First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, National Public Radio, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on the organizations’ names below. — MCM

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Russia brands Ukrainian steel plant defenders terrorists, by Susie Blann and Suzan Fraser | The Associated Press — KYIV — Russia’s Supreme Court today declared Ukraine’s Azov Regiment a terrorist organization, a designation that could lead to terror charges against some of the captured fighters who made their last stand inside Mariupol’s shattered steel plant. Scores of Azov fighters are being held by Moscow since their surrender in mid-May. Russian authorities have opened criminal cases against them, accusing them of killing civilians. The addition of terrorism charges could mean even longer prison sentences. In a statement, the Azov Regiment dismissed . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia high court labels Ukraine’s Azov Regiment ‘terrorist’ group. From RFE/RL’s Russian Service. The Supreme Court of Russia, acting on a request by the Prosecutor General’s Office, has designated Ukraine’s ultra-right Azov Regiment as a “terrorist” organization. The court announced the decision today against the group, one of the most prominent Ukrainian military formations fighting against Russia in eastern Ukraine. The court ruled to “recognize . . . READ MORE . . .

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Resuming Ukrainian grain exports may help reduce food insecurity in the Middle East. Reported by Ari Shapiro, Alejandra Marquez Janse and Ashley Brown | National Public Radio Ari Shapiro talks with Corinne Fleischer, the World Food Programme’s Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe regional director, about what grain shipments from Ukraine means for some areas. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukraine’s army faces a big test in the war: trying to retake the city of Kherson. Reported by Brian Mann | NPR A 29-year-old battalion commander is helping lead Ukraine’s counteroffensive near Kherson. He says the fight is costly but his troops have already won ground. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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The story of a war, a wedding dress and a business opportunity. Reported by Eleanor Beardsley | NPR  The Russian invasion is destroying much of Ukraine’s economy. In some cases, however, companies that adapted are not just surviving but thriving. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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The Ukrainian women who make art in the face of war. Reported by Susan Stamberg | NPR  Stories of war are being told now by some of Ukraine’s leading female artists at New York’s Fridman Gallery, as well as a gallery in Kyiv. The women are activists as well as artists, and are responding in paint, photographs and videos to the Russian invasion, and earlier conflicts over the annexation of Crimea. The powerful, haunting works prove that art is not just about pretty pictures. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Russia’s military suffers heavy toll from its Ukraine invasion. Reuters presents a gallery of 70 photographs and captions. Click HERE for it.

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio, and teleSUR; find others by clicking on the organizations’ names below. — MCM

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‘Relief for the World’ as Ukraine grain ship leaves Odesa, by Natalia Zinets | Reuters * First Ukraine grain ship bound for Lebanon * Turkey says more ships to follow * Russian missiles pound port of Mykolaiv | KYIV — A ship carrying grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon today under a safe passage agreement, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago. Ukraine’s foreign minister called it “a day of relief for the world”, especially for countries threatened by food shortages and hunger because of the disrupted . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine seeks to retake the south, tying down Russian forces. From the Associated Press. Even as Moscow’s war machine crawls across Ukraine’s east, trying to achieve the Kremlin’s goal of securing full control over the country’s industrial heartland, Ukrainian forces are scaling up attacks to reclaim territory in the Russian-occupied south. The Ukrainians have used American-supplied rocket launchers to strike bridges and military infrastructure in the south, forcing Russia to divert its forces from the Donbas in the east to counter . . . READ MORE . . .

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Moscow blacklists 39 more Britons. From Agence France-Presse. Russia today said it was blacklisting 39 more British citizens, including Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and former prime minister David Cameron. London has been one of Kyiv’s most vocal supporters after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24. Russia’s foreign ministry said the [new batch of] citizens listed, including journalists, “contribute to the hostile course of London aimed at the demonisation of our country and its international isolation. . . . The choice in favour of confrontation is the conscious decision of the British political establishment . . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine: grain leaves port and calls grow for a probe into POWs’ deaths. Reported by A Martínez and Tim Mak | National Public Radio The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain leaves the port of Odesa. Ukraine and Russia exchange accusations over who bombed a prison colony holding Ukrainian POWs in occupied Donbas. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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1st ship with grain leaves Ukraine’s Black Sea port. From teleSUR. The first cargo ship carrying grain has left the Black Sea port of Odesa in southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said today. The vessel Razoni under the flag of Sierra Leone carrying 26,000 tons of corn is bound for the port of Tripoli in Lebanon, Kubrakov said, adding that the ship will move along a maritime corridor, the security of which was guaranteed by Türkiye and the United Nations (UN). The resumption . . . READ MORE . . .

