Free Republic

'Depressed' Vladimir Putin is 'set to hold a nuclear evacuation drill' with the Kremlin's doomsday plane after moving his family to a 'secret underground city' in Siberia, 'insider' account claims Questions have been raised over health and mental state of Russia's president Fears of nuclear conflict increased when he threatened NATO with 'consequences' if it intervened in the war, and put his nuclear forces on standby Now, a source has claimed he has told his close allies to prepare for nuclear drills An element of Russian plans for a nuclear war are a fleet of 'flying Kremlins' The doomsday planes...

Ukraine claimed today that its forces had shot dead the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in another significant blow to Vladimir Putin's forces. First rank captain Andrey Paliy, 51, is the only senior naval officer allegedly killed in the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv claims to have slain five army generals. Col Sergei Sukharev, of the 331st Guards Parachute Assault Regiment from Kostroma, was killed on March 18 and Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3. In addition, Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division,...

Last week, Andrey Soldatov, a respected author on the Russian secret services, said sources inside the FSB told him that Sergey Beseda, 68, head of the agency's foreign service, had been placed under arrest on Putin's orders. Also arrested was Anatoly Bolyukh, Beseda's deputy, according to Soldatov, who said Putin is 'truly unhappy' with the agency - which he ran before becoming president. Putin is said to blame the agency for intelligence which assured him ahead of the invasion that Russian forces would face only token resistance from the Ukrainian army and that Ukrainians themselves were eager to be rid...

The signs are abundant of how Ukraine frustrated Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a swift victory, and how Russia's military proved far from ready for the fight. A truck carrying Russian troops crashes, its doors blown open by a rocket-propelled grenade. Foreign-supplied drones target Russian command posts. Orthodox priests in trailing vestments parade Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag in defiance of their Russian captors in the occupied city of Berdyansk. Russia has lost hundreds of tanks, many left charred or abandoned along the roads, and its death toll is on a pace to outstrip that of the country’s previous military campaigns....

Russia has one of the largest and most powerful armed forces in the world, but that has not been apparent in its initial invasion of Ukraine. Many military analysts in the West have been surprised by its performance on the battlefield so far, with one describing it as "dismal". Its military advances appear to have largely stalled and some now question whether it can recover from the losses it has suffered. This week, a senior Nato military official told the BBC, "the Russians clearly have not achieved their goals and probably will not at the end of the day". So...

#Ukraine: A new montage of clips from the Ukrainian Air Force's TB-2 drones, both observations of artillery fire on #Kherson Air Base a few days ago, and unspecified/older footage of artillery and drone munition strikes against Russian convoys. Ukraine Weapons Tracker @UAWeapons

More than two weeks into a war he expected to dominate in two days, Vladimir Putin is projecting anger, frustration at his military’s failures and a willingness to cause even more violence and destruction in Ukraine, in the assessment of U.S. intelligence officials. Officials in recent days have publicly said they’re worried the Russian president will escalate the conflict to try to break Ukraine’s resistance. Russia still holds overwhelming military advantages and can bombard the country for weeks more. And while the rest of the world reacts to horrific images of the war he started, Putin remains insulated from domestic...

Ukraine has accused Russia of staging airstrikes in Belarus to get its ally to join the conflict. Meanwhile, shelling hit a mosque sheltering more than 80 people in the port city of Mariupol.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's “bloated” appearance could be the side effect of him taking steroids for treatment for cancer, spies have claimed. Senior figures from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States believe there is a physiological explanation for his invasion of Ukraine, it is reported. Citing sources close to the Kremlin, they are investigating reports that 69-year-old Putin’s “increasingly erratic behaviour” combined with a bloated appearance point to drug use. They are advancing theories that he may be suffering from cancer and the medical treatment he is receiving has altered the balance of his mind....

With a white, closely trimmed beard and deep crevices around his mouth where dimples might once have been, Colonel Stetsenko cuts an unusual figure on the battlefield. He is 56 and had been retired from the military for a decade when he decided to re-enlist in 2020. By then, Ukrainian forces were already fighting a Kremlin-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, and Colonel Stetsenko felt he needed to do his part. “I knew that many people who had already served were tired,” he said. “It is difficult to live for so long without their families, and we needed people to serve....