Free Republic

In less than 24 hours part of Ukraine becomes part of Russia and NATO just held a secret meeting to ramp up the war. Vladimir Putin pointed the finger directly at the U.S. for its attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. Germany is on the brink of collapse as German energy experts point to coming blackouts.

All four regions have said their word; they voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia.

The attention of the international community has rarely been focused on this simple and horrifying truth: modern Russia has been waging wars since the very first years after the fall of the USSR. Most of its wars follow the same inhumane and repetitive patterns: political provocations, funding separatism & terrorism, heavy casualties among civilians due to widespread use of artillery and aviation, poverty and lawlessness in the invaded regions, and a backdrop of outlandish Kremlin propaganda. To show that Russia has always kept up its brutal imperialist ambitions, we only have to list the wars from 1991 to 2015 with...

Russia’s capture of the strategic city of Lysychansk means the front line in Ukraine’s east will shift as Russian forces regroup before pushing further south and west, military analysts and Ukrainian officers said Sunday, ensuring that the next phase of the battle will be just as bloody as the last. To take Lysychansk and its neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces moved in from the north, east and west and created a pocket of territory that became indefensible toward the end of June. Now those Russian forces are in a position to attempt a similar maneuver on other Ukrainian-held cities...

Ukraine's military has confirmed that the eastern city of Lysychansk has fallen to Russian forces. "After heavy fighting for Lysychansk, the defence forces of Ukraine were forced to withdraw from their occupied positions and lines," the army general staff said. Earlier Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had captured Lysychansk and taken full control of Luhansk region. Its general staff said that "in order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw".

Russia-backed separatists say they have "completely" encircled the key city of Lysychansk in the eastern Luhansk region. "Today the Luhansk popular militia and Russian forces occupied the last strategic heights, which allows us to confirm that Lysychansk is completely encircled," Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, told the TASS news agency. Ukraine's army denied the claims, saying that fighting is still raging in the city.