unthinkable,’ by Vanessa Gera | AP  WARSAW — Poland’s foreign minister said Friday the presence of NATO forces “is not unthinkable” and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea. Radek Sikorski said it in the Polish parliament Friday, reflecting . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 9  Pope says Ukraine should have ‘courage of the white flag’ of negotiations, by Philip Pullella | Reuters  ROME — Pope Francis said in an interview in February that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia. The interview was recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, well . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 8  What we do and don’t know about the number of Ukrainian troops killed, by Andrea Januta | The Kyiv Independent  President Volodymyr Zelensky announced recently that 31,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the war against Russia, the first official release of military personnel losses in over a year. “Every person . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 8  The West’s reckoning? by Michael Brenner | ScheerPost  Western leaders are experiencing two stunning events: defeat in Ukraine, genocide in Palestine. The first is humiliating, the other shameful. Yet,. . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

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

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Israel strikes landmark residential tower in southern Rafah as truce talks stall, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud | Reuters  CAIRO / RAFAH, Gaza — Israel struck one of the largest residential towers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today, residents said, stepping up pressure on the last area of the enclave it has not yet invaded and where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The 12-floor . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ceasefire talks stall even as conditions in Gaza worsen. Reported by Scott Simon and Fatma Tanis | NPR  As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, and ceasefire talks stall, there are increasing fears of worsening conditions in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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How the U.S. military is scrambling to build a floating dock for urgently needed aid to Gaza, by Lolita C. Baldor and Tara Copp | AP  WASHINGTON — Even before President Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address the plans for providing aid to Gaza by sea, the Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade and other units were scrambling to pull equipment together. They received their orders . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 8  After a week of negotiation, Gaza ceasefire is unlikely before Ramadan. Reported by Kai McNamee, Patrick Jarenwattananon and Ailsa Chang | NPR  NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks with Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute where he directs the Program on Palestine and Palestinian Affairs, about the status of Gaza ceasefire talks. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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MARCH 8  Amid mass killings and hunger in Gaza, Ramadan takes on a new meaning for Muslims. Reported by Linah Mohammad, Patrick Jarenwattananon and Ari Shapiro | NPR  Ramadan is approaching at a challenging time for Muslims worldwide as they watch atrocities unfold in Gaza. Imam Omar Suleiman talks with Ari Shapiro about how to approach Ramadan this year. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 8  This Gaza bakery is making cakes for Palestinians trying celebrate life amid war. Reported by Anas Babas | NPR  A professional bakery in Gaza has reopened, using solar panels for refrigeration and flour from the black market, to meet the demand of displaced Palestinians seeking cakes to celebrate life amid war. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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

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2 killed including a 16-year-old in Russian artillery strikes in Ukraine. From AP. KYIV — Ukrainian authorities said two people including a teenage boy were killed today in Russian artillery attacks and Russia reported it had shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet and destroyed a wave of drones over several regions. The attacks came as . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 8  Russian missile, drones kill five in Ukraine’s north and south. From Reuters. Russian drones killed three people in Ukraine’s south and north on Friday, while a missile strike a day earlier killed two and wounded dozens more, local authorities said. The missile strike on Thursday damaged a hospital, an emergency medical care centre, and . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Ukrainian cultural casualties in Russia’s war, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle   Faced with Russia’s looting of museums and looting of churches, Ukraine is setting up its own Monuments Men, with a twist. Similar to the Allies’ World War II unit, Ukrainian men and women are working to catalog and repatriate stolen . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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After months of warnings that Israel’s siege is causing famine, children begin to die in Gaza, by Mohamed Jahjouh, Jack Jeffrey and Lee Keath | AP  RAFAH, Gaza Strip — RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — It’s not just Israeli bombs that have killed children in war-ravaged Gaza — now some are dying of hunger too. Hunger is most acute in northern Gaza, which . . . READ MORE . . .

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Israeli offensive in Gaza’s Rafah ‘must not be allowed to happen’, UN says. From Reuters. GENEVA — The United Nations human rights office said today that an Israeli offensive in Gaza’s border town of Rafah could not be allowed to happen because it would cause massive loss of Palestinian lives. “Should Israel . . . READ MORE . . .

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Gaza aid corridor from Cyprus could start this weekend, says EU president, by Michele Kambas | Reuters  LARNACA, Cyprus — A sea corridor to take desperately needed aid from Cyprus to besieged Palestinians in Gaza could start this weekend, the European Union said today. The quantities of aid envisaged and the distribution logistics in Gaza. . .. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 7  UN expert ‘horrified by the depravity’ of Israel’s war on Gaza, by Thor Benson | Common Dreams A United Nations expert on Wednesday expressed her disgust with what Israel is doing during its assault on Gaza. Paula Gaviria Betancur, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, specifically focused on . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 5  The real Gaza death toll, by Ralph Nader | Common Dreams / Consortium News  Since the Hamas raid penetrated the multi-tiered Israeli border security on Oct. 7, 2023 (an unexplained collapse of Israel’s defensive capabilities), 2.3 million utterly defenseless Palestinians in the tiny crowded Gaza enclave have been on the receiving end of . . . READ MORE . . .

