For now, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. Then, links to two articles by author and blogger Stephen Gowans; the first concerns journalist Eva Bartlett, a subject of commentary posted here yesterday; in the second, Gowan describes how he sees an outlawed Ukrainian communist party as officially sizing up Western and Russian motives in the war.  — MCM

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Ukrainian rescue teams hunt for survivors in Vinnytsia, by Hanna Arhirova | The Associated Press VINNYTSIA, Ukraine — Rescue teams with sniffer dogs combed through debris in a central Ukrainian city today looking for people still missing after a Russian missile strike Thursday that killed at least 23 people. Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded other sites in a painstaking push to wrest territory from Ukraine and try to soften unbending morale of its leaders, civilians and troops as the war nears the five-month mark. The cruise missile strikes on Vinnytsia launched by a Russian submarine on Thursday were the latest incidents to take civilian . . . READ MORE . . .

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Updates from Vinnitsyia, Ukraine after a deadly rocket attack. Reported by Brian Mann | National Public Radio U.S. officials say there’s also growing evidence Russia is forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians from territory they’ve captured. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.

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Search Operations Continue After Deadly Russian Strikes on Ukraine’s Vinnytsia, by Frankie Taggart and Cecile Feuillatre | Agence France-Presse Ukrainian rescuers today continued search operations in the central city of Vinnytsia, where Russian strikes killed at least 23 people, including children. The charred remains of upturned cars surrounded by burnt debris were seen in images distributed by officials following the attack on Thursday on the city hundreds of kilometers from the front lines. In his daily address to the nation late Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the toll was likely to rise. Dozens are still missing and many hospitalized in critical . . . READ MORE . . .

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Briton dies in detention in breakaway east Ukraine region. From Reuters. — A Briton who was detained by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine and accused of being a mercenary has died, an official in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said today. The death of Paul Urey, 45, was confirmed by a British charity which described him as a humanitarian worker and denied he had any military background. Urey was captured in southeast Ukraine in late April while attempting to help a woman who had been given permission to travel to Britain leave Russian-controlled territory, said . . . READ MORE . . .

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What’s motivating the foreigners who have gone to Ukraine to fight against Russia.  Reported by Ryan Lucas | NPR The U.S. State Department says it is “aware of unconfirmed reports of two U.S. citizens captured in Ukraine.” They are believed to among the thousands of foreigners who have gone to fight in Ukraine. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Eva Bartlett and the Pleasures and Displeasures of ‘Independent Journalism,’ by Stephen Gowans | What’s Left When I recently described a report Eva wrote from Mariupol, I said it was propaganda for the billionaires’ government of Russia. I do believe that that is what it is. I don’t mean, however, that she is in the employ of the Russian government; only that her agenda is the same. My motive in impugning Eva’s report was to raise legitimate questions that are all too infrequently asked about the kind of journalism Eva practices, and about journalism more generally. The first question is . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine Communists’ View of the War in their Country and How to End It, by Stephen Gowans | What’s Left The Union of Communists of Ukraine (UCU), a communist party banned in Ukraine, published a statement on the war in their country on SolidNet, subsequently republished in English on The Defense of Communism site on July 12, 2022. The following is a summary of the party’s analysis, which closely follows the classical Marxist view of imperialism. The UCU characterizes the war in Ukraine as a clash of two imperialist alliances: One led by the United States, and the other led by Russia. The UCU contests the reasons offered for war on both sides. From the Russia side . . . READ MORE . . .