Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been reelected in a landslide victory in an election with big turnout, so he comes fortified into a new phase of the war in Ukraine.While celebrating 10 years of the return of Crimea to Russian rule, Putin said that Moscow ‘will not relent’ in Ukraine, and plans to create a buffer zone to protect itself against long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids.Associated Press reported:“The Kremlin’s forces have made battlefield progress as Kyiv’s troops struggle with a severe shortage of artillery shells and exhausted front-line units after more than two years of war. The front line...

The major disruption caused by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea is hardly the only trouble spot in the world’s increasingly dangerous seas. An Indian navy warship has intercepted a hijacked cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, safely rescued all 17 crew members, and detained all 35 Somali pirates. The Indian navy vessel INS Kolkata came to the rescue of the Bulgarian ship MV Ruen, which was hijacked by pirates back on December 14, 2023. The operation lasted no less than 40 hours. The hijacking of the Ruen was the first successful action by Somali pirates in the past six...

The French paper Marianne has published excerpts by secret military documents that are causing an uproar in Europe and the world, for dealing with the situation on the ground in Ukraine without the disguise of propaganda that pervades almost all reports on the subject. In the piece, the French journalists wanted to understand what happened to President Emmanuel Macron to make him consider sending troops to Ukraine? These ‘confidential defense reports’ explain the ‘panic’ at the Élysée palace. When it comes to the perspective of sending troops to fight the Russian forces, they were incredibly blunt in their assessment. Several...

The battle for Avdiivka, the Ukraine-held key town in Donetsk region, had another development as sources indicate that Russians forces broke through the defenses, and entered the town on the north side.Up until that point, most activity was centered in the south, where the besiegers have reached the outskirts of the urban area, and Kiev regime evacuated the civilian population.Pro-Ukrainian Journalist, Senior Editor Security Policy and Conflicts at German Paper BILD, Julian Röpke wrote in his X social media account that forces invading from the north secured a foothold inside the city:Russian invasion forces advanced appr. 1500 meters inside #Avdiivka,...

When Russell ‘Texas’ Bentley talks about the war in the Donbas, and the struggle against Nazis in Ukraine, it’s not hearsay. He has been there from the start, and served in Vostok Battalion and XAH Spetsnaz Battalion in 2014, 2015 and 2017, fighting on the side of the Donetsk People’s Republic – now a region of Russia. He was also baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church.This last week Bentley shared a new update from downtown Donetsk with some really big news.Sputnik reported:“The biggest thing that everybody’s talking about recently is the advances of our guys in the Avdiivka front. They’ve...