Free Republic

Mark Sutherland interviews Dr. R. Mark Mark Musser, a missionary currently serving in wartime Ukraine. Dr. Musser has served in the former Soviet Union for 30 years, living in four different countries.

Ukraine has carried out its deepest drone strike of the war against a major gas facility in Russia’s Arctic, demonstrating that its expanding long-range strike capabilities can reach the heart of the country’s strategically important Yamal-Nenets gas-producing region. Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said drones struck the Novy Urengoy condensate treatment plant and the nearby Purovsky gas-condensate processing plant on September 9, traveling more than 3,000 kilometers from Ukraine. Russian regional authorities confirmed a drone attack and a fire at an industrial facility in Novy Urengoy, although they did not initially identify the target. Ukraine subsequently claimed responsibility. The strike was...

On April 18, 2026, a 58-year-old man committed a mass murder in Kyiv, Ukraine, using a legally registered firearm. Seven people were killed. Two police officers fled the scene. The Minister of the Interior, Ihor Klymenko, established an administrative working group to consider the creation of a national law to allow citizens to own and carry handguns for self-defense. The working group was established on June 11, 2026. Ihor Klymenko was replaced as Interior Minister on July 16, 2026. Ivan Vyhivskyi is the current Minister of the Interior. It is not clear if the working group has submitted recommendations to...

From the gun cabinet of his shooting range, Volodymyr Sukhomlyn pulls out a semiautomatic shotgun. **SNIP** Not an easy target “But more recently it’s been bus drivers and cabbies buying them, too — anyone who is out on the streets a lot.” One FPV attack this month injured several people at a supermarket, leaving the floor stained with blood. Another ploughed into the upper floors of a government building downtown. “I heard it coming and we had to hide in a shop when it exploded,” said Julia Sologub, 31. “It used to be just a problem for soldiers — now...

These days one reads fewer stories proclaiming the turning of the tide in the Russia-Ukraine war. There are also fewer tweets from Donald Trump threatening Iran with imminent destruction. Now that the noise has receded, it is a good time to listen. I am not hearing of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. What I am hearing instead is the thud of Russian jackboots marching deeper into the parts of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that Vladimir Putin does not yet control. Meanwhile, in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, the Houthis have taken control of the strategic port city of...

For Americans who follow the Russian-Ukrainian war, the past few months must look very strange. In the first half of summer, the story from Kyiv – and the many western media outlets that repeated it – was that Ukraine was winning. Then, not long after the NATO summit in July, Kyiv announced it lacked the interceptors to prevent a winter disaster. The country needed 300 missiles to survive, we were told. Even if these 300 missiles arrive, they are unlikely to protect a country as large as Ukraine from the sheer volume of Russian ballistic attacks and glide-bomb strikes. Now...

Volodymyr Zelensky has sanctioned his former press secretary, who claimed without evidence that he had a drug habit. Iuliia Mendel, who lives in the US and has become a critic of the Ukrainian president in recent months, worked as his aide from June 2019 to July 2021 The measures, which will last for a decade, will strip the former spokesman of her state awards, freeze her assets and forbid her from moving capital out of her home country. The decree also sanctioned nine other Russian and Ukrainian citizens. In response to the decree, she posted on social media: "Sanctions against...

A survey of LGBTQ+ rights groups around the globe shows the vast majority of them lost funding since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Outright International released a report on September 10 showing nearly 89% of groups responding to a survey said that since January 2025, they have lost foreign aid from the United States. The advocacy group spoke with representatives from 229 organizations in 94 countries, 203 of which said funds had been cut since the inauguration.

A Russian strike has hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other top European officials had passed through. No casualties were reported after the Russian strike, which hit the train's engine. Johnson and some of Europe's most senior security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had passed along the same line on their way back from a conference in the capital, Kyiv. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a Russian drone had struck 800m from Polish border. Russia has in recent months carried out a number of deadly attacks targeting Ukraine's...

Two wars have cut France off from supplies of natural gas. First the Ukraine War shutting off the flow of Russian gas in 2022 now Middle East gas supplies disrupted by the Iran War. On October 1st the price of natural gas in France will rise on average 6.3 percent. This follows a 5.6 percent rise on September 1st... France joined the UK and Canada along with nine other countries in imposing sanctions on Israeli nationalist settlements this week. Israel bristled at the decision with immediate retaliation against the UK... France has also weighed in on the tensions between Israel...