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Putin’s Stalin-era surveillance tactics. Cheryl Corley of NPR speaks with investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov about his recent piece in Foreign Affairs entitled “Putin’s New Police State.” Click HERE to listen and read. Find Soldatov’s article HERE.

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on the organizations’ names below. Finally, two pieces of commentary placing the war in Ukraine in a global context; the first, from the Associated Press, sees the war as having given NATO “renewed reason for being”; the other, via Consortium News, expresses opposition to NATO’s “policies and global aspirations.” — MCM

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Drone explosion hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, by Susie Blann | The Associated Press KYIV — A small explosive device carried by a makeshift drone blew up today at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean Peninsula, wounding six people and prompting the cancellation of ceremonies there honoring Russia’s navy, authorities said. Meanwhile, one of Ukraine’s richest men, a grain merchant, was killed in what Ukrainian authorities said was a carefully targeted Russian missile strike on his home.  There was no . . . READ MORE . . .

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Zelenskiy announces mandatory evacuation of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Deputy PM Vereshchuk says evacuation needed before winter * Vereshchuk says region’s natural gas supplies destroyed * Kyiv says more than 100 Russian soldiers killed on Friday * Ukraine: rail links to Kherson over Dnipro river cut | KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday his government was ordering the mandatory evacuation of people in the eastern Donetsk region, scene of fierce fighting with Russia. In a late-night television address, Zelenskiy also said the hundreds of thousands of people still in combat zones in the larger Donbas region, which contains Donetsk as well as the neighboring Luhansk region, needed to leave . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine provides a bit of good news amidst a global food shortage. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | National Public Radio Ukraine says it is ready to resume grain shipments from its southern ports that stopped with the onset of the war with Russia. The grain could alleviate a global food shortage. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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In the Russia-Ukraine war, drones are one of the most powerful weapons, by Jason Beaubien | NPR  SOUTHERN UKRAINE — Sitting in the back of a Ukrainian military van, hidden under camouflage netting, Sacha is monitoring video from a surveillance drone. His team just launched the drone off a 30-foot-long slingshot. It’s now crossed the front line and is peering into a Russian-occupied village. Sacha zooms in further. “You see . . . Click HERE to listen and read. 

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A world changed, maybe permanently, by Ukraine war, by John Leicester | AP  PARIS July 16, 1945: An incandescent mushroom cloud in New Mexico heralds the dawn of the nuclear age. July 20, 1969: Neil Armstrong takes a small step and a giant leap in the dust of the Moon. Feb. 24, 2022: Russian President Vladimir Putin chews up the world order and 77 years of almost uninterrupted peace in Europe by invading Ukraine, disrupting the supplies of food it produces for many of the planet’s 8 billion people. All were watersheds in world history, turning points . . . READ MORE . . .

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The World Does Not Want a Global NATO, by Vijay Prashad | Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research / Consortium News At No Cold War, an international platform seeking to bring sanity to international relations, we have been closely observing the shifting tenor of the war in Ukraine and the U.S.-driven pressure campaign against China. We have published three previous briefings from this platform in our newsletters; [linked in this column, readers] will find briefing No. 4, “The World Does Not Want a Global NATO,” which details the emerging clarity in the Global South regarding . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio, and teleSUR; for others, click on their names below. — MCM

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Ukraine says scores of Russians killed in southern fighting, by Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Kyiv says more than 100 Russian soldiers killed on Friday * Ukraine says rail links to Kherson over Dnipro have been cut * UK spy chief says Russia is ‘running out of steam’ * Russia publishes list of killed, injured Ukrainian POWs | KYIV — The Ukrainian military said today it had killed scores of Russian soldiers in fighting in the south, including the Kherson region that is the focus of Kyiv’s counter-offensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow’s supply lines. Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military’s southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in READ MORE . . .

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U.S. envoy: Russia intends to dissolve Ukraine from world map, by Edith M. Lederer | The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and  dissolve it from the world map entirely.” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council that the United States is seeing growing signs that Russia is laying the groundwork to attempt to annex all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, including by installing “illegitimate proxy officials in Russian-held areas, with the goal of holding sham referenda or decree to join Russia.” . . . Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an Arab summit in Cairo last Sunday that Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime.” READ MORE . . .

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Russia suspends gas supplies to Latvia. From Agence France-Presse. Russian energy giant Gazprom today suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and U.S. sanctions against Russia. The declaration came a day after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky . . . READ MORE . . .

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For the 1st time since Russia invaded, ships are set to depart Ukraine with grain. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | National Public Radio In Odessa, Ukraine is trying to launch ships filled with grain as part of deals brokered to address a global food shortage. Its ports have been closed since Russia invaded more than five months ago. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war may have been killed in a missile attack. Tim Mak of NPR reported from Kyiv. The prisoners are soldiers who were part of a unit that held out for months in Mariupol while being surrounded by Russian forces. Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other in the attack. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Lavrov urges Binken to avoid leaks regarding prosoner exchange. From teleSUR. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a telephone conversation he held Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urged him to resort to diplomacy without speculations and leaks when discussing the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported. “Referring to the possible . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

First, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Then, a link to a letter by military analyst Scott Ritter to his representatives in Congress questioning U.S. funding for a Ukrainian “blacklist” of individuals deemed promoters of Russian propaganda. — MCM

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Dozens of Ukrainian POWs reported killed in missile strike, by Max Hunder and Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Russia, Ukraine trade blame for prisoner deaths * UK says Russia deploys Wagner fighters more widely * Ukraine says grain ships loaded but no date yet to move | ODESA/KYIV — Dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war appeared to have been killed in a missile strike today, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of carrying out the attack. The incident overshadowed U.N.-backed efforts to restart grain shipments from Ukraine and ease a looming global hunger crisis stemming from the war, now in its sixth month. Russia’s defence ministry said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia, Ukraine trade blame over strike on POW jail. From Agence France-Presse. Moscow and Kyiv today accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Russia saying 40 prisoners and eight prison staff were killed. Russia’s defence ministry said the Ukrainian strikes were carried out with US-supplied long-range missiles, in an “egregious provocation” designed to stop soldiers surrendering. . . . Ukraine’s military denied carrying out the attack saying its forces “did not launch missile and artillery strikes in the area of Olenivka settlement.” It instead blamed Russia’s invading forces for “a targeted artillery shelling” . . . READ MORE . . .

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Isolation complication? U.S. finds it’s hard to shun Russia, by Matthew Lee | The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Biden administration likes to say Russia has become isolated internationally because of its invasion of Ukraine. Yet Moscow’s top officials have hardly been cloistered in the Kremlin. And now, even the U.S. wants to talk. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been meeting with world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member. Meanwhile, his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is jetting around the world, smiling, shaking hands and posing for photos with foreign leaders — including some friends of the U.S. And on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Concerns around shipping Ukrainian grain. Reported by Jackie Northam | National Public Radio What it would actually take to send out Ukrainian grain. They need to bring in minesweepers, figure out shipping companies to use, assure no more missile attacks, sort out danger pay, and lots more. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukraine reduces Russian soldier’s life sentence to 15 years. The Moscow Times. A Ukrainian court today reduced to 15 years a life sentence handed down to a Russian soldier for pre-meditated murder in the country’s first war crimes trial. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced to life in prison in May after being found guilty of fatally shooting a 62-year-old civilian in northeastern Ukraine in the early days of the war. His lawyer had vowed to appeal the verdict, arguing that “societal pressure” had influenced the verdict. “According to . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S. should not fund Ukrainian ‘blacklist,’ by Scott Ridder | Consortium News The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, which appears to receive U.S. government funding, this month issued a list of 72 individuals — about one-third of them Americans — who the Center claims promote “Russian propaganda.” Scott Ridder, whose commentary has appeared in this blog, is on the list, and wrote concerning U.S. funding for it to his two U.S. senators and his congressman. Click HERE to see the list, and HERE to read the letter.

