Free Republic

For a country that ISN”T overrun with Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, Ukraine sure does seem to contain lots of folks sporting Nazi tattoos or patches on their clothing. The latest to be revealed is one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s bodyguards, who was spotted during a visit to the recently liberated eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum sporting a so-called Totenkopfverbande patch, celebrating the guards who ran Nazi concentration camps and later made up Hitler’s personal guards. Jimmy and The Dive’s Jackson Hinkle wonder at the regularity with which Nazi sympathies crop up in a country that we’re told doesn’t have...

Ukrainian forces have entered Izium after forcing Russian troops to retreat, an officer involved in the operation to liberate the strategic eastern city told CNN Saturday. Izium, which sits near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, had been under Russian occupation for more than five months and had become an important hub for the invading military. "We have just started clearing the town. First military units are in," the officer told CNN. A spokesperson for the Bohun Brigade of the Land Forces of Ukraine said in a statement earlier on Saturday that "Russians escaped and left weapons and...

Ukrainian forces surprised occupying Russians with a one-two punch Thursday, pushing deep into enemy territory to open a second front in Kyiv’s counterattack. Ukrainian authorities announced the liberation of 20 villages in the northeast, outside Kharkiv, as the military pushed for the occupied city of Izyum — all while continuing a fierce fight for Kherson in the south. Oleksiy Hromov, a deputy chief with the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, said Thursday that his nation’s forces — pushing toward the Donbas from Kharkiv — had penetrated more than 30 miles beyond Russia’s defensive line. “Since the beginning...

Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive in Izyum, according to Oleh Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration. Speaking in a video posted to telegram, he said that Russian forces were retreating in some directions. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has not confirmed the move. Russia seized control of the city of Izyum on 1 April and has occupied it since.

There was seemingly a notable absence from Russia's 'Victory Day' parade in Moscow on Monday—Valery Gerasimov, chief of general staff of the Russian military, was nowhere to be seen. -snip- Multiple media reports said that Gerasimov was wounded and forced to evacuate from a war zone in Izyum in Ukraine's Kharkiv region when visiting the front lines of the eastern Donbas region at the end of April. However, neither Russian nor U.S. officials have confirmed these reports. However, the BBC reported and several military experts on Twitter noted that Gerasimov was not present during the parade in Moscow. In an...

Ukraine says it destroyed Russia's Izyum command center, killing 200 but just missing Russia's top general Ukrainian officials said an attack on a key Russian command center in the eastern city of Izyum on Saturday evening killed about 200 Russian troops, including Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov, but just missed hitting the chief of the general staff of the Russian military, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who had just concluded a secret visit to the army and airborne command center. Earlier, unconfirmed reports suggested Gerasimov was wounded in the strike. Two U.S. officials tell The New York Times that Gerasimov had been in...