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Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities on Tuesday in favour of becoming part of Russia after five days of voting in so-called referendums that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham. Hastily arranged votes had taken place in four areas - the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and to the south Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - that make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory. Luhansk authorities said 98.4% of people there had voted to join Russia. In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian-appointed official put the figure at 93.1%. In Kherson, the head of the voting committee put...

The Ukrainian army’s offensive continues, and the Russian army’s defeat or “regrouping” in Kharkiv is having an impact across the board. Now, no one knows where the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive will stop. With the loss of strategic locations such as Izum, the Russian army is considered to be likely to abandon the entire Kharkov. Of course, even so, I think it will be difficult to hold back. Many of the Russian troops attacked by the Ukrainian army, whether they were regular Russian troops, Donbas militia or Chechen troops, were on the verge of collapse and fled. Some analysts believe that...

This is my vanity update on the Ukraine-Russian war. My information is primarily sourced from the many Russian accounts I follow on telegram and Scott Ritter. The Ukraine made a successful counter attack on Russia and reclaimed vast tracts of land. This attack was organized by NATO and it had Ukrainian troops who were NATO trained and equipped. In particular, the HIMARS systems provided by the Americans have been critical to helping Ukraine. My rough understanding is that these allow for longer range attacks on Russian positions. The good news for Russia is that they lost very few troops…the bad...

Moscow’s forces began evacuating a major city in southern Ukraine and Kyiv’s shot down an Iranian-made Russian drone Tuesday, as Ukraine’s lightning counter-offensive continued. Russian troops were seen fleeing from Melitopol, a city in the southern portion of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, exiled mayor Ivan Federov said on social media. “The occupiers ran from Melitopol towards the temporarily occupied Crimea,” Federov said on the messaging app Telegram. He added that “columns of military equipment” from Melitopol were seen passing through Chonhar, some 70 miles to the southwest and bordering Crimea. “This was expected — the rapid Ukrainian offensive leaves them no...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his forces have reclaimed 6,000 square kilometers of occupied territory from Russia since starting a major counteroffensive last month. Western media is presenting events near Kharkiv as an absolute rout of Russian forces, with other sources cautioning there’s little that can be verified, also amid the question of whether regained territory can actually be held and permanently controlled by Ukraine. Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov himself admitted in a Monday Financial Times report that a prime worry remains the ability to hold on to the territory amid superior Russian munitions and supplies. “A counter-offensive...

Brutal realizations have been raining upon the Kremlin’s top propagandists—and when it rains, it pours. The same pundits who used to threaten NATO countries with nuclear strikes are begrudgingly acknowledging that Russia’s Armed Forces have suffered a series of humiliating setbacks in Ukraine. Appearing on Russia’s NTV show The Meeting Place on Monday, policy analyst Viktor Olevich surmised: “Unfortunately, the situation is difficult. Can we say that the Russian forces moved closer to meeting the goals and carrying out the tasks set by the president at the beginning of the special operation—or did they get further away? Obviously, we’re now...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused peace talks with Russia just days prior to the war, according to reports.Zelensky's adamant refusal to accept German-brokered peace talks with Russia, which ultimately resulted in large-scale killings and massive destruction in Ukraine, has earned him brickbats from people across the globe.As per the report published in the Wall Street Journal, it is evident that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had extended an offer for peace days before Russia launched the attack on Ukraine but the Ukrainian President did not pay any heed.

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

At the NATO summit in Madrid, Finland was invited to join the alliance. What does this mean for Finland? If Russian President Vladimir Putin breaches the 830-mile Finnish border, the United States will rise to Helsinki's defense and fight Russia on Finland's side. What does Finland's membership in NATO mean for America? If Putin makes a military move into Finland, the U.S. will go to war against the world's largest nation with an arsenal of between 4,500 and 6,000 battlefield and strategic nuclear weapons. No Cold War president would have dreamed of making such a commitment -- to risk the...

Throughout his 20-plus year rule, Vladimir Putin has consolidated power through graft, intimidation, manipulation of the Russian legal system, and forcefully silencing critics. Putin’s ability to sustain subservience and loyalty to his authority is no small feat, especially in a political culture of ruthless power politics. His reputation as a master tactician abroad has also been carefully cultivated, if not exaggerated.