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on the organizations’ names below. — MCM

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Russia attacks Kyiv area for first time in weeks, by Susie Blann | The Associated Press KYIV — Russian forces launched a missile attack on the Kyiv area for the first time in weeks today and pounded the northern Chernihiv region as well, in what Ukraine said was revenge for standing up to the Kremlin. Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, announced a counteroffensive to take back the occupied Kherson region in the country’s south, territory seized by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces early in the war. The Vyshgorod district on the outskirts of Kyiv was targeted . . . READ MORE . . .

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12 dead, 25 wounded in Russian strikes in central Ukraine. From Agence France-Presse KYIV – Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine today, killing at least 12 people in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called “an open act of terrorism”. Ukraine’s emergency services said there were “12 dead, including one baby, and 25 wounded” and dozens of rescue workers were fighting to put out a large blaze sparked by the strikes. The news came as EU foreign and justice ministers prepared to meet in The Hague for a conference on alleged Russian war crimes. Zelensky said he . . . READ MORE . . .

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The enemy within: Russian agents infiltrated deep into Ukraine, by Mari Saito and Maria Tsvetkova | Reuters KYIV/PARIS — People the Kremlin counted on as its proxies in Ukraine overstated their influence in the years leading up to the invasion, said four of the sources with knowledge of the Kremlin’s preparations. The Kremlin relied in its planning on “clowns – they know a little bit, but they always say what the leadership wants to hear because otherwise they won’t get paid,” said one of the four, a person close to the Moscow-backed separatist leadership in eastern Ukraine. . . . The Russian intelligence infiltration succeeded in one way: It has sown mistrust inside Ukraine and laid bare the shortcomings of Ukraine’s near 30,000-strong Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which . . . is now tasked with hunting down traitors and collaborators. . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

A common theme runs through the three essays linked just below: truth and the hoops and snares that some who like it must jump through or avoid; the first is from Brownstone Institute, the two others are from Consortium News. Next, links to Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio reports. — MCM

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The Long Knives Are Out for Elon, by Paul Frijters, Gigi Foster, Michael Baker | Brownstone Institute In April 2022, Elon Musk announced he was buying Twitter and was going to enforce the First Amendment of the US Constitution that enshrines free speech. That announcement was like a declaration of war on Big Tech, Big Pharma, and the other powerful interests that had grown richer by means of lies (and associated products and services) that they managed to sell to the population with the help of censorship. The announcement that a . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Whistleblower Crackdown, by John Kiriakou | Consortium News This is National Whistleblower Week, with Saturday marking National Whistleblower Appreciation Day. The National Whistleblower Center in Washington has its annual lunch, seminar and associated events scheduled.  Whistleblowers from around the U.S. attend, a couple members of Congress usually show up and we talk. . . . I’m not sanguine about where our efforts stand, especially on behalf of national security whistleblowers.  Since I blew the whistle on the C.I.A.’s torture program in 2007 and was prosecuted for it in 2012, I think the situation for whistleblowers . . . READ MORE . . .

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Washington’s Russian Drone Fantasy, by Scott Ritter  | Consortium News According to the official U.S. government narrative, a “desperate” Russia — suffering significant battlefield reversals in Ukraine including the loss of “large numbers” of reconnaissance drones while its own military industrial capacity lacks the ability to provide adequate replacements due to Russia’s “economic isolation” — has turned to Iran for assistance. “Our information,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared, “indicates . . . READ MORE . . . .

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Ukraine’s grain is ready to go. But ships aren’t. Why? Risk. By Aya Batrawy | The Associated Press Shipping companies are not rushing to export millions of tons of grain trapped in Ukraine, despite a breakthrough deal to provide safe corridors through the Black Sea. That is because explosive mines are drifting in the waters, ship owners are assessing the risks and many still have questions over how the deal will unfold. The complexities of the agreement have set off a slow, cautious start, but it’s only good for 120 days — and . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia cuts gas flows further as Europe urges energy saving, by Christoph Steitz and Nina Chestney | Reuters FRANKFURT/LONDON — Russia delivered less gas to Europe today in a further escalation of an energy stand-off between Moscow and the European Union that will make it harder, and costlier, for the bloc to fill up storage ahead of the winter heating season. The cut in supplies, flagged by Gazprom (GAZP.MM) . . . this week, has reduced the capacity of Nord Stream 1 pipeline — the major delivery route to Europe for Russian gas — to a mere . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia to quit the ISS after 2024. Reported by Charles  Maynes | National Public Radio  Russia says it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024. This echoes intentions previously set by Russia and comes amid tensions with the U.S. and the West over the war in Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Russia says it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024. Reported by Joe Palca | NPR The head of the Russian space agency has said his country will end its participation in the International Space Station in 2024. What does this mean for the future of its partnership with NASA? Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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At 75, the CIA is back where it started – countering the Kremlin. Reported by Greg Myre | NPR At its creation in July 1947, the CIA delivered briefings to President Harry Truman that would still sound current in today’s news feeds. The many examples include . . . Click HERE listen and read.

