First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Finally for today, commentary from Consortium News and Indian Punchline. — MCM
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Russian cruise missile attack on Ukraine city of Lviv kills 4 people and injures dozens, by Mstyslav Chernov | AP LVIV, Ukraine — Russia fired cruise missiles today at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least four people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces . . . READ MORE . . .
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Belarus leader Lukashenko says Prigozhin back in Russia, by Guy Faulconbridge | Reuters * Lukashenko says Wagner boss Prigozhin no longer in Belarus * Terms of Wagner relocation to Belarus unresolved * Uncertainty surrounds deal that ended armed mutiny in Russia | MINSK — The mutinous head of Russia’s Wagner group is no longer in Belarus and it is not clear if his fighters will move there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said today, raising questions . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of planning to attack Zaporizhzhia power plant. Reported by Scott Detrow, Greg Myre, Charles Maynes and Geoff Brumfiel | NPR Ukraine and Russia each say the other is planning to sabotage the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They’ve been trading accusations over the past year, but now they say an attack is imminent. Click HERE to listen and read.
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Kyiv says ‘tension’ around Zaporizhzhia plant ‘decreasing.’ From AFP. “Tension is gradually decreasing,” Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Ukrainian army spokeswoman said today, adding that this was thanks to the “powerful work” of Kyiv’s military and diplomatic efforts “with our foreign partners, who put pressure” on Russia. Fears for . . . READ MORE . . .
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To protect against Russian airstrikes, Ukraine’s defenders ‘shoot and scoot.’ Reported by Greg Myre | NPR Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, has several layers of air defense. Small Stinger crews form the front-line, partly because they’re so mobile, and also because their missiles are much cheaper than the alternatives. In the 1980s in Afghanistan, U.S.-provided Stingers were hugely effective in taking down Soviet helicopters and . . . Click HERE to listen and read.
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NATO contingent may be deployed to Ukraine after Vilnius summit — politician. From Tass. MELITOPOL — A NATO contingent may be deployed to Ukraine after the alliance’s summit due to be held in Vilnius on July 11-12, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, said today. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said earlier . . . READ MORE . . .
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Russia, Ukraine differ in accounts of fighting near Bakhmut. From Reuters. Russia said on Wednesday its forces had struck three Ukrainian army groups near Bakhmut, but Kyiv said its forces, despite limited control in the long-contested city, had the Russians all but pinned down. Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister, Hanna Maliar, also . . . READ MORE . . .
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NATO’s scorched earth in Ukraine, by Tony Kevin | Consortium News There is general acceptance in NATO that the Ukrainian summer offensives in Zaporizhie and again now in Bakhmut have failed to dent Russian defences, with horrific mortality in Ukrainian manpower and enormous destruction of Western-supplied equipment. The West seems content to let . . . READ MORE . . .
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Failed Russian coup through a U.S. looking glass, by M.K. Bhadrakumar | Indian Punchline / Consortium News The Russian people are heads and shoulders above the American public when it comes to political erudition — a legacy of the extraordinary heights of social formation in the Soviet era. That is why the Orwellian media censorship that is happening in America today cannot work in the Russian society where people are literate enough to glean facts — unlike . . . READ MORE . . .