First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. Then, via Popular Resistance, a link to an essay drawing from an interview last week and a Reuters report this week. Finally, via Consortium News, a link to a grim 2023 outlook by the same close observer of the conflict who appeared at the end of yesterday’s entry. — MCM
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Scale of alleged torture, detentions by Russian forces in Kherson emerges, by Anthony Deutsch, Anna Voitenko and Olena Harmash | Reuters The methods of the alleged physical torture administered by occupying Russian forces have included electric shocks to genitals and other parts of the body, beatings and various forms of suffocation, according to interviews with more than . . . READ MORE . . .
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In Ukraine, power plant workers fight to save their ‘child,’ by Hanna Arhirova | AP A POWER PLANT, Ukraine — Around some of their precious transformers — the ones that still work, buzzing with electricity — the power plant workers have built protective shields using giant concrete blocks, so they have a better chance of surviving the next Russian missile bombardment. Blasted out windows in . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine says fighting to hold Soledar, but situation ‘difficult’. From AFP. Ukraine said today its forces were fighting to retain control of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region but cautioned it was coming up against “difficult” resistance from Russian troops. The Kremlin has made capturing the industrial region of Donetsk . . . READ MORE . . .
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DPR says taking of Soledar allows direct fire at Artyomovsk. From Tass. MOSCOW — Andrey Bayevsky, a lawmaker at the legislature of the Donetsk People’s Republic and a colonel of the People’s Militia, said today that the main benefit of capturing Soledar is the opportunity to open direct fire on Artyomovsk. “Seizing control of Soledar means . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine and Russia agree — Russia is fighting NATO, by Moon of Alabama | Educate! Russia and Ukraine have publicly agreed on a fundamental and important issue. The question is who Russia is fighting in Ukraine. During an interview available on YouTube Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister of Ukraine, answered that the Ukraine has “already become a de facto member of the NATO alliance.” English language subtitles can be generated by autotranslate READ MORE . . .
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2023 outlook for Ukraine, by Scott Ritter | Consortium News As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches, the fact that Ukraine has made it this far into the conflict represents both a moral and, to a lesser extent, a military victory. From the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to the director of the C.I.A., most senior military and intelligence officials in the West assessed in early 2022 . . . READ MORE . . .