Free Republic

A prominent pro-Kremlin propagandist has been unmasked as a 37-year-old Navy veteran and tropical fish seller from New Jersey. Divorcee Sarah Bils is known to her 100,000 devoted fans online as 'Donbas Devushka', or Donbas Girl. She posed as a Russian Jew from the occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk and a geopolitics expert. -snip- She left the military in November last year with an honorable discharge but only after being demoted. Bils claims she was 'kicked out' of the Navy due to her 'leftist views.'

President Vladimir Putin is massing Russia’s forces in the Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine ahead of what could be a major new offensive meant to break the stalemate in the fighting ahead of the war’s first anniversary, officials loyal to Kyiv said. “There is an active transfer of (Russian troops) to the region and they are definitely preparing for something on the eastern front in February,” Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Wednesday. Haidai added that Moscow’s forces were expelling residents living near the Russian-held parts of the front line so they can’t provide information about Russian troop movements to Ukrainian...

NATO's head said earlier this month that Russia may want the fighting to slow, seeking a "freeze" in the fighting so it can better prepare for a bigger assault next year. "What we see now is Russia is actually trying to have some kind of 'freeze' of this war at least for a short period of time so they can regroup, repair, recover," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "And then try to launch a bigger offensive next spring." The UK Ministry of Defence predicted on Monday that Russian forces will not see any big gains over the winter, even...

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzians can't hold in Luhansk region | Ukraine pushes again Denys Davydov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjJmu2gMVM&list=RDCMUCpr-NNORb2UQYDD3k-w-OFg&index=2 Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ Military maps here: https://militaryland.net/ https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-244-summary/ https://militaryland.net/maps/deployment-map/

Update from Ukraine | Ruzzians can't hold in Luhansk region | Ukraine pushes again Denys Davydov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjJmu2gMVM&list=RDCMUCpr-NNORb2UQYDD3k-w-OFg&index=2 Follow on Instagram up to date uploads. https://www.instagram.com/denys_pilot/ Also, check military maps here: https://militaryland.net/ https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-242-summary/ https://militaryland.net/maps/deployment-map/

Russia is preparing to evacuate senior officers in the Federal Security Service (FSB) and their families from occupied areas of Ukraine, Kyiv on Wednesday claimed. According to the National Resistance Center (NRC), which is a civilian resistance office launched by the Ukrainian government following Russia’s invasion, senior Russian officers in the FSB have been "informed about the evacuation routes." The NRC said officials in all five occupied regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea – have been notified of evacuation plans.

Oleksii tells me: "I feel safe here because we are on our land and even the ground will bring me help." That's despite the nearby sound of small-arms fire, exploding artillery shells landing within sight and the roar of Russian jets overhead. The ground he and the small team of Ukrainian troops now occupy is on the border of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The same ground that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently declared as being Russian forever. Over the past week the men of Ukraine's D1 National Guard Unit have advanced more than 20km (12 miles) east from the...

Ukrainian troops have reported outages of their Starlink communication devices on the frontline, hindering efforts to liberate territory from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials and soldiers. Thousands of Starlink terminals, made by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, were purchased by the US government and crowdfunded by donors to help Ukrainian troops operate drones, receive vital intelligence updates and communicate with each other in areas where there are no other secure networks. The systems which connect a small antenna to a 35-centimetre-high terminal also provide internet for Ukrainian civilians. Some of the outages led to a “catastrophic” loss of communication in recent...

A sense of unreality continues to permeate Russia and their claims to annexation of southern Ukraine, and that may be almost literally. Newsweek reports today that the Kremlin added “fake cheers” to Vladimir Putin’s speech on Friday announcing the annexation to sell this glorious nonsense to a Russian audience that has clearly grown tired of the war. And speaking of the audience … Unedited footage from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation speech in Moscow on Friday appears to show fake cheers were edited onto clips broadcast on state TV, while reports say that people were bussed in to attend the...

In less than 24 hours part of Ukraine becomes part of Russia and NATO just held a secret meeting to ramp up the war. Vladimir Putin pointed the finger directly at the U.S. for its attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. Germany is on the brink of collapse as German energy experts point to coming blackouts.

Voting in internationally criticised referendums for four Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to become part of Russia has continued into its third day despite shelling by Ukrainian forces. ...

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...

Enjoy this brief, 3.5 min Freedom YTReferendum in Donbass with huge participation of local residents

The referendum ascertains three sequential decisions: secession of territories from Ukraine; formation of an independent state; and its entry into the Russian Federation as a subject. The referendum on September 23-27 in the Donbass and southern Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine on their accession to Russian Federation is, prima facie, an exercise of the right of self-determination by the native population who reject the Western-backed regime change in Kiev in 2014 and the ascendancy of extreme nationalist forces with neo-Nazi leanings in the power structure. But it has other dimensions, too. In all probability, the referendum will overwhelmingly opt...

STORY: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces are set to hold referendums between 23 and 27 September. Vladimir Vysotsky, the voting chief, showed reporters ballot boxes made of clear plastic, promising the voting process would be “just as transparent”. The stations Vysotsky visited on Thursday were, according to his estimation, 100% ready for polling. ...

Starting last month Ukrainian lawmakers began seeking to implement severe consequences for those participating in Russia-sponsored referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine. For example, a law is being pushed through parliament which criminalizes obtaining a Russian passport in temporarily occupied territories, Ukrainian sources reported last week, according to Yahoo News. Proposed possible punishments have included losing Ukrainian citizenship, or even lengthy jail sentences. But other officials have argued for a more compromising approach given the necessity of survival in occupied areas. But now the Ukrainian government has reiterated its willingness to impose steep penalties for even participating in any Kremlin-sponsored...

Multiple pro-Moscow officials in Ukraine on Tuesday announced their intent to stage referendums on joining Russia, including the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, as well as the Russia-installed official over the southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo. “I think that people have long been waiting for a referendum here and it will probably be a political move that will help ensure the safety of civilians,” Pushillin said Tuesday. ...

All have fallen for the believe that the Ukrainian rapid advance has caused a Russian defeat. That however is not the case. The main Russian forces had already left the area. What was left were sentry guards of the Luhansk People’s Republic and a few companies of the Russian National Guard which is more or less a police force. That is why the ‘western’ official talking with Reuters is quite cautious with his assessment: “There’s an ongoing debate about the nature of the Russian drawdown, however it’s likely that in strict military terms, this was a withdrawal, ordered and sanctioned...

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday admitted its forces had retreated from key towns in northeastern Ukraine after a stunning advance by Ukrainian troops. The Defense Ministry said it had pulled forces out of the village of Balakliya and the strategically crucial city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region, after a decision to “regroup” and transfer them to Donetsk in the south.” The retreat represents one of the biggest setbacks for Russia since President Vladimir V. Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. “In order to achieve the goals of the special military operation, a decision was made to...

Vladimir Putin has approved a 31-page "humanitarian policy" which says Russia should "protect, safeguard and advance the traditions and ideals of the Russian World". The foreign policy concept of a "Russian World" is a notion that hardliners have used to justify intervening abroad to support Russian speakers, such as in parts of Ukraine. It means that the idea is now enshrined in official policy, though it was presented as a soft power strategy. The new policy stated that Moscow should further deepen its ties with the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic - two breakaway entities in...