For today, a link to a report from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (YEMEN 5-14-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA, WEST BANK, UKRAINE and MEDIA entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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Yemeni attacks cause chaos at Ben Gurion Airport. From the Cradle. The Yemeni Armed Forces said in a statement today it targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with a hypersonic ballistic missile, marking its third operation against the facility in 24 hours. READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to six reports: from Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Independent, the Associated Press, and Reuters; others or at least headline are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE 5-21-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA, WEST BANK, YEMEN, and MEDIA entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE and  HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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Ukrainian drones cripple key Russian plant powering missiles, drones, and war tech, by Alisa Orlova | Kyiv Post  Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian weapons plant overnight in the city of Yelets, setting off a large fire and halting operations at a facility critical to Moscow’s military supply chain, local officials and Ukrainian sources confirmed today. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Kyiv Independent.

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Ukrainian official says major prisoner swap with Russia is underway, by  Samya Kullab and Hanna Arhirova | AP  CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — An exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine from their 3-year-old war was underway Friday, a senior Ukrainian official said, in one of the few signs of progress in international efforts to halt the fighting. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Reuters.

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FROM MAY 22  Ex-army chief says Ukraine cannot hope for ‘miracle’ to restore 1991 borders, by Anastasiia Malenko | Reuters  KYIV — The former head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhnyi, said in a speech that Ukraine should not dream of restoring either its borders established with the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule or the frontiers just before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 22  No new direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks are scheduled, Kremlin says. From AP. Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations “immediately.” READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to a review from the Hollywood Reporter, to commentary from an Australian observer, and to reports from Protos, the Tico Times, El Faro, and MintPress News; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (MEDIA 5-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA, WEST BANK, YEMEN, and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up.) –MCM

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FROM MAY 21  Film review: Eugene Jarecki’s Julian Assange doc is a jam-packed chronicle of legal persecution, by Jordan Mintzer | The Hollywood Reporter  Much of Jarecki’s informative two-hour feature, “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” focuses on the decade-plus legal roller coaster ride that Assange and his team of committed lawyers were obliged to take. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 22  The western media brought Gaza to this point, by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com.au  For the last year and a half the western media have been brazenly lying to the public by framing this as a “war with Hamas” instead of the naked ethnic cleansing operation it clearly is. They’ve been manufacturing consent . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 5  El Salvador prepares to arrest El Faro journalists: report. From Protos. Carlos Dada, the director of El Faro, a newspaper in El Salvador that has published investigations into the Nayib Bukele administration, has claimed that it has “received reliable information that the Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office is preparing arrest warrants for El Faro journalists.” READ MORE . . . Click HERE for April 17, 2023, report from the Tico Times; HERE and HERE for El Faro statement on April 13, 2023, and HERE for report from MintPress News on May 14 of this year.

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For now, links to seven reports: from Reuters, National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and the Cradle; and to three pieces of commentary: from ScheerPost via Consortium News, and from MintPress News via ScheerPost. Other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA 5-21-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  UKRAINE entry for today, so far, is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Palestinian minister reports 29 starvation-related deaths among Gazan children, elderly. From Reuters. GENEVA — The Palestinian health minister, Majed Abu Ramadan, said today that 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related causes in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk. READ MORE . . .

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Netanyahu says Israeli military will take full control of Gaza. Reported by Hadeel Al-Shalchi and Michel Martin | NPR  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military will take full control of the Gaza territory. The announcement came as a the new military offensive draws international rebukes.  Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Israeli politician critiques the Gaza war’s toll on Palestinians and sparks an outcry, by Tia Goldenberg | AP  TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Killing babies “as a hobby.” “Expelling a population.” “Fighting against civilians.” It is some of the harshest language . . . READ MORE . . .

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France rejects Israeli comments accusing European officials of antisemitic incitement. From Reuters. France rejects Israeli comments accusing some European officials of antisemitic incitement, foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said today, calling the comments “unjustified and outrageous.” READ MORE . . .

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Some bread and baby food reach Gazans as blockade eases, Palestinians call for more, by Nidal al-Mughrabi | Reuters  CAIRO — Flour and other food aid will start reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable people today after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week blockade, Palestinian officials said. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Cradle including UN video.

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FROM MAY 21  Israeli attacks shut down hospitals in north Gaza, leaving the wounded without care. Reported by Aya Batrawy and Anas Baba | NPR  Israeli airstrikes are pounding northern Gaza but people have no access to hospitals as they’ve been hit and shut down as part of a military offensive aimed at pushing the entire population south. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MAY 21  U.S. Ambassador Huckabee is ‘outraged’ at European leaders for condemning Israel. Reported by Daniel Estrin, Carrie Kahn and James Hider | NPR  TEL AVIV — “ The prolonged suffering for everybody is on Hamas,” Ambassador Mike Huckabee said Wednesday, “and I’m outraged that the U.K., Canada, France, they’re blaming the wrong perpetrator.” Click HERE to listen and HERE to read.

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FROM MAY 18  The new dark age, by Chris Hedges | ScheerPost / Consortium News  CAIRO — Parked in the arid sands in the northern Sinai of Egypt are 2,000 trucks filled with sacks of flour, water tanks, canned food, medical supplies, tarps and fuel. The trucks idle under the scorching sun with temperatures climbing into the high 90s. A few miles away in Gaza . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 17  Waves upon the sea of silence, by Patrick Lawrence | ScheerPost / Consortium News  There is a great, often untraversed distance between words and action, what is said and what is done, in our post-democracies. Turns in sentiment, however, nearly always precede turns in policy and conduct. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 20  Trump’s break with Israel: Genuine shift or political theater? by Kit Klarenberg | MintPress News / ScheerPost Successive U.S. administrations have considered normalization of relations between all Arab and Muslim states — particularly Saudi Arabia — and Israel a paramount objective to the extent of making continued U.S. defense guarantees to Riyadh contingent upon its recognition of Tel Aviv. READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to seven reports: from Reuters, the Moscow Times, Tass, the Kyiv Independent, and Agence France-Press, and to an editorial from Kyiv Post; others or headlines of others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE 5-21-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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Russia says it downs 105 Ukrainian drones, fires Iskander missile. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia said today it had shot down 105 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, including dozens heading towards Moscow, as the war in Ukraine . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Moscow Times.

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FROM MAY 21  Putin boasts of massive attack on Ukrainian troops, by Iona Cleave | Reuters  Vladimir Putin has boasted of a massive missile strike on a military base in Ukraine’s Sumy region that the Kremlin claims killed as many 70 soldiers. Ukraine said six soldiers were killed and 10 injured. READ MORE . . .

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Russia hits Patriot position in Dnepropetrovsk Region with Iskander-M missile — top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Russian Armed Forces destroyed the position of a Patriot SAM system near Ordzhonikidze in the Dnepropetrovsk Region with an Iskander-M missile, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. READ MORE . . .

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Lavrov confirms Russia has no interest in Ukraine ceasefire, by Volodymyr Ivanyshyn | The Kyiv Independent  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed that Moscow has no interest in negotiations and agreeing to a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying on Wednesday “we don’t want this anymore,” insisting that the “root causes” of the war need to be resolved first. READ MORE . . .

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Kremlin denies report of upcoming peace talks with Ukraine at Vatican. From AFP. The Kremlin said today it had not agreed to hold peace talks with Ukraine at the Vatican, denying U.S. media reports that the city-state could soon host negotiations. READ MORE . . .

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Trump: Putin doesn’t want peace because he’s winning. But is he? Editorial from Kyiv Post. Following his two-hour phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which he described as “excellent,” Donald Trump seems to have finally admitted, according to the Wall Street Journal, that the Kremlin doesn’t want peace in Ukraine because it believes Russia is winning . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Tass.

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For now, links to five reports: from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and Reuters, and to an interview from Middle East Eye; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA 5-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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In Gaza, 45 killed in strikes as desperately needed aid fails to reach Palestinians, by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman | AP  DEIR Al-BALAH, Gaza — Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into today killed at least 45 people — as Israel’s war on Hamas . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Reuters..

