Free Republic

Ukraine entered 2023 filled with hope. Its forces had just secured enormous battlefield and strategic victories, first at Kherson and then Kharkiv, recapturing much lost territory from the Russian invaders, and Western capitals seemed increasingly confident that victory could be at hand.By the end of January, European and American leaders were no longer talking about whether to send Western main battle tanks, but how many and when. Britain led the charge, confirming that the formidable Challenger II would be sent to Ukraine, and putting intense diplomatic pressure on Washington and Berlin to follow London’s lead. Both duly buckled. With tanks...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzian Best Tanks were ambushed | Klishchiivka is taken by Ukraine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zUSuKoXqDg The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 13th August 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-536-summary/ *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzian biggest mistake | Ukraine takes more ground with new tactics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nHj9x3FLvA The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 13th August 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-536-summary/ *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

In brief statements issued late last week in Moscow – their significance missed in the western press — President Vladimir Putin ordered a reality check of Russia’s war strategy. He then answered himself by declaring the war will be over when no Ukrainian army will be left on the battlefield, nor NATO weapons. The Foreign Ministry answered by pointing out that Russia does not recognize there is a legal Ukrainian state because the reality is that the mutual recognition treaty between Russia and the Ukraine was cancelled by Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Zelensky in 2018 and 2019. “We can...

The owner of a Rivian R1S electric SUV was overjoyed to have his dream electric vehicle after waiting for years. But after owning the car for just days, it got stuck in the snow and immobilized by a safety feature, leading to a $2,100 bill to transport it to a repair facility. Business Insider reports that a recent incident involving an owner of a Rivian R1S has forced the maker of the electric vehicles to examine its customer service more carefully and think about making changes to improve the user experience. The owner of an R1S truck, Chase Merrill, encountered...

Fox News lies to its viewers. Its most prominent personalities, among the most influential in the industry, tell their viewers things they know not to be true. This is not accusation, allegation, or supposition. Today, we know it to be fact. Early in the Trump era, news organizations were torn over whether to refer to Donald Trump’s false statements as lies, because it is difficult to know an individual’s state of mind, to know what they know. In the throes of insecurity, ideological conviction, or carelessness, people can make statements that are false without malicious intent. The argument over what...

Old-fashioned socialist and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab, sat down with CGTN’s Tian Wei during the APEC CEO Summit in Thailand. During the course of their discussion, Schwab was questioned about whether or not the leaders of the world were able to reach an agreement in order to forward their globalist agenda. “Among the G20, you were there meeting some of the leaders as well. Professor Schwab, what do you make up the result? Finally, they put something as a statement, and it seems quite positive with all the voices included,” Wei said. “I think it’s...

Trump-Endorsed Kari Lake has insisted that she “will become Governor” now that the Arizona Attorney General’s office demanded answers from Maricopa County regarding voter suppression that occurred on election day. The 2022 Midterm Election was rigged against Trump-Endorsed candidates in Arizona, and voters’ ballots were stolen, not counted, or they were prevented from voting altogether. The November 8 election in Arizona was an uncertifiable mess, and a new one must be held. The Gateway Pundit reported on the serious issues in Maricopa County’s General Election on November 8. Due to the incompetence of Maricopa County and Katie Hobbs, tabulators were...

The Biden administration announced that Ukraine would receive $3 billion in military assistance — the largest amount it has sent since Russia began its invasion in February. The Department of Defense said that it was meeting both Ukraine’s “immediate and longer-term security assistance needs.” Among the 245,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and the laser-guided rocket systems listed in the Pentagon’s security assistance for Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) were the VAMPIRE Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems. VAMPIRE is an acronym for “Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment.” In short, the system transforms pickup trucks and other vehicles into mobile...

European natural gas inventories rose by +96 BCF over past 7 days. EU nat gas storage 68% full. Current inventories at 2589 BCF. 23.9% higher than 1 year ago. EU goal is at least 80% full by Nov 1st for winter.

