Free Republic

Videos emerge online, showing a targeted attack by a Kh-101 missile on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko has analyzed Russian propaganda messages after the terrorist attack on the largest children’s hospital of Ukraine. At first, the Russian invaders claimed their strike on the Okhmadyt children's hospital in Kyiv was due to an alleged military meeting taking place there. “So they openly admit that the attack on the children's clinic was targeted and justify it with a “meeting” claim… Seriously? Let me recall that when two weeks ago, Kharkiv was attacked with glide bombs, Russian...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble under a monthslong Russian assault, a military spokesperson said Thursday. Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated...

Kyiv has been told that, before it can join Nato, it must fix its problems with corruption. These are very real: the latest Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Ukraine below Belarus and Kazakhstan. But that is not the true reason why there will be no good news on accession for Zelensky at Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington next week.The simple reality is that very few in Nato wants to let Ukraine in, despite endless platitudes including a declaration by the North Atlantic Council at Vilnius last year that “Ukraine’s future is in Nato”. There has been discussion about taking that...

The Ukraine war will end in a surrender, not in a negotiated deal. That is my sense of where the war is headed and why the parties cannot negotiate a settlement. The latest wrinkle in the missing negotiating saga is a declaration in the form of an interview given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In the interview, Zelensky said there can’t be direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia but there could be indirect negotiations through a third party. In Zelensky’s proposed scenario, the third party will serve as an intermediary and any deal will only be...

Russian forces have begun employing massive 3,000-kilogram (6,600-pound) class FAB-3000 M54 bombs turned into stand-off weapons in Ukraine it has been claimed. If true, this could present a significant new challenge for Ukrainian forces given the amount of destruction power such a weapon could deliver while also helping the launch platform stay further away from Ukrainian air defenses. At the same time, questions have already been raised about what aircraft might be able to employ FAB-3000 M54s converted in this way and the size of the available stockpile of the bombs, all of which could limit their actual operational utility....

Russia's armed forces suffered a new blow today when its air defences shot down one of its own military helicopters near the war zone. The latest friendly fire nightmare resulted in the death of all four crew members, it was reported. The £19 million Ka-29 assault helicopter was on duty hunting for Ukrainian kamikaze sea drones near Black Sea resort Anapa this morning when it was hit by a Russian Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile in an incident of mistaken targeting. The Russians blamed the blunder on a malfunction of the 'friend or foe' identification system.

The US has agreed to send a second Patriot system to Ukraine, according to reports. Ukraine has been given a handful of the missile systems from its allies, but says it needs more. Patriots help stop Russian attacks, but Ukraine's allies are reluctant to reduce their own arsenals. A second US Patriot system is headed for Ukraine following appeals for further air defenses, according to reports. The MIM-104 Patriot missile system has been hailed as a major success in Ukraine, shooting down Russian missiles and aircraft as Ukraine fights back against Russia's invasion.

A crack Russian unit of fighters was almost totally destroyed during intense fighting near Kharkiv, rendering it inoperable, according to reports from the frontline. The devastating massacre took place last weekend during fighting for Vovchansk, a city located 73 km (45 miles) northeast of Kharkiv. The city has become the focus of heavy fighting after Russian troops launched a surprise attack in the Kharkiv region in early May. As of last week, the Russians claimed to control around and half of the city - but the situation on the ground remains very fluid. After making initial gains, the Russians have...

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has warned of “nuclear escalation” in response to Nato governments stepping up support for Ukraine, with France suggesting troops could be deployed by member nations to Ukraine in just days. Mr Lavrov told Russian state media on Thursday that planned tactical nuclear exercises with Belarus should “sensitise” Ukraine’s allies to the risk of “catastrophic consequences of further advancement on the ladder of nuclear escalation”. link msn link away

A Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian radar station that can track nuclear missiles has sparked alarm in the West. Kyiv hit the Armavir radar station in the Krasnodar border region on May 23, damaging the state-of-the-art facility, which provides conventional air-defence as well as forming part of Moscow’s nuclear warning system. Ukrainian officials confirmed on Saturday that their forces had carried out the strike, saying the facility monitors airspace over the country and occupied Crimea. The radar station has reportedly been able to track long-range Atacms missiles, delivered by the US to Ukraine earlier this year. Mauro Gilli, a...

