Free Republic

A massive fire near Moscow has destroyed a plant that supplies body armour for Vladimir Putin’s troops. Video footage shows flames engulfing the plant on Entuziastov Avenue, Obukhovo, in the Moscow region this morning, and no casualties have been reported. Law enforcement in Russia is investigating whether the inferno was caused by an act of sabotage or arson. The fire has destroyed 86,000 feet of a warehouse and a workshop. Workers were evacuated from the plant just as it took hold and more than 100 firefighters tried to save the key production line. It has been sanctioned by Ukraine for...

Ukraine has destroyed one of Putin's newly-built warships in a daring missile strike in Russian-annexed Crimea. The downed vessel was named as the newly-built Askold missile ship, one of the most modern in Vladimir Putin's navy. -snip- Ukrainian sources later indicated the destroyed vessel was the Kalibr-missile carrying 197ft-long Askold, which was poised to enter service, or one of two others of the same Karakurt class.

Ukraine fired 15 cruise missiles at a Russian shipyard in occupied Crimea, hitting a warship in an attack that could further undermine Moscow’s offensive capabilities.French-supplied SCALP missiles struck the Russian vessel stationed at the Zalyv dockyard in the port city of Kerch on Saturday, Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air force said.The warship was armed with Kalibr cruise missiles that have frequently been used by Russia to strike targets inside Ukraine, he added.“I confirm,” Gen Oleshchuk said on Sunday morning after posting a message the evening before which said the Ukrainian attack had probably hit its target.Ukrainian...

IF IT had hit Central London, Britain would no longer have a capital city. The force of the meteorite that hit eastern Siberia last September destroyed 40 square miles of forest and caused earth tremors felt 60 miles away. An expedition from Russia's Kosmopoisk institute has only recently reached the site in a remote area north of Lake Baikal because of bad weather and difficult terrain, the Interfax news agency said yesterday. Fragments of the meteorite had apparently exploded into shrapnel 18 miles above the Earth with the force of at least 200 tonnes of TNT. At the time, Russian...