Free Republic

The war in Ukraine is a trompe l’oeil. Behind the appearances of the unity of NATO and its consolidation by new members, several big players run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. In reality, all those who are not blinded by their own propaganda know that their side is going to lose and is already planning other enemies on other battlefields. Washington is making the best of a bad situation and using Russian pressure to close ranks. On the front of the stage, Nato assures that it has been strengthened by “Putin’s madness”. Ukraine, powerfully armed by the...

Russia has fired more missiles in the Ukraine war than have been fired by any country in any other conflict since World War II—a record, according to air-warfare experts and new data obtained exclusively by Newsweek, that has failed to pay off for Moscow. "Just think of this terrible figure: 2,154 Russian missiles hit our cities and communities in a little over two months," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week. "The Russian bombing of Ukraine does not cease any day or night." But the bombing campaign has done little to help win Putin's war, exposing key lessons about the...

The truth is that President Zielenski, at least according to the western press a couple of years ago, is controlled by a man named, Igor Kolomoisky, the Ukrainian man who funded Zelinski's television show back when he was an actor, and who subsequently funded his campaign into power in Ukraine. It might also be relevant that Igor Kolomoisky has a controlling interest in Burisma, the energy company at the root of Hunter Biden's laptop scandal. It is also true that Igor funded the, Azov Battalion, the, according to western press at least, neo-Nazi white supremacist militia that has been terrorizing...

PARIS -- It was inevitable that sooner or later, leading European countries would start distancing themselves from the aggressive rhetoric that has been the hallmark of the European Union leadership's approach to the armed conflict in Ukraine. Last week in Turin, Italian Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio presented a four-point peace plan to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who made contact with Moscow and Kyiv in visits a few weeks ago. Di Maio also chaired the group of Europe's foreign ministers at a meeting in Turin, including those of other EU countries which have recently shown interest in de-escalating...

Has land for peace ever worked — even lately? We’ll get to that in a moment, but first let’s look at a critical moment in the Russian offensive in Donbas. If Putin wants to force a face-saving settlement, he needs to win a decisive battle to secure an area that he, um, largely controlled by proxy before the invasion. Reuters casts the ongoing battle on the Siverskiy Donets river as Putin’s last, best hope to get out with some claim of victory:The decisive battles of the war’s latest phase are still raging further south, where Moscow is attempting to seize...

Americans are becoming less supportive of punishing Russia for launching its invasion of Ukraine if it comes at the expense of the U.S. economy, a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges, according to a new poll.The shifts in opinion reflect how rising prices are biting into American households — surging costs for gas, groceries, and other commodities have strained budgets for millions of people — and perhaps limiting their willingness to support Ukraine financially. That may be a troubling sign for President Joe Biden, who on Saturday approved an additional $40 billion in funding to help Ukraine

"Not so long ago, Republicans said they had sworn off nation-building. Following the failure of the neoconservative project in Iraq and Afghanistan, GOP leaders seemed to have learned their lesson. But apparently not. Now nation-building is back with force, with a massive aid package to Ukraine that makes that country a US client state. Up next: a debate over expanding NATO. Many Republicans in Congress have already lined up to support both, almost reflexively. Why?"

Speaking at the Russian Senate on May 17, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia focused on some of the most sensitive issues, including the nature of Russia’s dialogue with the West: Back in the 18th century, Russia opened up to the West, which became a source of knowledge for us, an example for the transformation of society. Thousands of foreigners came to our country, and for many of them Russia became a second home.At that time, cultural communication was built largely on shared Christian values. However, in modern times in the West, ideas which I believe...

Germany has reportedly supplied Kiev forces with thousands of anti-tank mines on the hopes of slowing down the advance of the Russian military in Ukraine. In a report released on May 17, Der Spiegel revealed that Germany sent 1,600 DM-12 PARM and 3,000 DM-31 anti-tank mines to Ukraine over the last few weeks. The German-made DM-12 off-route anti-tank mine, which is mounted on a small tripod, fires a fin stabilized rocket with an effective range of 2 to 40 meters and the ability to penetrate 600 millimeters of armour. The mine incorporates an arming delay of five minutes. It can...

