For now, links to nine reports: from the Associated Press, the Kyiv Independent, Reuters, Tass, National Public Radio, the Anadolu Agency, and the Kyiv Post, and to commentary from Mondoweiss via ScheerPost; other news and commentary are accessible by clicking on their names below. (GAZA and UKRAINE entries for Aug. 18 are HERE and HERE.) — MCM

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Ukrainian officials issue an evacuation order for families with children from the city of Pokrovsk, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — Ukrainian authorities today ordered families with children to urgently evacuate the eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army is bearing down after a six-month slog across Ukraine’s Donetsk region following the capture of Avdiivka. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from the Kyiv Idependent.

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Russia says third bridge damaged in Ukrainian incursion in Kursk region, by Dan Peleschuk | Reuters  KYIV — Ukraine said today it was achieving its goals in its two-week-old incursion into Russia’s Kursk region after Moscow confirmed Ukrainian forces had damaged a third bridge after striking two others used to supply troops. Kyiv says it has seized . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s Battlegroup Center liberates Artyomovo community in DPR over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia’s Battlegroup Center liberated the settlement of Artyomovo (called Zaliznoye by Ukraine} in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said today in a broader statement. READ MORE . . .

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FROM AUG. 18  Ukraine’s incursion into Russia may have changed the course of the war. Reported by David Folkenflik | NPR  Strategic studies professor Phillips O’Brien of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland talks about the significance of Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukrainian president says goal of Kursk incursion ‘establishment of buffer zone,’ by Elena Teslova | Anadolu Agency  MOSCOW — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal of the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was to create a “buffer zone,” an area serving to separate Ukraine from Russia and delay Moscow’s military actions. READ MORE . . .

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Russia suspends peace talks efforts after Ukrainian troops’ incursion into Kursk region, by Elena Teslova | Anadolu Agency  MOSCOW — Russia said today that peace talks with Ukraine are currently impossible, citing Moscow’s peace proposal and Kyiv’s incursion into the western Kursk region. Presidential aide Yury Ushakov said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine is now fighting Russia on 3 separate fronts. Reported by A Martínez | NPR  Ukraine’s incursion into Russia opens a third front that Kyiv is counting on to build leverage and morale. The Financial Times’s Ukraine correspondent Christopher Miller gives his perspective. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Russian personnel losses break 600,000 mark, says Ukraine. From Kyiv Post. Russia’s personnel losses during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian estimations, now exceed 600,000, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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FROM AUG. 16  A comparative study of the New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza, by Writers Against the War in Gaza | Mondoweiss / ScheerPost  “Words like ‘slaughter,’ ‘massacre’ and ‘carnage’ often convey more emotion than information,” wrote New York Times standards desk editor Susan Wessling in a November 2023 memo to the staff of the “paper of record.” READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED