First, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Reuters, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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The U.S. aims to ensure that the aid to Ukraine goes where it’s supposed to go. A Martínez of NPR talks with Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security program, about government oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Official says over 10,000 Ukrainian troops killed in war, by Jamey Keaten | AP  KYIV — A top adviser to Ukraine’s president has cited military chiefs as saying 10,000 to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the country’s nine-month struggle against Russia’s invasion, a rare comment on such figures and far below estimates of Ukrainian casualties from Western leaders. Russian forces kept up rocket attacks on infrastructure and airstrikes against Ukrainian troop positions along the contact line, the Ukrainian general staff said Friday, adding . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia ‘open’ to talks on Ukraine but presses demands after Biden comment, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Putin urges Scholz to rethink Germany’s line on Ukraine * EU tentatively agrees $60 price cap on Russian seaborne oil * Fighting rages around eastern town of Bakhmut | KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin is “open to negotiations” on Ukraine but the West must accept Moscow’s demands, the Kremlin said today, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said he was willing to talk if Putin were looking for a way to end the war. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said after talks at the White House on Thursday that . . . READ MORE . . .

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West’s support encouraging Kiev to reject talks, Putin tells German chancellor. From Tass. MOSCOW — Flooding Ukraine with weapons is a destructive policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today, according to the Kremlin press service. “Attention was drawn to the destructive policy that is being pursued by Western countries, including Germany, who are . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin rejects Biden terms for Ukraine talks. From AFP. The Kremlin today rejected U.S. President Joe Biden’s terms for Ukraine talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying Moscow’s offensive will continue.“What did President Biden say in fact? He said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin tells Scholz Ukraine infrastructure strikes ‘inevitable.’ From the Moscow News. Russian President Vladimir Putin told his German counterpart, Olaf Scholz, toiday that Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure were “inevitable” and accused the West of pursuing “destructive” policies, the Kremlin said. “It was noted that . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from National Public Radio, Reuters, the Associated Press, Tass, Agence France-Presse, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via The Unz Review, a link to the latest from an analyst based in Washington state who writes from a libertarian perspective and, at last count, 258 comments; included at the end is a video interview from last month with a retired U.S. Army colonel. — MCM

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Blinken calls for more support for Ukraine and a united front against China. Reported by Michele Kelemen | NPR  Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for more support for Ukraine and a united front against China. The new ambassador to Russia had a confirmation hearing, and Russia canceled arms control talks. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukraine says Russia pulls back forces from river towns opposite Kherson, by Tom Balmforth | Reuters  * Kyiv: Russia withdraws some troops from Oleshky, nearby towns * Ukrainian embassy in Spain hit by letter bomb * Heavy trench warfare in east as winter sets in | KYIV— Ukraine’s military said on Thursday Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main front line in the south. The statement gave . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian FM: U.S., NATO directly involved in Ukraine conflict. From AP. MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister today accused the West of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying it with weapons and training its soldiers. “You shouldn’t say that the U.S. and NATO aren’t taking part in this war, you are directly participating in it,” Sergey Lavrov said in a video call with reporters. “And not just by . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia targets only Ukraine’s military potential-related infrastructure – Lavrov. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia hits only those infrastructure facilities in Ukraine that have military significance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today. He said high-accuracy strikes, “put energy facilities, on which the functioning of Ukraine’s armed forces and the delivery of a huge amount of weapons depends, out of commission. The West . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin says Ukraine tribunals will not have ‘legitimacy.’ From AFP. The Kremlin said today that any tribunal established to prosecute alleged Russian crimes in Ukraine would lack legitimacy and not be recognised by Moscow, after the EU said it was eyeing such a court.

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Russia bans public discussions of army strategy, troop morale, mobilization. From the Moscow Times. Russian authorities have banned public discussions of a wide range of non-classified military subjects that activists say will effectively prevent the public from learning crucial information about the Armed Forces. The 60-point Federal Security Service (FSB) order, which enters into force today . . . READ MORE . . .

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The EU aims to find a way to hold Putin responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. A Martínez of NPR talks with Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, about an EU proposal for a special war crimes court in Ukraine. Click HERE to listen sometime today and, later, read.

