Free Republic

After months of fighting, the Russians are still struggling to gain a toehold in Ukraine’s 266th biggest population center. Shortly after finally capturing the ruins of Avdiivka following a bloody, five-month battle that culminated in February, Russian forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region took aim at another eastern prize: the industrial town of Chasiv Yar, which had a pre-war population of around 12,000. Exposed on the very edge of the line of contact west of Bakhmut and depending on a north-south canal—a canal with two easy crossing points—for its defense, Chasiv Yar is vulnerable. And its easternmost canal district, on...

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski on Wednesday asked the country's Prime Minister Denis Shmyha to consider the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage in the country. Zelenski thus responded to a petition presented on July 3 and signed by more than 28,000 people. However, he stressed that, as stated in the country's Family Code, the "family is the basic primary unit of Ukrainian society". "A family consists of people living together, connected by a common life, with mutual rights and obligations. According to the Ukrainian Constitution, marriage is based on the free consent of a man and a woman," the president said,...

Ukraine's military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. "The 'Mariupol' garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement on Facebook. "The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel... Defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time." The rest of Mariupol is already under Russian control. The city had been under Russian siege since the start of the war.

Russian lieutenant-colonel is accused of shooting dead multiple injured troops on the battlefieldArmy intelligence troops captured by Ukraine say they saw the killings of five of their comradesUkraine has accused Russia of failing to take back its war dead, leaving piles of corpses Ukrainian troops have reached the Russian border to the north of Kharkiv, pushing back Kremlin forcesVideo also shows nuclear-capable Iskander missiles moving towards Finland amid growing NATO rowOne of Putin's top propagandists has declared Russia's offensive in the Donbas region has failed as incredible pictures show the inside of the steel plant at Azovstal which has been...

On Monday, retired four-star general and MSNBC "military analyst" Barry R. McCaffrey posted a clip of video game footage to Twitter. Alongside it he claimed it was a display of strength from Ukraine's air defense. It's actually footage from a video game.

On Monday, May 16, some of the defenders of the azovstal iron and steel works were taken to the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region. Subsequently, they will be exchanged for prisoners of the Russian invaders. This information was confirmed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a video message to the Ukrainian people (to view it, scroll to the end of the page). Among the soldiers there are seriously wounded, they are receiving medical assistance. "Thanks to the actions of the Ukrainian military – the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intelligence, as well as the negotiation group, the International Committee...

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment...