First, links to reports from Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, National Public Radio, and teleSUR; find others by clicking on the organizations’ names below. — MCM
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‘Relief for the World’ as Ukraine grain ship leaves Odesa, by Natalia Zinets | Reuters * First Ukraine grain ship bound for Lebanon * Turkey says more ships to follow * Russian missiles pound port of Mykolaiv | KYIV — A ship carrying grain left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon today under a safe passage agreement, Ukrainian and Turkish officials said, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago. Ukraine’s foreign minister called it “a day of relief for the world”, especially for countries threatened by food shortages and hunger because of the disrupted . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine seeks to retake the south, tying down Russian forces. From the Associated Press. Even as Moscow’s war machine crawls across Ukraine’s east, trying to achieve the Kremlin’s goal of securing full control over the country’s industrial heartland, Ukrainian forces are scaling up attacks to reclaim territory in the Russian-occupied south. The Ukrainians have used American-supplied rocket launchers to strike bridges and military infrastructure in the south, forcing Russia to divert its forces from the Donbas in the east to counter . . . READ MORE . . .
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Moscow blacklists 39 more Britons. From Agence France-Presse. Russia today said it was blacklisting 39 more British citizens, including Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and former prime minister David Cameron. London has been one of Kyiv’s most vocal supporters after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24. Russia’s foreign ministry said the [new batch of] citizens listed, including journalists, “contribute to the hostile course of London aimed at the demonisation of our country and its international isolation. . . . The choice in favour of confrontation is the conscious decision of the British political establishment . . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine: grain leaves port and calls grow for a probe into POWs’ deaths. Reported by A Martínez and Tim Mak | National Public Radio The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain leaves the port of Odesa. Ukraine and Russia exchange accusations over who bombed a prison colony holding Ukrainian POWs in occupied Donbas. Click HERE to listen and, tomorrow, read.
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1st ship with grain leaves Ukraine’s Black Sea port. From teleSUR. The first cargo ship carrying grain has left the Black Sea port of Odesa in southern Ukraine, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said today. The vessel Razoni under the flag of Sierra Leone carrying 26,000 tons of corn is bound for the port of Tripoli in Lebanon, Kubrakov said, adding that the ship will move along a maritime corridor, the security of which was guaranteed by Türkiye and the United Nations (UN). The resumption . . . READ MORE . . .
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Putin’s Stalin-era surveillance tactics. Cheryl Corley of NPR speaks with investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov about his recent piece in Foreign Affairs entitled “Putin’s New Police State.” Click HERE to listen and read. Find Soldatov’s article HERE.
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TO BE CONTINUED