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Putin’s remedy: A fragmented, toothless Ukraine separated by a 100-kilometer-wide no-man’s-land, by Mike Whitney | The Unz Review How does this end? How does Russia create a “neutral” Ukraine that isn’t armed-to-the-teeth by Moscow’s enemies? How do they prevent Kiev from conducting joint-military drills with NATO or placing missile sites on Russia’s border? How do they . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukraine welcomes arms offers, no word on Patriot missiles, by Ellen Knickmeyer and Lorne Cook | AP  BUCHAREST — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has underscored that his country’s biggest needs now are electrical gear and more advanced air-defense systems than it has gotten from the U.S. and other allies so far, to deal with the Russian missile strikes. “In a nutshell, Patriots and (electricity) transformers . . . READ MORE . . .

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NATO seeks to shore up Russia’s neighbours as Moscow attacks Ukraine on multiple fronts, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * NATO meets leaders of fragile countries concerned by Russia * Ukraine, U.S. foreign ministers discuss arms, repairs * Zelenskiy says Russia plans moves in south * Russian official says Ukraine attacks cause some power cuts | KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces were trying to advance in the northeast and east and “planning something” in the south, while NATO sought today to reassure other countries that fear destabilisation from Moscow. Ukraine’s General Staff said . . . READ MORE . . .

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With a trip to Kyiv, NATO foreign ministers underscore their commitment to Ukraine. Reported by A Martínez and Ashley Westerman | NPR  NATO foreign ministers are now meeting in Romania to discuss how to support Ukrainians as they confront a harsh winter and a constant barrage of Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Russian defense chief calls for ‘next-gen’ weapons use in Ukraine. From the Moscow Times. The Russian military should deploy next-generation weapons in its campaign in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said today. He did not specify which types of innovative weapons systems he was referring to or whether this marked a strategic shift in Russia’s . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

The latest “Museletter,” by a senior fellow and cofounder of the Post Carbon Institute, begins below. At the end are two articles “written for Independent Media Institute on the renewable energy transition.” — MCM

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The final doubling

By Richard Heinberg | Post Carbon Institute

This essay is dedicated to the memory of Herman Daly, the father of ecological economics, who began writing about the absurdity of perpetual economic growth in the 1970s; Herman died on October 28 at age 84.

Politicians and economists talk glowingly about growth. They want our cities and GDP to grow. Jobs, profits, companies, and industries all should grow; if they don’t, there’s something wrong, and we must identify the problem and fix it. Yet few discuss doubling time, even though it’s an essential concept for understanding growth.

Doubling time helps us grasp the physical meaning of growth—which otherwise appears as an innocuous-looking number denoting the annual rate of change. At 1 percent annual growth, any given quantity doubles in about 70 years; at 2 percent growth, in 35 years; at 7 percent, in 10 years, and so on. Just divide 70 by the annual growth rate and you’ll get a good sense of doubling time. (Why 70? It’s approximately the natural logarithm of 2. But you don’t need to know higher math to do useful doubling-time calculations.)

Here’s why failure to think in terms of doubling time gets us into trouble. Most economists seem to believe that a 2 to 3 percent annual rate of growth for economies is healthy and normal. But that implies a doubling time of roughly 25 years. When an economy grows, it uses more physical materials—everything from trees to titanium. Indeed, the global economy has doubled in size in the last quarter-century, and so has total worldwide extraction of materials. Since 1997 we have used over half the non-renewable resources extracted since the origin of humans.

As the economy grows, it also puts out more waste. In the last 25 years, the amount of solid waste produced globally has soared from roughly 3 million tons per day to about 6 million tons per day.

Further, if the economy keeps growing at the recent rate, in the next 25 years we will approximately double the amount of energy and materials we use. And by 50 years from today our energy and materials usage will have doubled again, and will therefore be four times current levels. In a hundred years, we will be using 16 times as much. If this same 2 to 3 percent rate of growth were to persist for a century beyond that, by the year 2222 we’d be using about 250 times the amount of physical resources we do now, and we’d be generating about 250 times as much waste.

Population growth can also be described in terms of doublings. Global human population has doubled three times in the past 200 years, surging from 1 billion in 1820 to 2 billion in 1927, to 4 billion in 1974, to 8 billion today. Its highest rate of growth was in the 1960s, at over 2 percent per year; that rate is now down to 1.1 percent. If growth continues at the current rate, we’ll have about 18 billion people on Earth by the end of this century.

All of this would be fine if . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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NATO commits to future Ukraine membership, drums up aid, by Stephen McGrath, Lorne Cook and Ellen Knickmeyer | AP  BUCHAREST — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed the military alliance’s commitment to Ukraine today, saying that the war-torn nation will one day become a member of the world’s largest security organization.“NATO’s door is open,” he said. “Russia does not have a veto” on countries joining . . .  READ MORE . . .

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The yuan’s the new dollar as Russia rides to the redback, by Elena Fabrichnaya and Samuel Shen | Reuters  * Russia turns to the Chinese currency amid sanctions * Moscow becomes No.4 offshore trading centre for yuan * Yuan’s share of Russian FX market jumps from 1% to 45% * Russian central bank supports trend but warns of risks * This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine | While China’s yuan, or renminbi, has been making gradual inroads into Russia for years, the crawl has turned into a sprint in the past nine months as the currency has swept into the country’s markets and trade flows, according to a Reuters . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia, China set to create payment system without using SWIFT – Deputy PM. From Tass. MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russia and China are working on a reciprocal opening of company accounts to avoid the use of the SWIFT payment system, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said today. He said payments under contracts for gas supplies from Russia to China are already . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine remembers a famine under Stalin, and points to parallels with Putin. Reported by Greg Myre | NPR  KYIV — Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union when Stalin seized private farms in 1931 and turned them into state-run operations. It was an absolute disaster in this fertile farming region known as the “breadbasket of the Soviet Union.”  An estimated 4 million Ukrainians died within two years, though . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Tass, and Agence France-Presse; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via the Unz Review, a link to an analysis from last week that includes a prediction of Russia’s next military moves. — MCM

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Ukraine on edge for more attacks, West eyes humanitarian aid, by Jamey Keaten | AP  KYIV (AP) — Ukraine prepared for more Russian strikes on Monday and warned of the possibility for a new round of evacuations from the capital during a relative lull from the airstrikes on energy facilities and other key infrastructure in recent weeks. In the West, meanwhile, preparations were stepped up to boost humanitarian . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine, by Mike Stone | Reuters WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs fitted onto abundantly available rockets, allowing Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms. U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces . . . READ MORE . . .

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UK military aid to Ukraine may increase in 2023. From Tass. LONDON — The UK may increase its military aid to Ukraine in 2023, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was expected to announce today, according to his office. “Be in no doubt. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will maintain or increase our military aid next year. And we . . . READ MORE . . .

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Turkey says to discuss NATO bids with Swedish, Finnish FMs in Bucharest. From AFP. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said today he would meet with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts to discuss their bid to join NATO on the margins of the alliance’s meeting in Bucharest on Tuesday. “We will . . . READ MORE . . .

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Endgame Ukraine; Putin’s battle plan, by Mike Whitney | The Unz Review The objective of the Russian operation is to undermine Ukraine’s ability to wage war. The attacks on Ukraine’s power-grid, railway hubs, fuel deports, bridges and command-and-control centers are Phase 1 of a two-phase operation designed to defeat the enemy and bring the war to swift end. Russia has gathered roughly . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to three opinion pieces, two via the Unz Review and one via the Greanville Post; then, links to reporting from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and Ukrinform. Others are accessible by clicking on these organizations’ names or initials below. — MCM

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Putin’s sledgehammer, by Mike Whitney | The Unz Review The relentless attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid, fuel-storage units, railway hubs, and command-and-control centers mark the beginning of a second and more lethal phase of the war. The increased . . . READ MORE . . .

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Why do Americans hate Putin? by Mike Whitney | The Unz Review  Is Tucker Carlson right, do Americans hate Putin because the media and the political class in Washington have told them to do so? Yes and no. Yes, the media and the politicians have played a big role in the demonization of Putin. But, no, they’re not the main drivers of this . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Ukraine is committing ‘suicide by cop,’ by Andrei Raevsky | The Greanville Post  Yesterday I received an email from a Ukrainian friend of mine.  By “Ukrainian” I mean that his culture and self-identity is Ukrainian, he loves his heritage, speaks the language and loves his country.  In fact, he is what I would call a “real Ukrainian” as opposed to the Ukronazis in power in Kiev.  We correspond regularly and exchange opinions on what is taking place.  Here is and excerpt of what I wrote to him yesterday: “I am  . . . READ MORE . . .

