Free Republic

Iran's massive missile and drone barrage targeting Israel over the weekend is similar to Russian tactics used in frequent strikes on Ukraine, according to a new assessment, after Iran launched its first-ever direct strike from its own territory into Israel. "Iran's use of drones and missiles shows how Iran is learning from the Russians to develop increasingly dangerous and effective strike packages against Israel," the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Saturday. Russia has launched thousands of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine in nearly 26 months of all-out war in the country....

This week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin all but confirmed a blockbuster report in the Financial Times from late March indicating that the Biden administration was prepared to sacrifice Ukraine’s battlefield objectives if they imperiled his own reelection prospects. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Austin scolded Ukraine for executing long-range attacks on Russian oil refineries. “Ukraine is better served in going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight,” the Pentagon chief said. But Austin gave away the game when he fretted that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian infrastructure “could have a knock-on effect.

The exhaustion of US-provided air defenses resulting from delays in the resumption of US military aid to Ukraine combined with improvements in Russian strike tactics have led to the increasing effectiveness of Russian missile and drone strikes against Ukraine without a dramatic increase in the size or frequency of such strikes. Russian forces have conducted two sets of large missile strikes since intensifying missile and drone strikes at the end of December 2023: a series of strikes primarily targeting industrial and military facilities and critical infrastructure between December 2023 and February 2024 and an ongoing series of strikes heavily targeting...

A top Ukrainian commander has warned Russia's forces are ready to “swallow” Europe whole, as he urged Western leaders to prepare their defences for Putin's army. Deputy commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade, Maksym Zhorin, made the remarks during an interview he gave from an undisclosed location in the southern Donetsk region, and cautioned European allies not to be complacent about Russia's military ambitions. “Create serious defence systems that could counteract Russia because it will undoubtedly open its mouth and try to swallow the rest of Europe,” he told The Independent. His comments follow a slew of warnings from Ukrainian...

Russia and NATO are now in "direct confrontation", the Kremlin said as the U.S.-led alliance marked its 75th anniversary on Thursday. NATO's successive waves of eastern enlargement are a fixation of President Vladimir Putin, who went to war in Ukraine two years ago with the stated aim of preventing the alliance from coming closer to Russia's borders. Instead, the war has galvanised NATO, which has expanded again with the entry of Finland and Sweden. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "In fact, relations have now slipped to the level of direct confrontation." NATO was "already involved in the conflict surrounding...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday to lower the conscription age to 25 in a bid to expand the ranks of his military ahead of what promises to be another tough year defending against Russia. With the Spring Thaw quickly approaching, fighting on the ground in the war between Russia and Ukraine is likely to again intensify. Last year, Kyiv launched a highly touted yet ultimately unsuccessful “counter-offensive” attempting to recapture lands seized by Moscow. This year, with dwindling manpower and alleged shortages of weapons and munitions, Ukraine appears content with digging in, while Moscow appears to...

The US must be aware of and avoid Russian disinformation operations at all costs if it wants to maintain its Western values and help Ukraine win the war, conflict analysts argue."Basic facts are in question daily as the Kremlin floods the Western debate with its narratives," analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a March 27 report.The analysts said that "the notion that the war is unwinnable because of Russia's dominance is a Russian information operation, which gives us a glimpse of the Kremlin's real strategy and only real hope of success."For years, Russia has...

<p>The U.S. and other Western countries are considering transferring to NATO a U.S.-led multinational group that coordinates the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, one of several new proposals that could help maintain the flow of arms to Kyiv under a second Donald Trump presidency.</p>

One of Beijing's enduring hobbies is accusing Washington of violating or abusing international law. This selective outrage is justifiably ignored, given China’s unwillingness to abide by international law and disregard for U.N. arbitration concerning demarcation in the South China Sea. “International law with Chinese characteristics” was easily mocked and ignored when American deterrence and international safeguards stymied Beijing’s ambitions. Unfortunately, that security architecture is unraveling. In 2009, China began to make expansive claims vis-à-vis the South China Sea when it unveiled its infamous nine-dash line, which claimed vast swathes of maritime territory. In 2016, the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration...

Russia cannot defeat Ukraine or the West - and will likely lose - if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin. The West’s existing and latent capability dwarfs that of Russia. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of NATO countries, non-NATO European Union states, and our Asian allies is over $63 trillion.[1] The Russian GDP is on the close order of $1.9 trillion.[2] Iran and North Korea add little in terms of materiel support. China is enabling Russia, but it is not mobilized on behalf of Russia and is unlikely to do so.[3] If we lean in and...

"Ukraine has not lost and there is no reason for Ukraine to lose. Russians are adapting for a long war effort in Ukraine, but they are not the Red Army hordes wrapped in the triumphant banners of World War II victories that Putin and his propagandists pretend them to be," the think tank said. The ISW said the number of Russian fatalities likely exceeds those killed in the Soviet-Afghan war. Russia has often used costly "human wave" tactics to achieve its military objectives in Ukraine. More Russian soldiers are likely to have died seizing the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka than...