Free Republic

393,942 views Feb 5, 2023 Last week I talked about the enduring strengths of the Russian armed forces and their ability to launch offensives and apply pressure in Ukraine. Faced with that pressure, Ukraine's ability to carry on the fight will be driven not just by its own determination, but by the flow of weapons and assistance from its allies abroad. Aid to Ukraine has evolved dramatically since February 2022, and there are few topics that have attracted more constant press coverage away from the battlefield itself. So today I try and set out how aid has evolved, who the...

One year ago, Dasha Oratovska and Sasha Zakhovaieva fled from Kyiv's Independence Square as riot police launched an assault on anti-government protesters, firing flares and rubber bullets into the crowd. Sasha lost consciousness and was dragged by a friend to a makeshift hospital in the nearby Trade Unions building. The building soon caught fire, forcing doctors and wounded protesters to evacuate. As the Euromaidan Revolution reached its bloody crescendo, Dasha found Sasha sitting, dazed, on St. Sophia Square, a short distance from Independence Square. Six months later, Dasha left Ukraine, likely permanently. Sasha remains in Kyiv but has begun formulating...

Back in March 2014 we forecast that it in the aftermath of the US State Department-sponsored coup in Kiev, it was only a matter of time before Ukraine (all of its sovereign gold having since "vaporized") succumbed to full blown hyperinflation and economic implosion. Less than a year later, precisely this outcome has finally played out, and as a result, the entire nation has finally entered its economic endgame, which has two conclusions: either it joins Greece in becoming a ward of Europe and the IMF (thank you Joe Q taxpayer), or it quietly fades away into insolvent "failed state"...

Head of the DPR Aleksandr Zakharchenko made an emergency announcement in Donetsk on February 26 in regard to the withdrawal of heavy armaments from the line of contact. He recited to the journalists the text of the document submitted to the Head of the OSCE mission in the DPR. “In pursuance of the Declaration of 12.02.2015 and the “Package of measures concerning implementation of the Minsk Agreement” the Donetsk People’s Republic has withdrawn heavy armament to the agreed upon and registered by the given document distance”, the document claims. Aleksandr Zakharchenko remarked that the DPR has withdrawn 90% of artillery,...

Western powers should take into consideration Russia's legitimate security concerns over Ukraine, a top Chinese diplomat has said in an unusually frank and open display of support for Moscow's position in the crisis. Qu Xing, China's ambassador to Belgium, was quoted by state news agency Xinhua late on Thursday as blaming competition between Russia and the West for the Ukraine crisis, urging Western powers to "abandon the zero-sum mentality" with Russia. He said the "nature and root cause" of the crisis was the "game" between Russia and Western powers, including the United States and the European Union. He said external...

The National Police on Friday detained eight Spaniards suspected of fighting alongside pro-Russian forces in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The arrests took place in Asturias, Catalonia, Extremadura, Murcia, Navarre and Madrid. Three of the suspects are former members of the Spanish armed forces, and one is confirmed to have been on the frontline, according to anti-terrorist sources. The men are all aged between 20 and 30 years old. The eight Spaniards belong to several different communist organizations, and had received support from an unofficial pro-Russian European network. The operation was completed after three of the men returned to Spain...

Ukrainian forces fought their way out of the embattled town of Debaltseve in the early hours of Wednesday, choosing a risky overnight breakout rather than surrender as they abandoned the town to Russian-backed militants. President Petro O. Poroshenko said in a televised statement that he had ordered the retreat from Debaltseve, a strategic transportation hub where intense fighting raged in recent days despite a cease-fire agreement signed last week in Minsk, Belarus. Mr. Poroshenko sought to cast the retreat in a positive light, but the loss of the town was clearly a devastating setback for the army at the hands...

General Staff ordered the militias, which are surrounded by Debaltseve, the destruction of heavy machinery and departure. However, out of the new boiler in a fight almost not possible. It is reported online volunteer "Fund Peace and Order" Vsevolod Kozhemeyko, news reports "Press Ukraine". "Our part in the area Debaltseve no longer be able to enter the engineering and lossless. Order of destruction technology has received. Next to wade explored paths "- says volunteer. "What is it again? How long can you tolerate errors Viti Muzhenko war and lose people, equipment and grounds. Can this be enough dense unprofessional and...

Senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin said on Tuesday pro-Russian separatists had gained control of more than 80 percent of the east Ukrainian transport hub of Debaltseve, which has been gripped by fighting despite a ceasefire deal.

When Ukrainian army officers came to the Ukrainian village of Velikaya Znamenka to tell the men to prepare to be drafted, they weren’t prepared for what happened next. As the commanding officer was speaking, a woman seized the microphone and proceeded to tell him off: "We’re sick of this war! Our husbands and sons aren’t going anywhere!" She then launched into a passionate speech, denouncing the war, and the coup leaders in Kiev, to the cheers of the crowd. What she did is now a crime in Ukraine: the only reason she wasn’t arrested on the spot is that the...

Russia has suspended work in the PACE for a year following the adoption of a resolution depriving the Russian delegation of its voting rights in the organization until the April session. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on Wednesday a resolution depriving the Russian delegation of its voting rights in the organization until at least the April session. The resolution stresses that the revision of the decision and other sanctions against Russia could be held during opening meetings of the April session if Moscow demonstrates substantial progress in meeting the PACE demands over Russia's alleged role...

So here’s Obama’s opinion: Ukraine should not get military aid from the West because even with American help, Russia would still mop the floor with them. And this, according to the Times, is what Obama thinks will intimidate Putin into signing a peace treaty. I’ll offer the president some free advice: telling Putin the world is too weak to stop him isn’t very intimidating. Yet even if the West got Putin to sign on to a new agreement, nothing will have been accomplished. Putin has been violating the last ceasefire agreement, because there’s no one to enforce it. What Obama,...

Europe's leaders were in last-ditch talks to broker a peace deal in Ukraine on Thursday night, as threats by America to send arms to Kiev raised fears of a direct confrontation between Russia and the West. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and François Hollande, the French president, began a two-day visit to Kiev and Moscow in an attempt to get both governments to sign a new ceasefire deal. The talks, which come amid an escalation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, were an attempt by European capitals to head off moves by Washington to begin arming Ukrainian forces, who have...

American threats to arm Ukraine are a "bluff" aimed at making Russia blink as the crisis in east Ukraine deepens, according to senior EU diplomats. Angela Merkel and François Hollande’s mission to Moscow comes following a “radical deterioration” and Western intelligence showing “beyond doubt” that thousands of Russian are fighting in Ukraine, senior diplomats said. The general consensus among Western diplomats, including Nato, is that there is no military solution to the Ukraine crisis although attitudes are hardening in Washington as fears grow that Kiev is on the edge of military and economic collapse. One European diplomat said that reports...

At the moment, this is AP Breaking News.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine is fiercer than ever in some locations, NATO's top commander in Europe said Thursday - adding that the weapons systems seen now in the region have in the past heralded a fresh incursion by Russian troops. "Violence has intensified and changed character in Ukraine," U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told a news conference at NATO headquarters. He said the fighting has re-escalated to levels seen before the Sept. 5 Minsk cease-fire agreement "and in some cases beyond." Questioned by reporters, Breedlove, the alliance's chief commander in Europe, said he couldn't confirm Ukrainian authorities' statements that...

<p>Ukrainian president says he has agreed with Russia's President Putin on "permanent ceasefire" in east of country.</p>

European military assistance to Ukraine could lead to a nuclear conflict between Russia and NATO, according to Poland's iconic cold warrior and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa. "It could lead to a nuclear war," the anti-Communist legend told reporters when asked whether the EU should send weapons to Ukraine to help it fights off separatist rebels and Russian aggression.

While only 'humanitarian adviser' boots on the ground are present in Iraq (and Syria), Reuters reports that preparations are under way near Ukraine's western border for a joint military exercise this month with more than 1,000 troops from the United States and its allies. As Obama told reporters last week, "that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming," it seems a little odd 'strategically' to go ahead with the Rapid Trident exercise Sept. 16-26 as a sign of the commitment of NATO states to support non-NATO member Ukraine, entailing the first significant deployment of U.S....

<p>As Russia forces push forward towards the southeastern Ukraine coastal city of Mariupol and evidence mounts of direct Russian military support to the insurgent fighters, besieged volunteer units of "patriots" leading the way in the country's fight back say they are not receiving enough support from Kiev to win the war.</p>