First, links to reports from Agence France-Presse, Tass, the Kyiv Independent, the Kyiv Post, National Public Radio, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Ukraine says it shot down three Russian Su-34 fighters. From AFP. Ukraine’s military said it shot down three Russian fighter-bombers Friday in the south of the country. In his nightly address on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine loses up tp 90 troops in Zaporozhye area in past day — Russian Defense Ministry. From Tass. MOSCOW —. Russian forces hit Ukrainian troops and equipment near Malaya Tokmachka, Verbovoye and Rabotino in the Zaporozhye area in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement released today. READ MORE . . .

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Netherlands to prepare 18 F-16s for delivery to Ukraine. From the Kyiv Independent. The Netherlands will start preparing the initial 18 F-16 jets for their delivery to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday, following a call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The Netherlands and Denmark led the way . . . READ MORE . . .

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NATO chief declares ‘strategic defeat’ for Putin but Ukraine urges caution. From Kyiv Post. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says he believes Russia “has lost Ukraine forever” as a result of its full-scale invasionand is no longer capable of achieving its war aims. This marked a “big strategic defeat . . . READ MORE . . .

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Understanding the push behind more U.S. aid to Ukraine. Scott Simon of NPR asks Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum about giving seized Russian assets to Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and  read.

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The war took away their limbs. Now bionic prostheses empower wounded Ukrainian soldiers, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  Russia’s war on Ukraine has created a massive need for prosthetic limbs. An estimated 20,000 Ukrainians have had amputations since the war started in February 2022, many of them soldiers who lost arms or legs due to . . . READ MORE . . .