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The EU agrees to plan that aims to cut gas consumption across Europe by 15%. Reported by A Martinez and Rob Schmitz | NPR Russia claims mechanical issues are the reason for the supply cut. Germany’s economy minister accused Russia’s president of playing a “duplicitous game.” Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

The essay that follows is out of chronological order in this blog’s scheme of things. It’s author, a founder of the Post Carbon Institute, sent it out (most recently) yesterday or the day before. It is also out of order in that the important money that keeps newspapers, magazines and broadcast and cablecast shows going and officeholders elected and appointed and  the major political parties hanging on want to hear nothing of its message, and hence it hasn’t gotten out. People who don’t like to read can skip the essay and find “The End of Suburbia” (circa 2005) on the Internet and watch it instead, or first. — MCM

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Will Civilization Collapse Because We’re Rusnning Out of Oil?

By Richard Heinberg | Post Carbon Institute

Will civilization collapse because it’s running out of oil? That question was debated hotly almost 20 years ago; today, not so much. Judging by Google searches, interest in “peak oil” surged around 2003 (the year my book The Party’s Over was published), peaked around 2005, and drifted until around 2010 before dropping off dramatically.

Well, civilization hasn’t imploded for lack of fuel—not yet, at least. Instead, oil has gotten more expensive and economic growth has slowed. “Tight oil” produced in the US with fracking technology came to the rescue, sort of. For a little while. This oil was costlier to extract than conventional oil, and production from individual wells declined rapidly, thus entailing one hell of a lot of drilling. During the past decade, frackers went deeply into debt as they poked tens of thousands of holes into Texas, North Dakota, and a few other states, sending US oil production soaring. Central banks helped out by keeping interest rates ultra-low and by injecting trillions of dollars into the economy. National petroleum output went up farther and faster than had ever happened anywhere before in the history of the oil industry.

Most environmentalists therefore tossed peak oil into their mental bin of “things we don’t need to worry about” as they focused laser-like on climate change. Mainstream energy analysts then and now assume that technology will continue to overcome resource limits in the immediate future, which is all that really seems to matter. Much of what is left of the peak oil discussion focuses on “peak demand”—i.e., the question of when electric cars will become so plentiful that we’ll no longer need so much gasoline.

Nevertheless, those who’ve engaged with the oil depletion literature have tended to come away with a few useful insights:

* Energy is the basis of all aspects of human society.

* Fossil fuels enabled a dramatic expansion of energy usable by humanity, in turn enabling unprecedented growth in human population, economic activity, and material consumption.

* It takes energy to get energy, and the ratio of energy returned versus energy spent (energy return on investment, or EROI) has historically been extremely high for fossil fuels, as compared to previous energy sources.

* Similar EROI values will be necessary for energy alternatives if we wish to maintain our complex, industrial way of life.

* Depletion is as important a factor as pollution in assessing the sustainability of society.

Now a new research paper has arrived on the scene, authored by Jean Laherrère, Charles Hall, and Roger Bentley—all veterans of the peak oil debate, and all experts with many papers and books to their credit. As its title suggests (“How Much Oil Remains for the World to Produce? Comparing Assessment Methods, and Separating Fact from Fiction”), the paper mainly addresses the question of future oil production. But to get there, it explains why this is a difficult question to answer . . .  READ MORE . . .

Today, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, teleSUR, and the Moscow Times; others are accessible by clicking on the organizations’ names below. — MCM

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Russia says it wants to end Ukraine’s ‘unacceptable regime,‘ by Susie Blann | The Associated Press KYIV  — Russia’s top diplomat says Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime,” expressing the Kremlin’s war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet as its forces pummel the country with artillery barrages and airstrikes. . . . “We are determined to help the people of eastern Ukraine to liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime,” Lavrov said at an Arab League summit in Cairo late Sunday, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy’s government. Apparently suggesting that . . . READ MORE . . .

