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Reuters: Japan's embrace of evacuees from Ukraine has been unusual for a country notorious for its aversion towards foreign entanglements and immigrants, but the war has sparked a rare outpouring of public support.

Meduza: BBC News Russia found job ads for “security guards” at an organization that manages residential building maintenance in Moscow. When a correspondent called the number, the person who answered said the ads were really for contract soldiers to go to Ukraine.

Reuters: The Pentagon overestimated the value of the ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine by around $3 billion, a Senate aide and a defense official said on Thursday, an error that may lead the way for more weapons being sent to Kyiv for its defense against Russian forces.

Yahoo News has exclusively obtained an internal U.S. Air Force assessment that concludes it would take only four months to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American-made F-16 fighter jets, a far shorter time frame than what has been repeatedly cited by Pentagon officials.

WP: Much of the weaponry pledged by European leaders this week is unlikely to reach the battlefield until well after the start of the counteroffensive, military experts say, and Europe’s ability to sustain such support into the future remains unclear.

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton: Republican senators introduce bill calling for US withdrawal from New START treaty. The Treaty 'handcuffed America while Vladimir Putin has taken advantage of the treaty’s flaws for years,' says Senator Cotton.

The Moscow Times: Russia has lost over 50,000 scientific researchers in the past five years, a senior member of the Russian Academy of Sciences has said.

Yle: More than a 1,000 Russians who fled the Kremlin’s mobilisation have filed requests for political asylum in Finland and are awaiting the decisions, YLE reports, citing head of the Finnish Interior Ministry’s migration department Sanna Sutter.

Meduza: A site specializing in Vatican news reports that Moscow and Kyiv have agreed to receive Pope Francis’ envoys to discuss a ceasefire. Neither the Ukrainian nor Russian authorities have commented.

Politico: The Biden administration is facing a new and amplified pressure campaign to greenlight the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine, after the U.K. announced it will train Ukrainian fighter pilots and Kyiv ramped up its calls for the warplanes.

AFP: Europe's reference gas price, which soared following the invasion of Ukraine by major producer Russia, briefly dropped under 30 euros on Thursday, reaching the lowest level in nearly two years.

Bloomberg: Russian lawmakers pass measures to permit elections to take place under martial law, as the Kremlin prepares for a series of regional votes amid the war in Ukraine.

Reuters: Prigozhin, the chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, on Thursday accused regular Russian army units of pulling back 570 metres north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, leaving his own fighters' flanks exposed.

Politico: U.S. officials are planning for the growing possibility that the Russia-Ukraine war will turn into a frozen conflict that lasts many years — perhaps decades — and joins the ranks of similar lengthy face-offs in the Korean peninsula, South Asia and beyond.

Novaya-Europe: An unnamed US official told the NYT that the White House opposes the jet handover to Ukraine because the operation is too expensive and will take too much time.

The Insider: After Russia invaded Ukraine, German camera manufacturer Leica Camera AG announced that it would stop shipping its goods into the country and close its company store in Moscow. Contrary to its promise, the company not only continued its deliveries, but also began exporting laser rangefinder binoculars and night vision scopes.

The Guardian: Mariupol. People tell Guardian of ‘primitive’ living standards, Russian propaganda in schools and constant risk of arrest.

Reuters: Moldova is no longer using Russian natural gas or electricity after cutting its dependence since war started in Ukraine, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Thursday.

AFP: Moldova wants EU membership "as soon as possible" as protection against a threat from Russia and hopes for a decision to start negotiations "in the next months," President Maia Sandu told AFP in an interview.

The Insider: A Wagner PMC-controlled firm has rebranded and continued to supply African timber to the EU, according to a report by NGO Earthsight and an investigation by the All Eyes On Wagner project, which monitors the activities of the PMC around the world.

worth mentioning

Russian parliament faction drafting bill to introduce notion of Russophobia to Criminal Code

Ireland opens debate on future of military neutrality

Crimean Tatars Warned Against Protesting on Anniversary of Stalin-Era Deportations

Russian Police Raid Opposition Politicians’ Homes, Detain Activist

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