Free Republic

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Monday not to retreat from Bakhmut as Russian forces encroached on the devastated eastern city they have sought to capture for six months at the cost of thousands of lives. Less than a week ago, an adviser to Zelenskyy said the defenders might give up on Bakhmut and fall back to nearby positions. But Zelenskyy on Monday chaired a meeting in which top military brass “spoke in favor of continuing the defense operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut.” Later in his nightly video address, the president reported that his advisers unanimously agreed to...

Documents recently obtained by Human Events show that Alexander Vindman has been pitching the government of Ukraine to obtain lucrative defense contracts. In August 2022, Vindman, operating as CEO of Trident Support, pitched a deck on a Ukraine Weapons Systems Sustainment Center to address problems with Ukraine's weapons management, namely readiness, repair, and maintenance. (snip) Vindman testified before the House in November 2019 as part of the first impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump. Vindman, who was an officer in the US Army, told the House that he listened to a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in...

This morning explosions have occurred near the Machulishchy air base in Belarus. As a result, Russia’s A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft might have been hit.

Despite what is at stake, the administration is still too slow in getting critical weapon systems to Ukraine. Ukraine right now has only enough weapons to prevent an outright Russian takeover, but not to secure victory in driving Russian forces out of the country. This strategy of incrementalism and hesitation will only prolong this conflict and lead to more Russian war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities. The administration has recently committed to provide M1 Abrams tanks, as well as longer range Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB) – this is encouraging. Unfortunately, these new systems were committed too...

The Washington Post provides another of those lame flattering portraits of the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelinski:A year in the trenches has hardened Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky came into office thinking peace with Putin was possible. He now believes victory is the only answer.The piece is contradicting itself in certain manners but it also provides new evidence that the U.S. had set out to sabotage the Minsk agreement.The headline is of course wrong. Zelenski has not been in the trenches but continued his pampered life near a bunker in Kiev. It is not Zelenski's 'hardening' that prevents peace negotiations with Russia...

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limits the two sides' strategic nuclear arsenals.

Congress can end the war in Ukraine and win a Nobel Peace Prize by enacting a statute withdrawing the United States from NATO — transforming it from a mighty offensive oak into a tiny acorn unalarming to Russia. As early as 1798, Congress nullified a defense treaty with France by statute. A congressional end to United States participation in NATO would be no constitutional novelty. At the very latest, NATO became obsolete in 1991 when its raison d’etre — the Soviet Empire — dissolved. By remaining in NATO and spearheading its expansion to Russia’s borders with 30 members, the United...

Let’s debunk the biggest fake widely used by kremlin to justify the russian invasion in Ukraine. You hear it from russian media, you read it in the commentaries left by russian bots, but what do the official numbers say? Let’s check out the report of the OHCHR that russians themselves are often referring to. ----- InformNapalm’s database of russian regular units identified in Donbas between 2014-2021: https://informnapalm.org/db/russian-aggression/#lang=en&page=m_unit ----- StopFake’s investigation on the staged russian shelling in Donietsk:https://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-ukrainian-military-shelled-bus-station-in-donetsk/ ----- Bellingcat’s research on russian artillery shelling Ukrainian forces across the border in 2014:https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/02/17/origin-of-artillery-attacks/The research on russian propagandists forging videos:https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/02/17/origin-of-artillery-attacks/Debunking dubious footage forged...

6 cruise missiles hit the border of Poland and Ukraine. At least six cruise missile strikes were carried out on a base of foreign mercenaries just 10 kilometers from the Polish-Ukrainian border. As a result of the strikes, facilities that could contain several hundred foreign mercenaries, as well as ammunition and Western weapons delivered a few days ago, were destroyed. The blows, among other things, became indicative for Poland - Warsaw was directly pointed out to the fact how active support for Kyiv could end. On the presented video frames, you can see the moment when six cruise missiles of...

The warning comes amid soaring tensions with the Nato-member country after Moscow claimed it has removed a Polish flag from a memorial site commemorating the killing of thousands of Poles in the Soviet Union. Russia's defence ministry says its troops have killed "up to 80" Polish fighters in "precision strikes" in the eastern Donetsk region. It said in a statement: "Up to 80 Polish mercenaries, 20 armoured combat vehicles and eight Grad multiple rocket launchers were destroyed in precision strikes on the Megatex zinc factory in Konstantinovka". And the mayor of Smolensk, where the Polish flag was removed Andrei Borisov,...

A senior official in the Russian-installed administration of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region was killed in an apparent assassination on Friday, the deputy head of the administration told Reuters. Dmitry Savluchenko, head of the families, youth, and sports department of the Kherson Military-Civilian Administration, was killed in a bomb blast. Russia's TASS news agency said there were two burnt-out cars in a courtyard of Kherson, the regional capital where the blast took place, and that the windows of one four-storey house had been shattered. An adviser to the Ukrainian governor of Kherson told Ukraine's public news network Suspilne that the assassination...

Reportedly the first footage of American HIMARS MLRS being used by Ukraine in combat.

Russia appears to have faked trial results of its flagship Covid vaccine, according to an analysis. A team of researchers in Australia and Singapore, who pored over the original study, have uncovered what they believe is proof the Kremlin fabricated efficacy data. Russian scientists claimed the jab produced nearly identical results across five different age groups when the trial was published last year. It sparked claims among some experts the results were 'too good to be true', given the tiny numbers of infections that occurred in each cohort. Now researchers have run the trial through a simulation model 50,000 times...

Lithuania has extended the blockade on goods heading for Kaliningrad sanctioned by the EU to also include road transports and not just rail. The U.S. has announced that it is backing Lithuania in its spat with Russia over the blockade.

Perhaps foreseeing a Russian win or stalemate in Ukraine, some foreign policy experts urge that it cede territory. French President Emmanuel Macron calls for not “humiliating” Russia. These entreaties could miss the mark. The battlefield is fluid and could turn for or against Ukraine. The West should prudently prepare for Ukrainian success as well as a less favorable outcome. A few weeks ago, euphoria reigned when Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian attempts to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa — Ukraine’s three largest cities. Now, pessimism is ascendant. President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of “very fierce” fighting in eastern Ukraine and high...

Holy cow thats a big explosion. Can anyone in the know comment on what is likely to make a mushroom cloud that big thats non nuke?

A Russian lawmaker called for Lithuania's independence to be repealed, submitting a draft bill claiming the Baltic republic illegally left the Soviet Union more than three decades ago. The proposed legislation was submitted to the Russian lower house, the Duma, on Wednesday by Yevgeny Fyodorov, a member of the ruling United Russia party. In March 1990, Lithuania became the first republic to announce it intended to restore its independence from the disintegrating USSR, under whose control it had been for five decades after the Soviet army occupied it in 1940.

As the situation in Donbass (East Ukraine) worsens for Ukrainian forces, as reports are now leaking from Kyiv that Ukraine is losing 1,000 troops a day, the State Department has essentially admitted American mercenaries have been captured by Russian forces in-country. Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama are currently “missing” from the battlefield, however, their precise fate is as yet unconfirmed, according to a State Department official, reported Zero Hedge.White House national security spokesman John Kirby didn’t confirm the reports, but strongly hinted that it’s the administration’s belief they were...

Two little-noticed news stories capture the true picture of the state of the global culture war today. The first is from the American deep red state of Idaho, where The Satanic Temple is holding a "Pride" event that features a "Drag Dance Party" and "Unbaptisms" – a ritual in which people who were once baptized as Christians publicly renounce Jesus Christ.The other is from Russia, where the national Duma (legislature) has just introduced legislation to expand its 2013 ban on LGBT propaganda to children to include ALL LGBT propaganda throughout the society.To my knowledge, I am the only culture war...

This morning the CPI (Consumer Price Index) report came out and was higher than expected (Inflation stayed red-hot in May as CPI spiked 8.6% — highest since 1981). (Article by Stan Szymanski republished from EncouragingAngels.org) It is kind of like telling someone who is buried on the beach up to their neck in sand that the tide is coming in but not as fast as you think it is. Most of the food prices I see are up at least 15-33% from what I was used to paying. I know that the standard government numbers say that food inflation is...