Free Republic

The Pentagon has given its tacit endorsement of Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory and no longer fears such operations could lead to a “dramatic” Russian escalation, The Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed US defense officials. The US position appears to only be based on the fact that up to this point, Russia hasn’t responded to attacks on its territory with nuclear weapons or by attacking NATO countries. The Times report reads: “Moscow’s revenge attacks have to date all involved conventional missile strikes against civilian targets. Previously, the Pentagon was warier of Ukraine attacking Russia because it feared the Kremlin...

@RepMTG It is heartbreaking to see these disabled Ukrainian soldiers here in the halls of Congress being used as pawns to pressure our Congress to give American’s hard earned tax dollars to Zelensky. I’m calling for an audit of funds to Ukraine and to fund and secure our border.

According to Scott Ritter, the Ukrainians deliberately launched the Ukrainian S300 missiles into Poland. NATO knows it is a Ukrainian missile, and it was deliberately fired into Poland. But Zelensky might not know the truth. There are elements in the Ukrainian military who would do it unilaterally, Ritter believes. The Ukrainians want Patriot missiles and a no-fly zone since they are losing badly, especially under the barrage of missiles from Russia. They’re losing their energy systems. Zelensky and his military don’t seem to care if they start World War III.

The Prime Minister of Poland has called an emergency meeting following the explosion. Two people have been killed in Poland after two stray Russian rockets landed near the border with Ukraine. The rockets landed in the NATO state following Russia's mass bombardment of Ukrainian cities earlier today, which saw over 100 rockets launched. According to the AP news agency, a senior US intelligence official said that the missiles were of Russian origin. Poland's Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has convened the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs "as a matter of urgency", government spokesman Piotr...

WARSAW, Poland — A senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people.

The number of Republican voters who are against the war in Ukraine has steadily increased. In March only 6% said that the U.S. is doing 'too much' for Ukraine. That number is now 48%. The Republicans in Congress have been pressing the Biden administration to better safeguard the enormous amount of weapon and money it is sending to Kiev: Following concerns in Congress and accusations by Russia about weapons smuggling, the Biden administration released its blueprint on Thursday for ensuring that the $17 billion in arms it has so far sent to Ukraine were making it to the battlefield —...

U.S. President Joe Biden warned that global hunger could increase because of Russia’s suspension of a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage for ships carrying Ukrainian grain. “It’s really outrageous,” said Biden speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.” Biden spoke hours after Russia announced it would immediately halt participation in the agreement, alleging that Ukraine staged a drone attack Saturday against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ships off the coast of occupied Crimea. Ukraine has denied the attack.

Russia has said it is suspending its participation in the agreement to ensure the continuation of Ukrainian grain exports — vital for food supplies to poor countries — linking the decision to a drone attack on Russian ships in occupied Crimea on Saturday morning. The defence ministry announced the move, and it was also reported by the state news agency TASS. "Taking into account the terrorist act carried out by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts against ships of the Black Sea fleet and civilian vessels involved in the security of grain corridors, Russia suspends its participation...

Seeking to shine some light into the dark world of Internet trolls, a journalist with Finland’s national broadcaster asked members of her audience to share their experience of encounters with Russia’s “troll army,” a raucous and often venomous force of online agitators. The response was overwhelming, though not in the direction that the journalist, Jessikka Aro, had hoped. As she expected, she received some feedback from people who had clashed with aggressively pro-Russian voices online. But she was taken aback, and shaken, by a vicious retaliatory campaign of harassment and insults against her and her work by those same pro-Russian...

​President Biden lost his temper and raised his voice on the phone with​ Volodymyr Zelensky when the Ukrainian president continued to press for more aid even after Biden signed off on $1 billion worth of military assistance earlier this year, according to a report Monday. ​ The phone call in June, one of many between the two leaders, turned testy when Zelensky began listing what else Kyiv needed and wasn’t getting​ shortly after Biden announced the aid package, NBC News reported.​ The commander-in-chief reportedly blew his stack ​and, with his voice rising, reminded Zelensky of the generosity of the American...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that his nation has formally submitted an expedited application to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance launched after World War II as a counter against Soviet aggression in Europe. The announcement occurs as the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its seventh month. “Ukraine was and remains a leader in negotiation efforts. It was our state that always offered Russia to reach an agreement on coexistence on equal, honest, decent and fair terms,” Zelensky said in a video message. “It is obvious that this...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country will file an expedited application to join NATO after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex parts of eastern Ukraine. In a statement, Zelensky called Ukraine and NATO “de facto” allies and said his country would seek formal membership in the alliance. “De facto, we have already proven interoperability with the Alliance’s standards, they are real for Ukraine — real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction,” Zelensky said. “Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure. Under a procedure consistent with our significance for the protection of...

