Free Republic

Russia’s defense minister on Wednesday boasted about the country’s military prowess on the battlefield in Ukraine—and then shrugged when asked if Moscow would win. “The troops are engaged in maintaining an active defense in the necessary and indispensable areas. We are firmly defending what we need to defend right now. But the main task is to smash [Ukrainian] equipment,” Sergei Shoigu told a reporter on state-controlled TV. He appeared caught off guard when the reporter concluded the interview with the question, “Will we win?” Staring off into the distance for a long pause, Shoigu shrugged before saying simply, “We have...

Chechen fighters under the command of Vladimir Putin crony Ramzan Kadyrov claim Ukraine has been abducting wounded Russian troops from the battlefield using giant drones equipped with pincers. A member of the Akhmat battalion was quoted by Russian media as calling the drones “Baba Yaga”—an ogress or witch from Slavic folklore who snatches and eats children. Except according to him, this battlefield “Baba Yaga” also has massive claws capable of carrying troops off into the sky. “

The Kremlin is suddenly concerned with saving face ahead of an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive. After spending the last year reassuring Russians that victory is inevitable in the war against Ukraine, the Kremlin is now frantically working to lower expectations—and rolling out a contingency plan to lessen the impact of a humiliating defeat. A new manual prepared by Russia’s presidential administration and distributed to the Kremlin’s army of propagandists contains some surprising instructions: Do not “underestimate” Ukraine’s impending counter-offensive and do not spread the idea that Kyiv is somehow “not ready” for it. That’s according to the independent news outlet Meduza,...

“The leader’s entourage has not ruled out that he will lose the war, be stripped of power, and have to urgently evacuate somewhere.” Putin’s inner circle first considered a plan to evacuate to China, Gallyamov said, but later thought better of it, fearing the chances of “cooperation” from the Chinese were slim, especially since they despise “losers.” Now, he said, the focus has shifted to either Argentina or Venezuela, with Putin ally Igor Sechin currently overseeing an evacuation plan for the latter country. The plan is so far along, Gallyamov said, that Sechin’s “right-hand man” at Rosneft “formally resigned” from...

Russian’s Vladimir Putin sparked the wrath of his own people by drafting hundreds of thousands to join the war against Ukraine, and now it seems some of those men were sent not to fight the so-called “enemy” but to “snuff out” any of the Russian troops who dare to retreat. Ukrainian intelligence on Thursday released an audio recording that appears to capture in disturbing detail the mayhem and internal rifts between Russian troops on the battlefield. In the five-minute clip, described as an intercepted phone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife, the man says he and the other...

Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine hit a turning point Wednesday—but not the kind the Kremlin wanted. Instead, the Russian leader may have inadvertently put the final nail in the coffin of his decades-long reign with his bombshell announcement that hundreds of thousands of citizens will be called up to face likely death in the war next door. Advertisement While Putin’s most loyal allies rallied around the leader with calls for unity and defense officials bent over backward to provide dubious assurances to the general public, ordinary Russians rushed for the exits and took to the streets. Airline tickets...

Russia is said to be canceling plans to send new troops to Ukraine as more of its service members are reportedly refusing to fight following humiliating losses on the battlefield. Ukrainian intelligence reported Wednesday that members of the 5th Separate Tank Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces are surrendering their military benefits in order to resign for their refusal to fight. “At the same time, a catastrophic shortage of personnel is seen in the units taking part in the war against Ukraine,” the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said. ... In the latest audio released by Ukraine’s defense...

Nearly five months into its senseless war against Ukraine, Russia has concocted a wild new explanation for why the Kremlin’s plans for a quick takeover fell apart so spectacularly—because Ukrainian troops were turned into superhuman killing machines during “secret experiments” in American-run biolabs, of course. Never mind the myriad reports of Russian troops refusing to fight by the thousands, sabotaging their own shoddy equipment and even deliberately wounding themselves to abandon the war, Russian lawmakers claim the real setback for Moscow was “drugged up” Ukrainian soldiers. That claim was made Monday by two Russian lawmakers heading up a commission to...

Nearly five months into its senseless war against Ukraine, Russia has concocted a wild new explanation for why the Kremlin’s plans for a quick takeover fell apart so spectacularly—because Ukrainian troops were turned into superhuman killing machines during “secret experiments” in American-run biolabs, of course. Never mind the myriad reports of Russian troops refusing to fight by the thousands, sabotaging their own shoddy equipment and even deliberately wounding themselves to abandon the war, Russian lawmakers claim the real setback for Moscow was “drugged up” Ukrainian soldiers. That claim was made Monday by two Russian lawmakers heading up a commission to...

Two high-ranking Russian officers have been caught blasting Moscow’s failures in Ukraine and railing against military leadership, according to a new report. Two high-ranking Russian military officers have been caught shit-talking Kremlin leadership in unimaginably colorful language. The two colonels blast the defense minister and lash out at that Vladimir Putin for his poor strategy in Ukraine, according to a leaked recording of a phone conversation.While Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies have routinely reported on plunging morale among rank-and-file Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, many of whom have been heard complaining of dysfunction in intercepted communications, the latest audio appears...

After telling his friend that Ukrainian forces “tore apart” a column of Russian forces sent along with his own unit, he described complete disarray among the Russian military, with 50 percent of the unit suffering from frostbite on their feet. Two Russian soldiers have been caught venting about Putin’s “bulls***” war against Ukraine in an intercepted phone call as devastating losses reportedly led one soldier to drive over his colonel with a tank. “Basically, it’s a s***show here, I’ll put it that way,” an unnamed soldier near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine can be heard telling a colleague in a recording...