Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the number of Russian servicemen currently in the war zone in Ukraine, APA's Moscow bureau reports. He noted at a meeting with the leaders of the State Duma factions that more than 700,000 Russian servicemen are currently on the line of contact.

The attack comes as Russia suffers fuel shortages following Ukrainian attacks that have cut 20 percent of Russia's oil refining capacity. Ukraine struck several Russian oil facilities overnight Friday, including one if its largest refineries and an oil depot, worsening the country’s crippling fuel shortages. Ukrainian drones targeted facilities including Russia's largest Rosneft refinery in Ryazan and an oil depot in occupied Luhansk Oblast, according to Ukraine's chief drone warfare commander Robert Brovdi. Images of the attack on social media that appeared to show a massive fireball erupting immediately after the strike.

Moscow's decision will likely be seen as inconsequential given growing condemnation of widespread human rights abuses committed in Ukraine. Russia plans to formally withdraw from Europe's convention against torture and inhuman treatment, according to a decree published this week. The resolution by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin calls upon President Vladimir Putin to submit the withdrawal from the treaty to Russia's lower house of parliament. Moscow's move is likely to be seen as moot given widespread criticism of its worsening human rights record since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2024, UN-backed experts presented evidence that Russia...

Ukrainian defenders launched a counterattack and cleared Russian invaders from three villages in Donetsk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi reported in a Facebook post on Aug. 24. "Our forces successfully counterattacked and cleared the enemy from the villages of Mykhailivka, Zelenyi Hai, and Volodymyrivka in Donetsk Oblast," Syrskyi stated. While working on the Pokrovsk front, he met with defenders holding the line in Pokrovsk, and listened to reports from corps and brigade commanders on the operational situation. "The situation is indeed challenging; the enemy has concentrated its main efforts on this front line. But we must hold...

A Russian commander who fought against Ukraine since the war's inception has been killed in action in the Donbas region. Yevgeny Pisarenko, commander of the Chechen armed formation known as Akhmat, was pronounced dead on Monday by two fellow soldiers. He went by the nickname "Big," which also translates to "The Great" in a Russian context. "Thanks to the parents who raised such a Hero...A BIG man with a BIG heart!" Akhmat unit commander Apta Alaudinov wrote on Telegram

Update from Ukraine | Bakhmut Flanks were cut | Situation in Nuclear Power Plant is Critical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eLJc3XDo1U The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 2nd July 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-494-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...