Temperatures would plunge in a bigger shift than the last Ice Age and crops would fail around the world after nuclear war erupted, a study has shown. The after-effects would be long-lasting with oceans taking hundreds of years to recover, and fishing devastated, the researchers warn. Professor Cheryl Harrison, of Louisiana State University, said: "It doesn't matter who is bombing whom. It can be India and Pakistan or NATO and Russia. Once the smoke is released into the upper atmosphere, it spreads globally and affects everyone." In all the simulated scenarios, nuclear firestorms would release soot and smoke into the...

-At least 20 dead, including three children, and 90 hurt after three Russian rockets struck city of Vinnytsya -Office block was badly damaged in Thursday morning attack, which also torched vehicles in nearby car park -Zelensky called strike 'terrorism', saying there are no military targets in city which is 450 mm the miles from the front -It is the sixth Russian strike in a little over two weeks to hit a purely civilian target, with scores of people killed At least 20 people - including three children - are dead and 90 wounded after Russian rockets hit another Ukrainian city...

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

The lower house of the Russian parliament will gather on July 15 for an extraordinary session, its council decided on Monday, just days after President Vladimir Putin warned that he had not even started to get serious in the war in Ukraine. Putin used a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday to dare the United States and its allies to try to defeat Russia in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Parliamentary leaders all thanked Putin for his decisions.

It became known about the liquidation of the Russian colonel, commander of the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian Army Sergey Kens. As Censor.NET informs, Colonel Anatoliy Shtirlitz announced this on Twitter. -In Kherson direction, Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed two command posts of Russian army, - OC "South" -Armed Forces liquidated commander of Russian 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. PHOTO -Ukraine’s Armed Forces already eliminate 36,900 Russian invaders. INFOGRAPHICS. INFOGRAPHICS -Ukrainian soldiers liquidated Deputy Commander of 83rd Airborne Brigade of occupying Guards Lieutenant Colonel Slabtsov. PHOTO -Commander of 6th company of 57th motorized infantry brigade of Armed Forces of Russian...

Nova Kakhovka, Ukrainian troops destroyed the ammunition depot of the Russian Armed Forces The likely culprit is "HIMARS". Reports of AFU strikes on targets in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, using American-made HIMARS MLRS.

The unrecognized President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko may be preparing for a revolt by his military after they expressed disagreement with Russia's war against Ukraine. Local commandos called his decision on the possible dispatch of troops "suicide in its purest form." Senior officers of the fifth brigade of the Special Forces of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus expressed this opinion in an open letter to the Belarusian leader, who is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is reported by Newsweek. "By entering the war against Ukraine, Belarus will be expelled from the community of...

The ongoing political and military standoff between Russia and the United States is the most recent indicator that Europe’s security and economic architecture must be transformed to harmonize European and Russian strategic interests. In other words, the path toward ending the war in Ukraine requires focusing on the security priorities of those who have the most to gain from a diplomatic solution — European nations, not the US. Peaceful co-existence is dependent upon successful negotiations among European capitals and Moscow. The war in Ukraine did not start on February 24, 2022, but has been ongoing since 2014. Between 2014 and...

The artillery duel in Ukraine’s east shows no signs of slowing as troops gobble through thousands of 155mm rounds every single day. A senior defense official told reporters in a background briefing on Friday that Ukrainian forces are firing some 3,000 155mm shells per day at Russian forces. The revelation came amid questioning on the latest tranche of weapons and ammunition being sent to Ukraine, including, for the first time 1,000 guided 155mm 'smart' shells. The official said despite the high usage rate, Ukrainian forces still have “substantial stores” of 155mm rounds and are far from running out with more...

Ukraine plans a "million-strong army" equipped with Nato weapons to retake the south of the country from occupying Russians, the defence minister says. Retaking the areas around the Black Sea coast was vital to the country's economy, Oleksii Reznikov said. However, the comments are more of a rallying cry than a concrete plan, says the BBC's Joe Inwood in Kyiv.