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FROM MAY 20  World leaders tell Israel to allow aid into Gaza as famine looms. Reported by Lauren Frayer and Hadeel Al-Shalchi | NPR  Leaders from the U.K., France and Canada issued a joint statement calling on the Israeli government to end its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter the region where hundreds of thousands of residents have been ordered out of nearly a fourth of the territory and many express panic and exhaustion.  Click HERE to listen and read.

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FROM MAY 20  Israeli strikes kill at least 85 in Gaza as Israel allows more aid into Palestinian territory, by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Tia Goldenberg | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel pressed ahead Tuesday with its new military offensive in Gaza despite mounting international criticism, launching airstrikes that health officials said killed at least 85 Palestinians. Israeli officials said they also allowed in dozens more trucks carrying aid. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Reuters.

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FROM MAY 20  Walid Jumblatt says Arab leaders must wake up to Israeli expansionism, by David Hearst | Middle East Eye  BEIRUT — Anyone looking for clues to the ambitions of Israeli expansionism should read the Bible, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze in Lebanon, says. With Israeli forces launching a new offensive in Gaza, and with . . . Click HERE for article including video.

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For today, links to 10 reports: from Reuters, the Associated Press, the Moscow Times, Kyiv Post, and Tass; others or headlines of others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE 5-20-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  GAZA entry for this date is HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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Russia denies stalling peace talks, says no decision yet on venue. From Reuters. MOSCOW — Russia today rejected Ukrainian and European accusations it was trying to drag out the peace process around Ukraine, but said that no decision had yet been made on a venue for talks when asked if they could be hosted by the Vatican. READ MORE . . .

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Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for first time since Moscow said it drove out Ukrainian forces. From AP. President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region on Tuesday for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said today. Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into the region bordering Ukraine in August 2024. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE, HERE and HERE for second report from AP and others from the Moscow Times and Kyiv Post.

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Moscow airports temporarily halt flights amid drone attacks. From the Moscow Times. Three of Moscow’s four airports temporarily suspended flights today as Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian capital, authorities said. READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian military says it hit Russian semiconductor device plant. From Reuters. KYIV — A Ukrainian drone attack hit a semiconductor devices plant in Russia’s western Oryol region that supplies Russian fighter jet and missile producers. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE and HERE for report from Kyiv Post and the Kyiv Independent. 

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Russian troops strike Ukrainian military airfield, army training camp. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian troops struck a Ukrainian military airfield and an army training camp over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said today in a broader statement. READ MORE . . .

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Links to four pieces of commentary and analysis, all from Consortium News: the first is from May 19, the others from the spring of 2014 and by CN founder Robert Parry; more current CN reports and commentary are accessible by clicking on its name below. (MEDIA 5-14-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  (GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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FROM MAY 19  BBC’s shameful interview with UNRWA chief, by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net / Consortium News  There’s been yet more shameful reporting by BBC News at Ten, with international editor Jeremy Bowen the chief culprit this time. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 4, 2025, and MAY 10, 2014  How Bob Parry covered Odessa fire that sparked a war. From Consortium News. This weekend [of May 3 and 4, 2025] marks the 11th anniversary of 48 ethnic Russians burnt alive by far-right thugs in Odessa, a massacre that spurred independence declarations in Donbass, leading to civil war in Ukraine and Russia’s eventual intervention. Click HERE for Robert Parry’s report of May 10, 2014, and related video.

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FROM APRIL 16, 2014  Ukraine, through the U.S. looking glass, by Robert Parry | Consortium News  The acting president of the coup regime in Kiev announces that he is ordering an “anti-terrorist” operation against pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine, while his national security chief says he has dispatched right-wing ultranationalist fighters . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM APRIL 14, 2014  What’s the matter with John Kerry? by Robert Parry | Consortium News  On Feb. 1, 2013, when John Kerry replaced Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, there might have been some reason to hope that the former Vietnam veteran against the war and the man who conducted serious investigations of U.S. national security crimes in the 1980s would bring some integrity and maturity to U.S. foreign policy . . . READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to four reports: from the Associated Press and Reuters; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their name or initials below, and to commentary from Jonathan-Cook.net. (GAZA 5-19-25 are HERE, or scroll down. MEDIA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.) — MCM

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Strikes on Gaza kill at least 60 people, local officials say, as criticism against Israel mounts, by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Tia Goldenberg | AP  DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza overnight and into today, hitting a family home and a school-turned-shelter, and killing at least 60 people, Palestinian health officials said, as Israel pressed its war against Hamas despite . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from Reuters.