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Winter to bring new war tactics for Russian and Ukrainian fighters. Reported by Nathan Rott | NPR  Ukrainian troops are digging in for a long winter of continued fighting in the country’s east and south. The change in seasons is expected to bring a shift in the fighting. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Hardship and hope: Winter, missile storms show Kyiv’s mettle, by John Leicester | AP  Now the cold and the dark and Moscow’s bombing are turning winter into a weapon. And yet, even with the frost and the discomforts, there is also hope in the air. Kyiv feels liberated of some of its earlier anxieties. Western weapons have enabled Ukraine to stem the tide militarily, with counteroffensives this autumn taking back swaths of previously Russian-occupied territory. Fewer Russian missiles . . . READ MORE . . .

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Civilians escape Kherson after Russian strikes on freed city, by Sam Mednick and Jamey Keaten | AP  KHERSON, Ukraine — Fleeing shelling, civilians on Saturday streamed out of the southern Ukrainian city whose recapture they had celebrated just weeks earlier. The exodus . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin decries media ‘lies’ at meeting with soldiers’ mothers. From AP. MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday hit out at what he said were skewed media portrayals of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine as he met with mothers of Russian soldiers fighting there. “Life is more . . . READ MORE . . .

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Snowy Kyiv grapples with power outages amid fears of new attacks, by Oleksandr Kozhukhar and Tom Balmforth | Reuters  * Ukraine racing to repair infrastructure hit by Russia * Winter setting in with around 20% energy capacity deficit * Party boss says coming week could be ‘really difficult’ | KYIV Snow fell in Kyiv and temperatures hovered around freezing on Sunday as millions in and around the Ukrainian capital struggled with disruptions to electricity supply and central heating caused by waves of Russian air strikes. The cold weather is gradually . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘More than 6 million’ Ukraine households hit by power cuts. From AFP. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some 600,000 subscribers were experiencing power cuts in the capital Kyiv with the Odessa, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions also among the worst affected. The systematic . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian cruise missiles have smashed Ukraine’s power grid and water system. Reported by Scott Simon and Joanna Kakissis | NPR  Recent hits by Russian missles on Ukraine’s power grid and water systems have affected hospitals, cell phone service, and basic necessities such as heating and cooking. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Russian forces destroy six Ukrainian command posts – top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian forces have destroyed six command posts of Ukrainian troops in the Kherson and Kharkov regions, as well as in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said today. Said posts were ‘’in the area of the settlements of . . . READ MORE . . .

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NYT: Ukraine firing thousands of artillery rounds a day. From Ukrinform. Ukraine can fire thousands of artillery rounds daily, defending itself against Russian invaders. At the same time, NATO forces in Afghanistan might have fired 3oo rounds a day. That’s according to The New York Times, Ukrinform reports. According to NATO officials, the amount . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, a link to an op-ed column from today’s Berkshire Eagle. Then, links to reports from National Public Radio, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Ukrainians now face ‘Kholodomor,’ or death by cold, by James Brooke | The Berkshire Eagle During the three-week gas shutdown by Russia’s Gazprom, hundreds of people in Ukraine and Eastern Europe froze to death. During this Thanksgiving and holiday season, please think about helping Ukrainians get through the winter. READ MORE . . .

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Russia strikes, Ukraine repairs, in a battle to survive the winter. Reported by Greg Myre | NPR  Russia dramatically stepped up its air campaign last month with waves of drones and missiles. In the latest barrage, Russia fired 70 cruise missiles on Wednesday. This knocked out electricity, heating and water in many cities and further damaged the already fragile power system. These basic services were steadily returning on Thursday and Friday. Ukraine said it shot down . . . Click HERE to listen and read.

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Freezing Ukraine gradually restores power after Russian strikes on grid, by Max Hunder and Tom Balmforth | Reuters * Thirty percent of Ukrainian power still out * EU vows to help Ukraine overcome energy shortages * Germany to recognise Soviet-era famine as genocide | KYIV — Ukrainian authorities on Friday gradually restored power, aided by the reconnection of the country’s four nuclear plants, but millions of people were still in the dark after the most devastating Russian air strikes of the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with Ukrainians to use energy sparingly. “If there is . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian shelling kills 15 civilians in Kherson: City official. From AFP. KYIV: Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed 15 civilians on Friday, officials said, as engineers across the country sought to restore heat, water and power to major cities. Throughout the country, Russian air strikes in recent weeks have brought Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to its knees as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Lavrov says Ukrainians will be liberated from neo-Nazi rulers. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in a documentary aired today that Ukrainians deserve friendly relations with their Slavic brothers and will be liberated from neo-Nazi rulers. “The Ukrainian people . . . READ MORE . . .