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Does the U.S. have the power and leverage to stop the Israel-Hamas war? A Martínez of NPR asks Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland, if President Biden could end the Israel-Hamas war with a phone call. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 7  What Israelis believe now, five months after Oct. 7. Reported by Daniel Estrin | NPR  We look at five ways Israelis have been changed through five months of war. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack was the single deadliest day for Israelis in history, prompting the deadly Israeli assault on Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 5  What does U.S. intelligence know about the hostages? by Seymour M. Hersh | seymourhersh.Substack.com  The prospect is increasingly clear, horrifying as it may be, that there will be no relenting in Israel’s destruction of Gaza and its recasting of the West Bank as an Israeli-dominated suburb of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The best America can . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Turkey where Erdogan is expected to press for negotiations to end Russia war, by Ayse Wieting and Suzan Fraser | AP  ISTANBUL — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Istanbul today for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the talks in Istanbul, Erdogan was expected . . . READ MORE . . .

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Top Chinese envoy visits Kyiv, meets Ukrainian officials, by Kateryna Denisova and news desk | The Kyiv Independent  Li Hui, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, visited Kyiv on Thursday for a meeting with Ukrainian officials, the Ukrainian President’s Office reported. His arrival was part of his second tour to Europe to promote a political settlement of . . . READ MORE . . .

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Macron ready to send troops to Ukraine if Russia approaches Kyiv or Odesa. From Kyiv Post. French President Emmanuel Macron met with parliamentary parties on Thursday and said he was open to the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, according to French newspaper L’Indépendant. Fabien Roussel, a representative of the French Communist Party, said afterwards that “Macron . . . READ MORE . . . .  L’Indépendent article in French is HERE.

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Allies collect funding to purchase 800,000 shells for Ukraine, Czech president says. From the Kyiv Independent. Czech President Petr Pavel said on Thursday that after Norway had joined the Czech-led initiative on purchasing 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, the required funds were collected, Czech outlet CT24 reported. As . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian forces lose up to 2,000 troops on Donetsk direction in 7 days — Defense Ministry. From Tass. MOSCOW — In the past 7 days, the Russian Armed Forces advanced their forward position on the Donetsk direction and repelled 8 enemy counterattacks, while the Ukrainian army lost almost 2,000 servicemen, 103 vehicles and 10 field depots, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Details of this and . . .READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 5  The minds of desperate men, by Scott Ritter | Consortium News  French President Emmanuel Macron was hosting a crisis meeting last week, convened to discuss the deteriorating conditions on the battlefield in Ukraine and attended by senior representatives from NATO member states. “We should not exclude,” he said at a press conferencence, “that there might be a need for . . . READ MORE . . .

 

For today, a link to a report from the Kyiv Post, Reuters, and Tass, and to commentary from Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Zelensky narrowly escapes death in Odesa missile attack, Moscow says drones were target. From Kyiv Post. On Wednesday Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in Odesa. While on a tour of the city, a Russian missile struck near their motorcade. The Russian media dismissed the possibility of an assassination attempt, TASS categorizing it as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Can’t rule out that Russia targeted Zelenskiy, Greek PM, Ukrainian aide says. From Reuters. It could not be ruled out that a Russian missile strike on Odessa port a day earlier had targeted the delegations of Volodymyr Zelenskiy or Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a top Ukrainian presidential adviser said. The leaders were . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia fighting for sovereignty in Ukraine, North Korea knows it — delegates. From Tass. SIRIUS, Krasnodar Kari, Russia —  “We believe that the events in Ukraine are not just any conflict or war,” Mun Chol, Chairman of the Central Committee of the North Korean Socialist Patriotic Youth League, said this week. “It is . . . READ MORE . . . 

