Free Republic

-snip- “In all wars that Russia [and the Soviet Union] has ever fought, it relies entirely on the number of people,” Nazar says. “[Soviet Field Marshal Georgy] Zhukov said in World War II: ‘men’s deaths are not a problem, women will give birth to more of them’. That’s their viewpoint. A human for them is just a unit, a resource,” he says. He attempts to have the opposite relationship with his soldiers. “I’ve worked with American commanders and advisors,” Nazar says. “They have a great phrase: ‘do as I do’. It’s their motto, and I try to follow it as...

Six years ago, the Russian navy formed a new army corps whose job it would be to defend Kaliningrad, Russia’s geographically separate outpost on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. This year, when the war in Ukraine began to go badly for Russia, the Kremlin yanked the 11th Army Corps from Kaliningrad and sent it into Ukraine. Where the Ukrainian army quickly destroyed it. The formation, deployment and destruction of the 11th Army Corps tell a story that’s bigger than the tragic tale of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The corps, sandwiched between two NATO countries along a strategic sea,...

Having passed the summer baptism of fire near Bakhmut, in early September Alexey Pritula, together with his brothers, liberated Izyum and the villages that were on their way to him. A few weeks later, the 25th separate airborne sicheslav Brigade, in which he served, went in the direction of the estuary. A veterinarian by profession, he was eager to go to the front from the first days of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, but did not get there immediately, so for some time, together with his wife and 7-year-old daughter, he volunteered. They worked in the volunteer kitchen,...

The Ukrainian military made another attempt to land an assault force of up to two companies on the left bank of the Kakhovka reservoir and seize the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, with the attack repelled by Russian troops, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday. "The Kiev regime does not cease provocations with the aim of creating the threat of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Today, at about 4:00 a.m., up to two enemy companies made another attempt to land an assault force on the left bank of the Kakhovka reservoir and seize the...

The new commander of the Russian army in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, said on Tuesday that civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation in Ukraine as “tense.” “The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Surovikin said in his first televised interview since his appointment last week, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson. “Further actions regarding Kherson will depend on the developing military and tactical situation, which is not easy, and difficult decisions cannot be ruled out,” he said.

Russia has acknowledged the deaths of several of its conscripts in Ukraine. Russian media reports that these soldiers have been sent to the front without training. Source: BBC News Russian, citing relatives and close friends of the dead soldiers Details: BBC journalists identified three out of five soldiers [whose deaths were reported by the Chelyabinsk Oblast military commissariat on Thursday, 13 October]: Anton Borisov, Igor Yevseev and Timur Akhmetshin. They were conscripted by the Korkino military commissariat [in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia] between 26 and 29 September. A total of almost 1,000 people were conscripted around that time, the relatives of...

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...

Comes after 48 hours of blistering offensives that have been captured on film and seen for the first time Kyiv's men have also made gains in the north and east, as they push from Kharkiv and Donetsk into Luhansk Troops can be seen storming across fields in American-made Humvees, taking Russian fire as they advance Ukraine has pushed Russia back by 12 miles in the south as dramatic footage reveals the blistering pace of attacks that have sent Putin's men fleeing for their lives. Videos taken in Kherson in recent days show Ukrainian forces storming Russian defences in American-made Humvees...

Russia’s defense minister said 200,000 men had entered the army as part of a mobilization drive that began last month as the rapid advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian-occupied territories outpaces Moscow’s ability to pour in reinforcements. The suggestion that Russia is already two-thirds of the way toward the target the minister, Sergei Shoigu, announced last month follows criticism of the call-up process—including from Russian President Vladimir Putin. But it raises questions as to whether the depleted Russian military will be able to cope with the sheer numbers of new recruits and use them effectively. Western military analysts say Moscow...

Massive Offensive Across the Entire Eastern Front "Something surprising has happened" - DPA It looks like a direct frontal attack right into where the Russians have been trying to advance, and supposedly where they are strongest. The Ukrainians keep surprising all of us. The sourcing is all from Russian Telegram sources apparently. No word yet from the Ukrainian side.

Referendum participants reported being forced to “vote” at gunpoint by armed “election officials” who could see exactly which boxes were being ticked off on ballots. Human Rights Watch reported that local Ukrainians were fearful that voting against annexation would lead to reprisals, such as having one’s house demolished. This isn’t the first time Russia has used voter intimidation to fabricate a “correct” referendum result... Polish journalist Pieniazek corroborated international allegations of widespread voter intimidation and fraud, recounting them in detail in his book, Greetings from Novorossiya. The EU and NATO condemned Russia’s annexation, as have other major powers such as...

KYIV — Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, announced by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, will not affect Kyiv’s resolve to free them with military force, said an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “For our plans, [Russia’s annexation] doesn’t matter,” Mykhailo Podolyak told POLITICO, speaking before the signing ceremony in Moscow orchestrated by Putin. The Russian leader railed at the United States and the West, denounced the Ukrainian government, and warned: “We will protect our land using all our forces.” The annexation comes on a day when Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly encircled thousands of Russian troops near the city...

Vladimir Putin will formally annex occupied regions of Ukraine to Russian in a major speech tomorrow, the Kremlin has confirmed, as he attempts to regain the initiative after his forces suffered a humiliating rout earlier this month. Putin's speech comes after Russian-backed proxy governments in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions held sham referendums earlier this week on whether to go ahead with the move. Armed Russian soldiers taking ballot boxes door-to-door left the results in no doubt, and Ukraine along with its Western allies have vowed not to recognise the results. But it still marks a turning point in...