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As winter sets in, Ukrainian battlefields show few signs of freezing, by James Beardsworth | The Moscow Times “Russia has big manpower potential after withdrawing from Kherson,” said Konrad Muzyka, a Poland-based defense analyst. “We’re looking at 150,000 to 200,000 Russian men currently being trained.” And . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

Presented below, via Consortium News, is link to a discussion conducted this morning about the war and its contexts. The  introduction below begins about 7 minutes in, and the discussion itself begins at about 11 minutes in. Visitors can listen and watch by clicking HERE. — MCM

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Watch: CN Live! — ‘What’s next for Ukraine?’

In Moscow: Mark Sleboda, international relations and security analyst and U.S. Navy veteran in nuclear engineering; in New York State: Scott Ritter, former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and U.N. weapons inspector; and in Canberra, Australia, Tony Kevin, retired Australian ambassador to Poland and diplomat in Moscow.  Hosts: Elizabeth Vos and Joe Lauria. Produced by Cathy Vogan.

The war in Ukraine began in 2014 as civil conflict when Russian-speakers in the east resisted a coup that overthrew a democratically elected president. The post-coup state launched a war against the resisters for eight years, which Russia entered nine months ago on Feb. 24.

It was an expansion of the war that could easily been prevented. A peace accord was never implemented by the Western-backed Kiev regime. Instead NATO armed and trained Ukrainian forces that included extremist groups, began amassing at the conflict line with the east, poised for an offensive Peace treaties Russia presented to the US and NATO that would have seen NATO deployments of troops and missiles in Eastern Europe rolled back were ignored even as Russia spoke of a technical-military response.

The U.S. got the invasion it wanted and needed. Without it, it could not have launched its economic, information and proxy war on the ground designed to “weaken” Russia. Make no mistake about it. This is a U.S. war against Russia. Ukraine is simply the stage on which it is being acted out.

However the war is not going according to U.S. plans. The economic war, intended to bring down the Russian government, has backfired with dire economic circumstances and growing popular discontent in the West instead.

The information war is being lost outside of territories controlled by the West – which comprises the vast majority of humanity. And the war on the ground is not being won.

But the war hasn’t gone according to Russian plans either. Moscow sought negotiations with Ukraine almost immediately upon entering the war. In March they had a deal in which Ukraine would remain neutral and Crimea would be recognized as Russian and Donbass as independent. But Western leaders, wanting to bleed Russia, scotched it.

A restrained invasion, insofar as invasions can be restrained, is now on the verge of a major Russian offensive. It is being preceded by widespread Russian strikes against power infrastructure, raising troubling questions about the effect on civilians.

Despite continuing propaganda that Ukraine is winning the war, Western leaders know what they are facing: freezing Ukrainians and Europeans and the looming Russian offensive. This had led to talks about talks to end the war but is it now too late?

Is Russia committed to reabsorbing all of Catherine the Great’s imperial conquests in Ukraine or will keeping Ukraine out of NATO, recognition of Crimea and Donbass as part of Russia and withdrawal of NATO’s forward deployments of men and missiles in Eastern Europe still be enough for Russia?

Is the U.S. and NATO still committed to a long war in the vain hope that it will bring down the Russian government?

In an abbreviated entry on Thanksgiving Day (U.S.A.), links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Thanks for visiting. — MCM

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Bombed, not beaten: Ukraine’s capital flips to survival mode, by John Leicester and Hanna Arhirova | The Associated Press KYIV — Residents of Ukraine’s bombed but undaunted capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into cafés for power and warmth today, switching defiantly into survival mode after new Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark. In scenes . . . READ MORE . . .

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Weapons industry booms as Eastern Europe arms Ukraine, by Michael Kahn, Anna Koper and Robert Muller | Reuters * E.Europe arms companies step up production for Ukraine * Hope to find new markets as defence spends rise * Can produce and service Soviet-era and NATO-standard weaponry * Poland, Czechs among big suppliers of military aid to Kyiv * Industry’s history stretches from 1800s and through Cold War | PRAGUE/WARSAW — Eastern Europe’s arms industry is churning out guns, artillery shells and other military supplies at a pace not seen since the Cold War as governments in the region lead efforts to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Allies have . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says its energy system is teetering after Russian attack. Reported by Greg Myre | National Public Radio Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system Wednesday as part of a continued effort that escalated Oct. 10. Ukrainian officials warn the energy system is teetering as the country enters winter. Click HERE to listen and read.