Walls rattled and pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling of a basement converted by Ukrainian troops into a forward outpost. Russian shells hit again and again the crumpled building above. Images on a surveillance monitor, linked to a camera outside in the deserted village, showed plumes of black smoke rising all around the compound. “The Russians are very angry today because yesterday we killed two of their tanks,” said Marian, a platoon leader in the volunteer Carpathian Sich battalion deployed on the front line near the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Izyum. Like most military personnel, he is only allowed...

In the sky over Ukraine, retired Major General of the Russian Air Force Kanamat Botashev was shot down and killed. Information about the death of the pilot was confirmed to the BBC by three former subordinates of Botashev, who kept in touch with him after the end of the service. They requested anonymity for personal security reasons. Botashev is the highest-ranking pilot whose death became known . Prior to his retirement, he was the commander of an aviation regiment. The participation of such a high-ranking officer in air battles can speak both of how difficult tasks Moscow sets for military...

A veteran Russian diplomat to the U.N. Office at Geneva says he handed in his resignation before sending out a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the “aggressive war unleashed” by President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. Boris Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter delivered Monday morning at the Russian diplomatic mission after a diplomatic official passed on his English-language statement to The Associated Press. “For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on Feb. 24 of this year,”...

STORY: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the Donbas region to the southeast has been completely destroyed – as it has become the recent focus of the Russian offensive.That’s as some of the world’s richest countries pledged billions to give Ukraine a boost. Moscow’s war effort has pulled back its forces from near the capital Kyiv, and moved artillery and armor to the east, which Zelenskiy says is piling on pressure.“The armed forces of Ukraine continue advancing to liberate the Kharkiv region. But in Donbas, the occupiers are trying to exert even more pressure. It is a hell there. And it...

These people will get us all killed. Mitt Romney called on our NATO allies to prepare for a nuclear strike from Russia. The US has already invested tens of billions of dollars in military weapons to Ukraine. The New York Post reported: The US and its NATO allies should prepare a “devastating” response to potential Russian nuclear action, Sen. Mitt Romney said on Saturday. The call to action comes on the heels of threats from the Kremlin and warnings from Russian diplomats that the country’s Ukraine invasion could lead to a nuclear strike, the Utah Republican wrote in an op-ed...

The United States and the European Union (EU) have been ineffective in their trade war against Russia and are currently working on their sixth package of sanctions. These sanctions have caused price hikes and food shortages, severely harming innocent people all around the world. As the West struggles to constrain Russia’s military mission in Ukraine, European gas importers have already surrendered to Russia. European gas importers have quietly violated the EU’s own sanctions and have begun buying gas in Rubles, capitulating to Russia’s new rules. As the West’s economic warfare scheme backfires, EU leaders are beginning to crack even further....

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment...

The Ghost of Kyiv was a Ukrainian fighter pilot. A lone warrior in the aerial defense of Ukraine’s embattled capital city in the early weeks of the Russian invasion. Deftly maneuvering his 30-year-old, twin-engine MiG-29, the Ghost jealously guarded the sky over Kyiv. Fighting against the odds with antiquated weaponry, he shot down 40 Russian warplanes before finally succumbing to enemy fire three weeks into the war. The Ghost of Kyiv, real name Stepan Tarabalka, died in the cockpit of his trusty MiG on Marchth 14, The Times reported. Just one problem. The Ghost of Kyiv legend isn’t true. Even...

KYIV, March 15 (Reuters) - An international peacekeeping mission should be sent to Ukraine and be given the means to defend itself, the leader of Poland's ruling party said on Tuesday after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.Jaroslaw Kaczynski made his remarks after he and the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia arrived in Kyiv in a show of high-level backing for Zelenskiy, who briefed them on the war with Russia.Polish troops take part in military exercises with soldiers from Britain, US and Romania at the military training ground in Bemowo Piskie.

Russia’s new war goal is to create a land bridge between Crimea and Donbas, join with Transnistria, and seize Ukraine’s coastline,

April 27, 2022 Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Press Release No. 379 (13593) Today officially announced plans to “expropriate crop surpluses” from the Russian-occupied Kherson region and other occupied regions of Ukraine. TO REPLENISH THE FUND OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IS PLANNED WITH SUPPLY FROM UKRAINE As part of the implementation of the strategy of state support for the agro-industrial complex and the development of rural areas of the region, the Committee of the Legislative Assembly for Rural Affairs and Agro-Industrial Policy adopted a resolution on initiating the supply of agricultural products from Ukraine. The deputies...