For today, links to reports from Tass, NBC News, Reuters, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Today’s GAZA entry is HERE.) — MCM

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U.S., EU start talking to Ukraine about peace talks with Russia — NBC. From Tass. NEW YORK — U.S. and European officials have started talking to their Ukrainian counterparts about possible peace talks with Russia and what Kiev might have to give up to reach a deal, NBC television has reported, citing U.S. officials. “The conversations . . . READ MORE . . .

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U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say, by Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee and Kristen Welker | NBC News  WASHINGTON — U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to a current senior U.S. official and a former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions. Some of the conversations, which officials described as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Nine killed in Ukraine attack in Russian-controlled part of Kherson, local governor says. From Reuters. A Ukrainian missile attack on Friday on an employment centre in a Russian-occupied town in the southern region of Kherson killed nine people and injured nine, the region’s Russia-appointed governor was quoted as saying. Russian news agencies quoted Governor Vladimir Saldo as . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine minister says he wants to turn his country into a weapons production hub for the West, by Hanna Arhirova and Nebi Qena | AP  KYIV — Ukraine’s newly appointed head of defense industry says he is working tirelessly to ramp up local arms production and wants to turn the country into a weapons production hub for the West. Oleksandr Kamysyhin, the minister for strategic industries of Ukraine, said . . . READ MORE . . .