Escalating with Russia might be President Biden’s only chance to save his failing administration. Don’t put it past him.The sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines earlier this week will likely mark a turning point in the Russo-Ukrainian war — although which way the war will turn remains, like responsibility for the sabotage itself, unknown. On Thursday, Russia’s foreign ministry denied Moscow had anything to do with the attacks, saying it “looks like an act of terrorism, possibly on a state level,” and suggested that, with the pipelines out of commission, the United States could stand to benefit...

President Biden warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that America and its allies were “fully prepared” to “defend every single inch of NATO territory” after the Moscow tyrant claimed to have annexed parts of four Ukrainian territories. “Mr. Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying,” Biden said at the conclusion of remarks focused on Hurricane Ian. “Every inch.”

St. Peter of Kiev and Moscow was at the helm of the Russian Orthodox Church in the most painful historical moment, early in the 14th century, when our land was trampled underfoot and pillaged by the Mongol nomads. Capital city of Kiev was in ashes, and the ruling Metropolitan moved his See to a small and modest town of Moscow. From that time on, the Principality of Moscow began to gain power and eventually led the whole country to freedom and independence, from a set of scattered rural tribes to nationhood. On September 6, when the Church observes the memory...

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the bookmakers' favorite to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the Kremlin is unlikely to be betting on a different British approach to relations with Moscow, or the war in Ukraine, should she take over from incumbent Boris Johnson. Although enjoying less support among fellow Conservative Party MPs, Truss's greater popularity among grassroots Tories than Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final run-off has seen Betfair put her odds-on 4/6 to win. If successful, she will be the face of the British response to the war in Ukraine during which she...

Ukraine’s Minister of Energy warned Monday that the "world is once again on the brink of nuclear disaster" after heavy shelling brought down Europe’s largest nuclear plant’s last transmission line. In a written message shared on Facebook on Monday, Ukrainian Energy Secretary German Galushchenko said that the majority of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission has left the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as the station "is depleted again." "The last line connecting it with the energy system of Ukraine — LEP 330 kW ZATES — Ferosplavna - separated due to the fire that occurred as a result of shelling,"...

The Biden administration is arming Ukraine with weapons that can do serious damage to Russian forces, and, unlike early in the war, U.S. officials don’t appear worried about Moscow’s reaction. In the past several months, Washington has detailed tranches of new drones, harder-hitting missiles and deadly rocket systems as part of billions of dollars pledged to the former Soviet country. The clear support is a far cry from the early days of the war, when the U.S. government seemed hesitant to list exactly what was being sent into Ukraine so as not to tip off or draw the ire of...

After the first Ukrainian attempt to push towards had failed it is now reinforcing that failure. As I describe the move: The only 'successful' attack was across the Inhulet river near Andriivka in the direction of the dam and river crossing that closes off the Kakhovka Dnieper reservoir. The troops were cut off and mostly destroyed. On the western side of the salient a Russian unit crossed the Inhulet towards north and attacked the Ukrainians on that side. It soon had to pull back and the Ukrainians used the Russian crossing to reconnect with the cut off units in the...

A representative of the Moscow-installed military administration in the occupied parts of Ukraine's Kherson region says a referendum on joining Russia has been postponed as Ukrainian armed forces continue military operations aimed at regaining control over the area. "We have prepared for the voting, and we wanted to hold the referendum in the nearest future, but due to the developments happening at the moment, I think we will pause [with the referendum]," the Russian-appointed deputy governor of Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told the TASS news agency on September 5. Kherson, an important port city on the Black Sea, has been fully...