For today, links to reports from Agence France-Presse and Reuters, and to commentary from the Orinoco Tribune via Popular Resistance; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Russia launches offensive into Kharkiv region, Ukraine says. From AFP.  Russia has launched a cross-border ground offensive into Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and a high-ranking Ukrainian military source said today. Kyiv’s forces pushed back Russian forces from most of the Kharkiv region in 2022, the same . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian missile strike sets houses ablaze in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, officials say, by Vitalii Hnidyi | Reuters  KHARKIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv injured two people and set three houses on fire in today’s early hours, local officials said. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, just 30 km from the Russian border, is . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine peace summit pushes neutral Swiss toward Western embrace, by Dave Graham | Reuters  ZURICH — An upcoming Ukraine peace summit, ostensibly the most ambitious bid in years by neutral Switzerland to mediate a major conflict, is instead showing how Swiss economic and security interests increasingly align with Western Europe over Russia. READ MORE . . .

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FROM APRIL 23  Anti-coup rebellion in eastern Ukraine completes 10 years as Russian forces continue advancing in Donetsk, by Dmitri Kovalevich | Orinoco Tribune / Popular Resistance  April 2014 was a pivotal month for the people of the Donbass region in what was then still part of Ukraine. It was then that the governing regime was newly installed in Kiev by a coup d’état on February 20/21embarked on . . . READ MORE . . .