Vladimir Putin has not changed his war aims a jot since 2022 and remains determined on fighting on. Donald Trump has no new plan for peace other than bringing the Ukraine war to an end on Putin’s terms. And Kyiv is running out of money and men to defend itself, just as surely as it has already run out of Patriot interceptors to defend its skies against the Kremlin’s barrages. Those are the three depressing takeaways from the latest round of shuttle diplomacy in Moscow and Kyiv by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff. On the eve...

Germany will send Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine from its national ​stocks, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday, warning that ‌Russia was likely to intensify its air campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure as winter approaches. Speaking at a videoconference of nations supporting Ukraine, Pistorius said he had decided to "deliver urgently" additional PAC-2 ​interceptor missiles. Patriot missiles are currently the only effective defence against Russian ​ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine, officials say. "Since Russia is only ⁠advancing very slowly at the front line, it is trying to destroy ​Ukraine's economic base and critical infrastructure by way of air raids...

Public sentiment is turning against Zelensky amid corruption concerns and weariness with his rule. For most of his presidency and especially since Russia launched its full-scale war, Ukrainian voters have rallied around Volodymyr Zelensky as a pillar of national resilience and unity. That’s for good reason: But now, after more than seven years in office, four and a half years of war with Russia, and a series of scandals involving his leadership team and close friends, Zelensky appears to have lost the nation’s political support. Indeed, polling published in early August points to a major mood swing among Ukrainians, suggesting...

Hungary has blocked Ukraine’s EU accession process for a third time, with the government saying it will only lift its objection if Kyiv makes progress on the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority. The latest dispute emerged at the European Council’s Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession (COELA), which held its first meeting after the summer recess on Tuesday, 1 September. According to Ukrainska Pravda citing European Pravda’s sources in Brussels, Hungary refused to approve the screening results for Ukraine’s second and third negotiating clusters. Without unanimous support from all 27 EU member states, the Council cannot move...

The [Russian] Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense plan to launch a joint project in the coming weeks to identify future participants in the Special Military Operation [war in Ukraine] among high school seniors. “On this momentous day, September 1, I want to share some important and good news with you. We are beginning a search among high school seniors—students in their graduating classes—for reliable, patriotic, and conscientious young men and women who could strengthen our army and join the Special Military Operation shortly after graduating from high school. Over the course of the school year, we will...

Hunter Biden identified as a “little bit gay” in a recent podcast interview dominated by talk about his sexuality. The former first son, 56, who’s married to Melissa Cohen, made the revealing remarks on an Aug. 16 episode of the Luke Beasley Show podcast. Beasley asked Biden, “Are you gay?” early on in the interview. Former President Joe Biden’s son replied: “Only a little bit.” Beasley then asked if Hunter was “more or less than 50 percent” gay – and the ex-first son said, “48.6 percent.” The podcaster then wanted to know if he’d be Hunter’s “type.” “A little bit...

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged continued support for Iran on Tuesday as the United States launched a new round of strikes against Iranian targets, highlighting the increasingly close relationship between Moscow and Tehran as President Donald Trump intensifies military and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic. *** The Post reported that Pezeshkian thanked Putin for Russia's support and urged the two countries to work together to counter U.S. sanctions. Putin said Russia was providing Iran with assistance and essential goods, according to the Post's account of the meeting. The Kremlin's support for Tehran came as U.S. forces launched a new...

Hunter Biden acknowledged in a new interview that his lucrative board appointments, including one at Ukrainian energy company Burisma, helped finance his crack cocaine addiction. “I never went broke,” Biden boasted on the “Dopey” podcast, after describing a two-month-long bender at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Calif., where the former first son said he tried to “go out with a bang.” “Dopey” host Dave Manheim asked Biden how he was able to “scrape the money together” for the cocaine and prostitutes and private bungalows at the luxurious Chateau Marmont. “Well, I still had the residual. Like for instance, I still...

More than 113,000 Russians crossed into Georgia via the Upper Lars checkpoint last week amid growing fears the Kremlin is preparing to announce a new mobilization wave, Politico reported on Aug. 28. The spike in border crossings comes as the Kremlin undertakes increasingly aggressive recruitment measures, expands data collection on military reservists, and broadens the mandate for the National Guard, all of which have fueled speculation of an imminent call-up. Earlier, Ukraine's Presidential Office issued a warning on Aug. 27, saying that Russia plans to mobilize 600,000 recruits over 2026 and 2027, with 300,000 to be called up this year...

The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack. The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. In the...