For today, links to reports from Sputnik Africa, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, Tass, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance and Oronoco Tribune, commentary from Sputnik Africa. — MCM
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Paris says ready to conclude agreements on providing security guarantees to Kiev. From Sputnik Africa. PARIS — France is ready to conclude agreements with Ukraine on providing it with security guarantees together with NATO partners, the French Foreign Ministry said today. On Monday, the American media reported that the United States, together with the UK, Germany and France would all become guarantors of . . . READ MORE . . .
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Civilians flee, Kremlin ‘concerned’ after Ukraine border clashes. From AFP. Moscow today voiced deep concern on the second day of the most serious armed incursion to date over its border with Ukraine, after explosive strikes forced civilians to flee. Russia said the Belgorod border region had come under sustained artillery and mortar ire during fighting with a group that it claimed had crossed from Ukraine. READ MORE . . .
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Russia says pushed back, ‘destroyed’ Ukraine border assault group. From AFP. Russia said today its armed forces had beaten back and then wiped out a group of militants and military hardware that were dispatched to its southern Belgorod region from Ukraine. The incursion was the most serious attack on Russian soil since the beginning of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, prompting . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia fights alleged incursion from Ukraine for second day, reports more drone attacks, by Susie Blann | AP KYIV — Russian troops and security forces today fought for a second day against an alleged cross-border raid that Moscow blamed on Ukrainian military saboteurs but which Kyiv portrayed as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian . . . READ MORE . . .
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Pope’s Ukraine peace envoy blasts war as a ‘pandemic’ that affects everyone, by Nicole Winfield | AP ROME — Pope Francis’ peace envoy for Ukraine, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s conflict-mediation efforts, today blasted war as a “pandemic” and said all Christians are called to be peacemakers. In his first public comments since being named Ukraine envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi called . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine reaches agreement with Norway for more NASAMS supplies. From Tass. A Ukrainian government delegation visiting Oslo has agreed with Norway on additional deliveries of units of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), “and other essential weapons,” Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada [parliament] Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said today. READ MORE . . .
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Jester or rebel? Mercenary Prigozhin lays bare the strains of Putin’s war, by Guy Faulconbridge | Reuters MOSCOW — Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday delivered President Vladimir Putin one of the few battlefield victories of the president’s 15-month war in Ukraine. Even then, Russia’s most powerful mercenary could not resist breaking the taboos . . . READ MORE . . .
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African initiative on Ukraine settlement cements Africa’s new global role, by Muhammad Nooh Osman | Sputnik Africa South African president Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed last week that Moscow and Kiev had agreed to receive a mission of African leaders with their peace initiative for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later confirmed that the African mission was planning to visit Russia in mid-June or early July. The mission . . . READ MORE . . .