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The Russians in Ukraine, by Patrick Lawrence | Special to Consortium News  The Ukraine crisis is merely the latest phase of the West’s long campaign to surround the Russian Federation up to its borders, destabilize it and finally subvert it. Regime change in Moscow was and remains the final objective. This is not a war in defense of “Ukrainian democracy.” It is . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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Gaza ceasefire talks at an impasse as humanitarian crisis deepens, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud | Reuters Hamas stuck to its terms for a ceasefire deal and hostage exchange with Israel today after the United States said truce talks in Cairo were “in the hands of” the Palestinian militant group. Negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt — but not Israel — are in Cairo trying . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hostage crisis poses dilemma for Israel and offers a path to victory for Hamas, by Joseph Krauss | AP  Over the last five months, Israel has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, destroyed dozens of their tunnels and wreaked unprecedented destruction on the Gaza Strip. But it still faces a dilemma: It can either . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 5  A mother in Gaza describes losing 14 family members, including her infant twins. Reported by D. Parvaz and Anas Baba | NPR  An Israeli strike in Rafah killed 14 members of the same family, including 5-month old twins, Wissam and Naeem Abu Anza. We hear from the mother of the twins, Rania Abu Anza. Click HERE to listen and read.

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FROM MARCH 5  A requiem for Gaza’s iconic sites, destroyed in the war. Reported by Daniel Estrin and Abu Bakr Bashir | NPR Its landmarks showed another face of Gaza, different from the den of misery the world has come to know. For Palestinians, these sites were part of the tangle of threads linking their daily lives to their heritage stretching back thousands of years — an . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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

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Russia and Ukraine launch overnight drone attacks, by Daria Andriievska | AFP  Ukrainian drones attacked a metal plant in Russia’s border region of Kursk today, causing a fire at a fuel tank, the local governor said. Kyiv meanwhile announced it had intercepted dozens of Russian drones, as both sides launched a wave of overnight aerial . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian attacks increasingly sap the power of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. From AP. Successful Ukrainian drone and missile strikes — the latest in the Black Sea on Tuesday — have provided a major morale boost for Kyiv at a time when its . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian drones strike Russian iron ore plant. From Reuters. MOSCOW —Two Ukrainian drones struck fuel facilities at one of Russia’s largest iron ore plants today, though no one was injured and the plant was working as normal, Russian officials and the plant owner said. Kursk governor Roman Starovoit said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kiev loses 500 troops in Avdeyevka area over past day — Russia’s top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Ukrainian military lost roughly 500 troops in battles with Russian forces in the Avdeyevka area near Donetsk over the past day, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. Units of Russia’s Battlegroup Center . . . READ MORE . . .

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First-time use of high-tech French HAMMER bomb by Ukraine, Macron calls for confrontation with Putin, by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post  Ukrainian airmen used a high-tech French guided bomb called a HAMMER for the first time in Kyiv’s war against the Kremlin, sources on both sides of the fighting lines said on Tuesday. The NATO-standard, precision-guided munition with the full name . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia has never had plans to attack anyone, including NATO — MFA. From Tass. SIRIUS, Krasnodar Kari, Russia — Russia is not planning an attack on anyone, including NATO, nor has it ever harbored such designs, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of the World Youth Festival. In contrast to “the doctrinal documents of NATO,” she said . . . READ MORE . . .

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

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NEWER  The latest talks on Gaza have ended with no breakthrough, officials say. Ramadan is days away, by Samy Magdy, Tia Goldenberg and Wafaa Shurafa | AP  CAIRO — Three days of negotiations with Hamas over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages ended today without a breakthrough, Egyptian officials said, less than a week before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the informal deadline for a deal. READ MORE . . .

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Gaza ceasefire talks extended in Cairo for another day, Hamas says, by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Bassam Masoud | Reuters  Hamas negotiators will remain in Cairo for another day at the request of mediators, keeping ceasefire talks going after two days with no breakthrough, an official from the militant group said today. The Cairo talks . . . READ MORE . . .

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As Gaza’s hunger crisis worsens, emaciated children seen at hospitals, by Bassam Masoud and Mohammed Salem | Reuters  Acute shortages of food have led to what the United Nations is describing as a nutrition crisis, part of a wider humanitarian catastrophe on the Gaza Strip. Its Health Ministry said on Sunday that 15 children had died of malnutrition or dehydration at Kamal Adwan hospital in . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.N. report finds grounds to believe attacks in Israel included rapes. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Becky Sullivan | NPR  The report finds convincing evidence that sexual violence took place during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and that some Israeli hostages experienced such violence while in captivity in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 4  A look at VP Harris’ meeting with Israeli cabinet member Benny Gantz. Reported by Asma Khalid | NPR  Vice President Harris meets with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz. We look at her Sunday comments on Gaza as well. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 4  Airdropping aid is inefficient—so why is the U.S. doing it anyway? Reported by Linah Mohammad, Elena Burnett and Ari Shapiro | NPR  Ari Shapiro speaks to Refugees International president Jeremy Konyndyk about airdrops, when they work and how oftentimes, they don’t. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 4  A U.N. report finds ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel included rapes. Reported by Becky Sullivan and Michele Kelemen | NPR  The long-awaited report additionally found that some Israeli hostages experienced such violence while in captivity in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and read.