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FROM MAY 19  Britain, Canada, France threaten sanctions against Israel over Gaza, by Muvija M | Reuters  LONDON — The leaders of Britain, Canada and France on Monday threatened sanctions against Israel if it does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from AP.

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FROM MAY 16  Why the wall of silence on the Gaza genocide is finally starting to crack, by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net  Who could have imagined 19 months ago that it would take more than a year and a half of Israel slaughtering and starving Gaza’s children for the first cracks to appear in what has been a rock-solid wall of support for Israel from western establishments. READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to 13 reports: from Reuters, AP, National Public Radio, Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Independent, and Tass, and to commentary from Consortium News and Indian Punchline; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (UKRAINE 5-18-25 is HERE, or scroll down.  MEDIA and GAZA entries for this date are HERE and HERE, or scroll up.) — MCM

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Russia says Ukraine must decide if it will discuss peace accord memorandum, by Dmitry Antonov and Guy Faulconbridge | Reuters  MOSCOW — Russia said today that Ukraine had to decide whether or not it would cooperate in discussing a memorandum ahead of a potential future peace accord that Moscow has discussed with the United States. READ MORE . . .

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Slow progress and no major breakthroughs dampen hopes for Russia-Ukraine peace deal, by Illia Novikov and Yehor Konovalov | AP  KYIV — “It is obvious,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today, “that Russia is trying to buy time to continue the war and occupation” — this after Monday’s phone calls . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE and HERE for reports from NPR and Kyiv Post.

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EU, UK unveil fresh sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet, banking firms, by Olena Hrazhdan | Kyiv Post  The EU has approved its 17th sanctions package against Russia, targeting nearly 200 shadow fleet vessels and “hybrid threats,” European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas announced. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Kyiv Independent.

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Putin confirms to Trump Russia’s focus on fair settlement in Ukraine — Lavrov.  From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed Moscow’s focus on a fair settlement of the conflict in Ukraine following a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who recalled Russia’s firm position “on a fair settlement of the Ukrainian crisis created by the West.” READ MORE . . .

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Russian troops liberate two communities in Ukraine operation over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian troops liberated two communities in the Sumy Region and the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry said today in a broader statement. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY  19  Trump says Russia, Ukraine to start ceasefire talks ‘immediately,’ by Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Vladimir Soldatkin, Max Hunder, Tom Balmforth, Maxim Rodionov, Susan Heavey Rami Ayyub and David Brunstrom | Reuters  MOSCOW / KYIV / WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war, speaking after he held a call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Putin said efforts to end the war . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE and HERE for reports from AP and NPR.

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FROM MAY  19  Zelensky responds to Putin’s call with Trump, by Tim Zadorozhnyy and Oleksiy Sorokin | The Kyiv Independent  President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday rejected Vladimir Putin’s demand to withdraw Ukrainian troops from four partially occupied regions, after the Russian president, after a call with U.S. President Donald Trump, once again failed to agree to a full ceasefire. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY  19  Moscow ready to work with Kiev on memorandum on potential peace treaty — Putin. From Tass. SIRIUS, Federal Territory, Russia —Russia is ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum on a future peace agreement that may include ceasefire issues and principles of the conflict settlement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Russia is ready and . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 19  Rooting out the root causes in Ukraine, by Joe Lauria | Special to Consortium News  It should be no mystery to Western leaders, media and the public what the root causes of the Russia-Unkraine war are. But the West appears too full of itself to bother . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 17  Russia, Ukraine prepare for peace by getting ready for war, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline  May 16 will stand out as a turning point, for good or bad, in the Ukraine conflict. The main thing is . . . READ MORE . . .

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