From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces attacked Russia's hold on the   
   southern city of Kherson on Thursday while fighting intensified in the   
   country's east. The battles came amid reports that Moscow-appointed   
   authorities in the city have abandoned it, joining tens of thousands of   
   residents who fled to other Russia-held areas.   
      
   Ukrainian forces were surrounding Kherson from the west and attacking   
   Russia’s foothold on the west bank of the Dnieper River, which divides the   
   region and the country.   
      
   As the battles unfolded, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow   
   has no intention to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.   
      
   “We see no need for that,” Putin said at a conference of international   
   foreign policy experts. “There is no point in that, neither political nor   
   military.”   
      
   The Russian leader also sought to cast the conflict as part of efforts by   
   the West to secure global domination. He accused the U.S. and its allies   
   of trying to dictate their terms to other nations in a “dangerous and   
   bloody” domination game.   
      
   Putin, who sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, has described Western   
   support for Ukraine as part of broad efforts by Washington and its allies   
   to enforce what they call a rules-based world order that only foments   
   chaos.   
      
   Meanwhile, Russia warned that Moscow could target Western commercial   
   satellites used for military purposes in support of Ukraine, and a Foreign   
   Ministry spokeswoman accused the United States of pursuing “thoughtless   
   and mad” escalation.   
      
   Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued that Washington should take an approach   
   more like it did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Cold   
   War superpowers stepped back from the brink of nuclear confrontation.   
      
   “The more the U.S. is drawn into supporting the Kyiv regime on the   
   battlefield, the more they risk provoking a direct military confrontation   
   between the biggest nuclear powers fraught with catastrophic   
   consequences,” Zakharova said.   
      
   In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continued to bombard the city of   
   Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, making slow gains toward the center.   
      
   The deputy head of Russia’s delegation at a U.N. arms control panel,   
   Konstantin Vorontsov, described the use of U.S. and other Western   
   commercial satellites for military purposes during the fighting as   
   “extremely dangerous.”   
      
   “The quasi-civilian infrastructure could be a legitimate target for a   
   retaliatory strike,” Vorontsov warned.   
      
   https://infotel.ca/newsitem/eu-russia-ukraine-war/cp818971895   
      
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