First, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Tass, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance, a link to an essay on proxy wars published on March 12 by Scheer Post. — MCM
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U.S. releases video of Russian jet dumping fuel on its drone, by Karl Ritter and Dino Hazell | AP KYIV — The Pentagon today released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea. The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone and beginning to release fuel as it passes, the Pentagon said. Dumping the fuel appeared to . . . READ MORE . . .
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Pentagon manages new tensions after a Russian warplane hit an unarmed U.S. drone. Reported by Steve Inskeep and Greg Myre | NPR The top U.S. and Russian defense officials spoke by phone, a rare occurrence during the past year of war in Ukraine. The aim was to bring down tensions after a U.S. drone crashed in the Black Sea. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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Kiev has no plans to leave Artyomovsk despite issues with ammunition supplies – DPR head. From Tass. MOSCOW — Kiev has no plans to withdraw troops from the city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) even though it is facing issues with ammunition supplies, Acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said today. “We don’t see any signs of the enemy planning to simply withdraw troops,” he said, adding that “it’s extremely difficult to supply ammunition and food or bring in any reinforcements” along the only road . . . READ MORE . . .
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Wagner’s convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war and loyalty to their leader, by Filipp Lebedev and Felix Light | Reuters In October last year, a Russian news site published a short video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary army, sitting with four men on a rooftop terrace in the resort town of Gelendzhik, on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Two are missing parts of a leg. A third has lost an arm. They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. “You were an offender, now you’re a war hero,” Prigozhin tells one . . . READ MORE . . .
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A look at one volunteer’s efforts to rescue civilians from Bakhmut. Reported by Frank Langfitt | NPR Kuba Stasiak, a young volunteer from Poland, has braved artillery barrages to evacuate residents from Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and read.
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Ukraine’s birth rate was already dangerously low. Then war broke out. Reported by Elissa Nadworny and Claire Harbage | NPR Important personal decisions across Ukraine have contributed to a long-running trend. Since the early 1990s, Ukrainians have been having fewer and fewer children . Add to that high rates of emigration and mortality — including untold war casualties — and it’s leading to dramatic population decline. Even before last year’s invasion . . . Click HERE to listen and read.
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Ukraine’s death by proxy, by Chris Hedges | Scheer Post / Educate! There are many ways for a state to project power and weaken adversaries, but proxy wars are one of the most cynical. Proxy wars devour the countries they purport to defend. They entice nations or insurgents to fight for geopolitical goals that are ultimately not in their interest. The war in Ukraine . . . READ MORE . . .
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MAY BE CONTINUED