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A Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian radar station that can track nuclear missiles has sparked alarm in the West. Kyiv hit the Armavir radar station in the Krasnodar border region on May 23, damaging the state-of-the-art facility, which provides conventional air-defence as well as forming part of Moscow’s nuclear warning system. Ukrainian officials confirmed on Saturday that their forces had carried out the strike, saying the facility monitors airspace over the country and occupied Crimea. The radar station has reportedly been able to track long-range Atacms missiles, delivered by the US to Ukraine earlier this year. Mauro Gilli, a...

Russia is managing to produce artillery shells at triple the speed of Ukraine’s allies for a quarter of the price, Sky News reported on May 26, referencing analysis from management consulting firm Bain & Company. Using publicly available data, the firm claims that Russian factories can produce or refurbish 4.5 million 152 mm shells this year for $1,000 per round. European countries and the U.S. are only expected to produce 1.3 million 155 mm shells combined, at an average cost of $4,000 per unit. Slow artillery production has hindered Ukraine’s progress on the battlefield. Soldiers claim that for every round...

The world is getting more and more dangerous by the day. With NATO, the EU and Russia entangled in an European conflict that keeps escalating, it is very bad news that nuclear weapons are now the talk of the day. The Russian Federation forces have begun the ‘first stage’ of exercises to simulate preparation for the launch of tactical nuclear weapons. Ordered by recently reelected President Vladimir Putin, the exercises are reportedly linked to what Moscow calls ‘militant statements’ by Western officials that ‘create security threats for Russia’. Reuters reported: “Nuclear analysts say the exercises are designed as a warning...

Ten separate locations across Crimea were reportedly hit, including a key radar and air defence facility. Ukraine staged a massive missile attack on Putin-occupied Crimea overnight, striking a key radar and air defence facility of the Russian army ‘where high-ranking officers were present’. Explosions were reportedly heard at ten separate locations around the peninsula amid long-range ATACMS attacks in one of the heaviest bombardments of the war. Russia also claimed to have destroyed attacking marine drones off the Crimean coast. Ambulances were reported rushing to Semidvorye, near Alushta where at least six ATACMS ballistic missiles reportedly hit a key communications...

A deputy chief of the Russian military general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery, Russian news reports said Thursday, the latest in a series of bribery arrests of high-ranking military officials. The arrest of Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin followed the arrest earlier in the week of Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, also on bribery charges. In April, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested for bribery. Ivanov was a close associate of Sergei Shoigu, whom President Vladimir Putin dismissed as defense minister soon after Putin’s inauguration to a new...

Ukrainian drones attacked the only large oil refinery on Russia's Black Sea coast on Friday morning, authorities said. The attack on the Rosneft-owned refinery in the southern Russian town of Tuapse was reported by local authorities, who said a fire had broken out at the facility and that emergency services were working to extinguish the blaze. -snip- The Russian Black Sea naval port of Novorossiysk and Crimea's Sevastopol were also targeted a the massive aerial assault, which Russia's defense ministry said involved at least 100 drones.

If re-elected, would Donald Trump end U.S. support for Ukraine? He certainly sounds as if he would. On the campaign trail, he routinely describes Ukraine as a burden to the U.S. and declares his eagerness to see the war end, which he promises to achieve through negotiations in a mere 24 hours. Trump has also made clear his admiration for Vladimir Putin and dismissive attitude toward the European Union. Many observers worry that once back in office, he would condone, tacitly or even directly, Russia’s efforts to dominate Ukraine. But it wouldn’t be an easy move for Trump to make,...

Denys Yaroslavskyi is angry. ... “There was no first line of defence. We saw it. The Russians just walked in. They just walked in, without any mined fields” he says. He shows me video from a drone feed taken a few days ago of small columns of Russian troops simply walking across the border, unopposed. He says officials had claimed that defences were being built at huge cost, but in his view, those defences simply weren’t there. “Either it was an act of negligence, or corruption. It wasn’t a failure. It was a betrayal”. Everyone knew that this incursion was...

Can someone please tell me what a Zeeper is. I keep seeing it in some comments and have been unable to find a definition. Thank you in advance.

For the second year in a row, a lone Soviet-era tank rolled across Moscow's Red Square during Russia's Victory Day parade, prompting social media users to mock President Vladimir Putin's military's procession on a day which is traditionally used to display the country's might. A single T-34 tank participated in the parade in Moscow to mark May 9, or Victory Day, which is the annual commemoration of Nazi Germany's defeat during World War II. Like last year, this year's procession was notably muted in contrast to previous events amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, during which both sides have suffered...

Vladimir Putin wore thick make-up with his eyebrows darkened and used cheek filler when he was sworn in for a fifth term, says a security expert. -snip- Prof Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, told The Mirror that Putin was “heavily made up” for the event including user filler. It comes with the Russian leader having typically tried to give a macho image of himself whether it is riding shirtless on horseback or doing judo. “The doors open and Putin ambles in, greeted by an adoring audience. He is followed by a goose-stepping presidential guard of in uniforms,” said...

Russia said on Wednesday that sending NATO troops into Ukraine would potentially be extremely dangerous, and Moscow was closely watching a Ukrainian petition that called for such an intervention. The petition, posted on the Ukrainian president's website, says Ukraine should ask the United States, Britain and other countries to send troops to help it repel Russia's invasion. "We have repeatedly said that direct intervention on the ground in this conflict by the military of NATO countries potentially carries enormous danger, so we consider this an extremely challenging provocation, nothing less, and, of course, we are watching this very carefully."

Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine. The drills are in response to “provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. It was the first time that Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, though its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises. Tactical nuclear weapons have a lower yield compared to massive warheads that arm intercontinental ballistic missiles intended to...

The Soviet-Afghan War destroyed Afghanistan and eventually the Soviet Union, which dissolved in 1991 into 15 republics. Numerous satellite states in Europe were liberated at the same time. History may repeat as the Russia-Ukraine war weakens Moscow, financially and geopolitically. Russia’s 2022 invasion was about reoccupying a former colony, Ukraine, but there are other Russian republics that hope to become liberated... … in December 1991, Ukrainians voted for independence and Ukraine became the first of the Soviet republics to leave. The Baltic republics followed, as did Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and others. Now there is unrest across the Russian Federation…...

Ukrainian troops have made a tactical retreat from three more villages as Russian forces press forward across the eastern front line and take advantage of Kyiv’s exhausted military, which is desperately awaiting the arrival of new U.S. assistance. Ukraine’s commander in chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a Telegram post Sunday that the “situation at the front has worsened” and described some of the toughest fighting west of Avdiivka, the city that fell to Russian forces in February. In that direction, Ukrainian troops withdrew from the villages of Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka. “Trying to seize the strategic initiative and...

Russia warned Monday that the risk of a “direct military clash” between Russia and nuclear powers in the West is rising. “Westerners are dangerously balancing on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a video message to the participants of the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference. The comments come after Russia reacted angrily to the U.S. House of Representatives passing a $61 billion foreign aid package for Kyiv at the weekend. House lawmakers approved the aid Saturday despite long-standing objections from hardline Republicans; the bill now...

Polish President Andrzej Duda says Poland is ready to host U.S. nuclear weapons, saying the topic was one of frequent discussions between Warsaw and Washington. Duda told Polish tabloid Fakt in an interview published Monday that Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad province between Poland and Lithuania and has relocated tactical nuclear weapons to ally Belarus. “I must admit that when asked about it, I declared our readiness,” the Polish president said of talks with U.S. officials. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing also on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s...

New videos appear to show a fire raging in northern Crimea, after reports of explosions around a military airfield overnight. Footage widely circulated on social media by Russian and Ukrainian sources early on Wednesday show bright flashes of light and explosions, with sirens wailing in the background. A local Telegram channel reported "several loud explosions," starting just before 4 a.m. local time, before a fire broke out. Roads around the air base are blocked, the channel later reported. Dzhankoy is a major military hub, home to one of Russia's largest airfields in Crimea. It is a key location for supplying...

Ukrainian forces in a priority section of the front line near Avdiivka appear to have defeated a large Russian mechanized assault involving tanks and fighting vehicles over the weekend. -snip- On March 30, Ukrainian troops outside occupied Avdiivka fought off a Russian battalion-sized mechanized assault, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. ISW cited a Ukrainian serviceman who, on March 31, said that elements of Russia's 6th Tank Regiment sent 36 tanks and 12 BMP infantry fighting vehicles into a battle on the front line near Tonenke, a village east of Avdiivka. The serviceman said...

In a striking development amid ongoing military operations in Ukraine, Russia has commenced mass production of the FAB-3000, recognized as one of the most destructive aerial bombs globally. This pivotal advancement was announced by Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu during his visit to an aviation bomb production facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region on March 21, 2024. This initiative marks a critical expansion in Russia's military capabilities, particularly emphasizing its strategic implications for the war in Ukraine. Russia launches the mass production of its FAB-3000, considered one of the most destructive aerial bombs in the world....