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New Russian airstrikes target Odesa region of Ukraine, by Susie Blann | AP KYIV — Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with airstrikes today, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. In the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in coastal villages were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region, port infrastructure was targeted despite the agreements Moscow and Kyiv signed last week that was intended to allow grain grain shipments to resume from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Hours after the strikes, a Moscow-installed official in southern Ukraine said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Rep. Elissa Slotkin on her visit to Ukraine and meeting with President Zelenskyy. Reported by Mary Louise Kelly, Elena Burnett and Christopher Intagliato | National Public Radio Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., about her trip to Ukraine with a bipartisan Congressional delegation and meeting with President Zelenskyy. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Europe agrees on compromise gas curbs as Russia squeezes supply, by Kate Abnett | Reuters * U ministers agree to emergency gas use cuts * Voluntary cuts would become binding in supply emergency * Final deal exempts numerous countries, industries * EU racing to save gas as Russia slashes supply | BRUSSELS —European Union countries approved a weakened emergency plan to curb their gas demand today, after striking compromise deals to limit the cuts for some countries, as they brace for further Russian reductions in supply. Europe faces an increased gas squeeze from Wednesday, when Russian’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) has said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to . . . READ MORE . . .

TO BE CONTINUED

Today, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, Agence France-Presse and the Washington Post; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. — MCM

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‘The money is gone’: evacuated Ukrainians forced to return, by Anna Cara | The Associated Press POKROVSK, Ukraine — Tens of thousands of people have returned to rural or industrial communities close to the region’s front line at considerable risk because they can’t afford to live in safer places. . . . The Pokrovsk mayor’s office estimated that 70% of those who evacuated have come home. In the larger city of Kramatorsk, an hour’s drive closer to the front line, officials said the population had dropped to about 50,000 from the normal 220,000 in the weeks following Russia’s invasion but has since risen . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Ukrainian nationalists standing in Russia’s way on the eastern front, by Simon Lewis | Reuters At the sharp end of efforts to stop the Russian army’s progress in eastern Ukraine are the Carpathian Sich battalion, a unit of Ukrainians and foreign nationals who answered Kyiv’s call for help to confront the invader.”Now it’s more of an artillery war. It’s a tougher war, a scarier war, where only people who are strong in their spirit can fight,” said . . . a field commander in the battalion . . . READ MORE . . .

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The U.N. brokered a deal but can Ukraine’s grain shipments be exported safely?  Reported by A Martínez and Joanna Kakissis | National Public Radio Less than 24 hours after Ukraine and Russia formalized a deal to reopen Black Sea ports and resume agricultural exports, Russian missiles hit the port in Odesa. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Kremlin Says Odesa Strikes Should Not Hamper Grain Exports. From Agence France-Presse The Kremlin said today that Russian strikes Friday on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa “should not affect” a UN-brokered deal between Moscow and Kyiv to unblock grain exports. “This cannot and should not affect the start of shipment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said Moscow’s strikes targeted “exclusively” military infrastructure and were “not connected with the agreement . . . READ MORE . . .

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Official says Kherson to be ‘liberated’ from Russia by September. From AFP. A Ukrainian official said Sunday that the country’s southern region of Kherson, which fell to Russian troops early in their February invasion, would be recaptured by Kyiv’s forces by September. “We can say that the Kherson region will definitely be liberated by September, and all the occupiers’ plans will fail,” Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the head of Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television. The Ukrainian army, emboldened by deliveries of Western-supplied long-range artillery . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine looking for more ‘game-changer’ weapons, by Isabelle Khurshudyan, Karen DeYoung, Alex Horton and Karoun Demirjian | The Washington Post NEAR IZYUM, Ukraine – If only they had more, and more sophisticated, weapons from the West, Ukrainian officials often tell their American counterparts and anyone else who will listen, they could make short work of Russian invaders. Last month’s arrival of the first of what are now a dozen U.S. multiple-launch precision rocket systems, known as HIMARS, has already been a game changer, soldiers here said last week. . . . The Biden administration has parceled out the rocket systems slowly, watching how the Ukrainians handle them — and how the Russians respond. To fighters on the ground, that makes little sense at a crucial . . . READ MORE . . .