Free Republic

Extraordinary new footage has revealed the sheer terror faced by Russian sailors aboard a large landing ship sunk by Ukrainian kamikaze sea drones last month. A GoPro video, taken by sailors aboard the doomed Caesar Kunikov military vessel, showed in shocking detail how the navy men desperately tried to fight off the oncoming drones in an intense 20-minute sea battle before their vessel was destroyed in a fiery explosion. The warship was lost on February 14, but the footage has only just been released by Russian Telegram channel FighterBomber. The hellish, chaotic scene saw a small group of seamen unloading...

Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea, claiming another victory over the Kremlin's forces in the hotly contested waters of the Black Sea. Moscow did not confirm the claim, which would represent the latest blow to its naval power as Kyiv strikes targets deep behind the war's front lines, even as its army suffers setbacks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that it had used high-tech sea drones in an overnight attack on the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, which separates the annexed peninsula’s eastern...

Ukrainian drones hit a major Russian steel factory overnight, causing a large fire, a Kyiv source said on Saturday, on the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The governor of Russia’s Lipetsk region identified the plant as one in the city of Lipetsk, some 400 km (250 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, that is responsible for about 18 percent of Russian steel output. He said a fire apparently caused by a drone strike had been extinguished at the plant, operated by Russian steelmaker Novolipetsk (NLMK), and there had been no casualties. The Ukrainian source told Reuters the...

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson's visit to Moscow has received near-constant coverage in Russia's state media, amid speculation that he may interview President Vladimir Putin. Social media has also been awash with images of him visiting sites around Moscow, as his every move is followed. The conservative journalist has been an outspoken defender of Mr Putin. -snip- Breaking news Telegram channel Mash was the first to report that Carlson had arrived in the Russian capital, posting a photo of him boarding a flight from Istanbul, and another of him reportedly visiting Moscow's famous Bolshoi Theatre to watch the ballet...

Russia has reduced gasoline exports to non-CIS countries to compensate for unplanned repairs at refineries, the Ministry of Energy said on Wednesday, as the country grappled with the impact of fires and drone attacks on its energy infrastructure. It said gasoline and diesel exports have been reduced in January by 37% and 23% respectively from the same month in 2023. Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other's energy infrastructure in strikes designed to disrupt supply lines and logistics and to demoralise their opponent as they seek the edge in a nearly two-year-old conflict that shows no sign of ending.

UKRAINE is claiming to have sunk another Russian warship - with 50 sailors on board - using kamikaze sea drones. Footage shared today by Ukraine's ministry of defence showed the dramatic moment its boats sped toward Vladimir Putin's £55million Black Sea missile ship "Ivanovets" and sent it up in flames. The Ukrainian government's defence intelligence announced the hit on the 184ft warship via messaging service Telegram. It stated: "'Ivanovets' at the bottom - as a result of a special operation of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense, an enemy missile boat was destroyed." The department alleged soldiers of its...

Russian forces are contending with Ukrainian "gamers" using first-person-view (FPV) drones across the front line against Russian strongholds, a top Russian official has said, as uncrewed vehicles gain an ever higher profile in the 23 month-old war. Ukrainian unmanned vehicle operators carried out a "continuous raid" on Russian positions for several days at an undisclosed location along the front line, said Dmitry Rogozin, former head of the Russian Space agency, who is now a Moscow-installed official in the annexed Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine. "In four hours, 24 FPV drones flew to the stronghold of only one of our volunteer...

Ukraine said on Monday its troops had regained more territory on the eastern and southern fronts in the past week of its counteroffensive against Russian forces. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said in televised comments that Ukraine had retaken nearly 2 square km (0.77 square mile) of land around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russia in May after months of fighting. She later added on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian army had in the past week also recaptured 4.8 square km in the southern Tavria sector. In her televised comments, Maliar said Ukrainian forces had captured...