It was apparent months ago that the Kremlin’s intensive focus on Donbas risked creating vulnerabilities elsewhere. At the peak of the fighting in Donbas in early July, three-quarters of the Russian army’s roughly 110 front-line battalions in Ukraine were in Donbas. Just a handful of battalions defended Russian gains in and around Kherson. The Ukrainian army also concentrated its best forces in Donbas, of course—but not at the expense of the southern front. In late May, Ukrainian troops began pushing south toward Kherson, then 40 or so miles from the line of contact. Two months later, Kyiv’s southern counteroffensive has...

Even though the Battle of Donbas is far from over, Ukraine is expected to open the next chapter of the war sometime in the near future — a highly anticipated, major counter-offensive operation in the south, particularly to liberate the Russian-occupied city of Kherson. Kyiv has declared its intentions to liberate the only regional capital captured by Russia following the Feb. 24 full-scale invasion. Experts across the world agree that retaking Kherson is the most feasible way for Ukraine to score a major victory over Russia and turn the tide of the war. As part of a counter-offensive operation, Ukraine...

Lt.Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the US Army in Europe, told Insider that Russia lacks the resources and capabilities to make significant advancements in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region — where the 20-week-long war has turned into a grinding campaign. ... Russia's arsenal of artillery and rockets is the "only advantage" that President Vladimir Putin's forces have right now and said this is reflected in attacks on Ukrainian defense positions and civilian areas, which cause lots of casualties. A key to Ukrainian success will be to neutralize these weapons, he said. Without them, Russian victories will be hard...

The leaders of Greece and Bulgaria on Friday marked the completion of a new pipeline that will supply natural gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, whose vital supply of Russian gas was cut off in April amid the fallout over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed the importance of the new link as an alternative supply line for Bulgaria, as neighboring Greece jockeys to become a regional energy transport hub. Greece is also building a liquefied natural gas terminal off the northeastern port of Alexandroupolis, near Komotini, which Mitsotakis said would in the future provide additional gas...

European natural gas inventories rose by +84 BCF over past 7 days. EU nat gas storage 63% full. Current inventories at 2396 BCF. 22.8% higher than 1 year ago. EU goal is at least 80% full by Nov 1st for winter.

For the first time ever, the European Union has imported in June more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States than gas via pipeline from Russia, as Moscow slashed supply to Europe earlier this month, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Thursday. “The drop in Russian supply calls for efforts to reduce EU demand to prepare for a tough winter,” the head of the Paris-based agency added. In April 2022 alone, five European countries—France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and Poland—accounted for 54.1% of total U.S. LNG exports, data from the U.S. Energy...

Iraq has entered the market for liquefied natural gas, with its first shipment ever taking place this week. In a statement, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said that the first shipment was an achievement and quoted the managing director of Basra Gas Company, Malcolm Mayes, as saying it was a "historic moment". The international LNG market has heated up in the past few months as Europe, a major importer of gas, seeks to reduce and eventually eliminate its reliance on Russian pipeline gas. LNG has emerged as the most convenient replacement, and the United States as the biggest supplier so far....

Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian energy company, cut natural gas flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by around 60% last week. The German economy ministry said on Sunday that idle coal power plants are already being upgraded so they can soon start generating electricity again. It said emergency laws would allow Germany to boost the generation of electricity from coal. Germany said it intends to cut the use of natural gas so it can fill its storage tanks ahead of the winter, when demand rises. "The situation is serious," Habeck, who is also vice chancellor, said. "We are therefore...

Israel and Egypt will aim to boost natural gas exports to Europe under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Wednesday as the continent looks to replace Russian energy imports. The framework deal signed with the European Union (EU) will be the first to allow "significant" exports of Israeli gas to Europe, Israel's energy ministry said.

When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in the early hours of 24 February, with mass missile strikes and the advance of a land force from several directions, many key Ukrainian officials were apparently caught by surprise. Some were fast asleep. There had been rumours of a Russian invasion for weeks, and the previous evening US and Ukrainian intelligence received information that pointed to an invasion that night with almost certainty. Yet there was little in the way of last-minute efforts to fortify towns close to the border, or to warn citizens to brace for the inevitable. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was...