Free Republic

Four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine are expected on Friday to begin voting in referendums on joining Russia, in a move that raises the stakes of Moscow’s invasion seven months after fighting began. The referendums, which are illegal under international law, could pave the way for Russian annexation of the areas, allowing Moscow to frame the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive as an attack on Russia itself. Such a move could provide Moscow with a pretext to escalate its faltering war, which has seen Kyiv regain thousands of square miles of territory this month. In an address Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised...

The Polish Association of journalists (SDP) issued a statement titled "Russian propagandists who pretend to be journalists should be tried as war criminals." The statement signed by the Association's leaders calls for extending responsibility for crimes committed by Russians against the civilian population of Ukraine not only to "bandits in Russian uniforms," but also to "propagandists of the Kremlin regime." "Propagandists not only misinform the world community about Moscow's bloody aggression against Ukraine, but also call for a fight against Ukrainians in the name of the imperialist interests of Putin and his supporters," the statement said. Among these propagandists who...

Russia’s counterintelligence agency on Monday claimed that the car bomb that killed the daughter of Vladimir Putin’s ally Alexander Dugin was planted by a female Ukrainian spy who then fled to Estonia. Officials with FSB have identified Darya Dugina’s alleged assassin as 43-year-old Natalia Vovk, who they said was acting as part of a criminal plot “orchestrated and perpetrated by Ukrainian special services,” according to Russian state news agency TASS. FSB published a video compilation allegedly that opens with Vovk entering Russia in her grey Mini Cooper, which sports plates issued by the Kremlin-backed separatist Donetsk People’s Republic. A second...

....The National Republican Army, a previously unknown organisation, has now claimed it carried out the bombing in a statement. Describing themselves as "partisans and fighters", they wrote: "We declare President Putin a usurper of power and a war criminal. "He has amended the Constitution and unleashed a fratricidal war between the Slavic peoples and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death. "Poverty and coffins for some, palaces for others. "We believe that disenfranchised people have the right to rebel against tyrants. "Putin will be deposed and destroyed by us!' The rebels said their goal was to stop the destruction...

The enemy's frigate "Admiral Essen" (from which Ukraine was attacked) received serious damage today as a result of a fire strike by Ukrainian defenders. This ship has repeatedly fired missiles at peaceful Ukrainian cities, including #Odessa .

Given Russia's reliance on Ukraine for military components, UK defence sources say Russia's war effort is in serious trouble. Last night a source said: 'Serious amounts of components for Russian weapons systems were made there [Ukraine]. That won't be happening any more. 'Russia cannot manufacture this equipment itself or import it, so it won't be getting any of these materials any time soon. The hardware expended in Ukraine came from historic stockpiles, developed when there was greater cooperation between Russia and Ukraine. 'The integration of their industrial complexes meant a severing of relations would jeopardise Russia's ability to sustain military...