Russia is managing to produce artillery shells at triple the speed of Ukraine’s allies for a quarter of the price, Sky News reported on May 26, referencing analysis from management consulting firm Bain & Company. Using publicly available data, the firm claims that Russian factories can produce or refurbish 4.5 million 152 mm shells this year for $1,000 per round. European countries and the U.S. are only expected to produce 1.3 million 155 mm shells combined, at an average cost of $4,000 per unit. Slow artillery production has hindered Ukraine’s progress on the battlefield. Soldiers claim that for every round...

Ten separate locations across Crimea were reportedly hit, including a key radar and air defence facility. Ukraine staged a massive missile attack on Putin-occupied Crimea overnight, striking a key radar and air defence facility of the Russian army ‘where high-ranking officers were present’. Explosions were reportedly heard at ten separate locations around the peninsula amid long-range ATACMS attacks in one of the heaviest bombardments of the war. Russia also claimed to have destroyed attacking marine drones off the Crimean coast. Ambulances were reported rushing to Semidvorye, near Alushta where at least six ATACMS ballistic missiles reportedly hit a key communications...

A deputy chief of the Russian military general staff has been arrested on charges of large-scale bribery, Russian news reports said Thursday, the latest in a series of bribery arrests of high-ranking military officials. The arrest of Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin followed the arrest earlier in the week of Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, also on bribery charges. In April, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was arrested for bribery. Ivanov was a close associate of Sergei Shoigu, whom President Vladimir Putin dismissed as defense minister soon after Putin’s inauguration to a new...

“Russia launches a division sized recon in force operation 20 kilometers North of Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv.…”

If re-elected, would Donald Trump end U.S. support for Ukraine? He certainly sounds as if he would. On the campaign trail, he routinely describes Ukraine as a burden to the U.S. and declares his eagerness to see the war end, which he promises to achieve through negotiations in a mere 24 hours. Trump has also made clear his admiration for Vladimir Putin and dismissive attitude toward the European Union. Many observers worry that once back in office, he would condone, tacitly or even directly, Russia’s efforts to dominate Ukraine. But it wouldn’t be an easy move for Trump to make,...

Denys Yaroslavskyi is angry. ... “There was no first line of defence. We saw it. The Russians just walked in. They just walked in, without any mined fields” he says. He shows me video from a drone feed taken a few days ago of small columns of Russian troops simply walking across the border, unopposed. He says officials had claimed that defences were being built at huge cost, but in his view, those defences simply weren’t there. “Either it was an act of negligence, or corruption. It wasn’t a failure. It was a betrayal”. Everyone knew that this incursion was...

Can someone please tell me what a Zeeper is. I keep seeing it in some comments and have been unable to find a definition. Thank you in advance.

There was a striking lack of military hardware on display after major losses in Ukraine. VLADIMIR Putin has vowed Russia is "always" ready to strike the West and snubbed Britain in a snarling World War 2 rant at Russia's annual Victory Day parade. The Russian tyrant instead lavished praise on China and declared Russia was "combat ready" in these "difficult" times as nuclear missiles rumbled through Moscow's streets. -snip- However, today was a much pared-down parade indicating the strains of war. For the second year in a row, it featured just one measly tank - reportedly an 80-year-old T-34.

Russia said on Wednesday that sending NATO troops into Ukraine would potentially be extremely dangerous, and Moscow was closely watching a Ukrainian petition that called for such an intervention. The petition, posted on the Ukrainian president's website, says Ukraine should ask the United States, Britain and other countries to send troops to help it repel Russia's invasion. "We have repeatedly said that direct intervention on the ground in this conflict by the military of NATO countries potentially carries enormous danger, so we consider this an extremely challenging provocation, nothing less, and, of course, we are watching this very carefully."

Russia has blamed the "hostility" of Baltic states for them severing most of their ties with the country. "Because of the openly hostile line of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, all interstate, interdepartmental, regional and sectoral ties with Russia have been severed," said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov on Sunday. She warned Moscow would respond with asymmetric measures, though did not specify exactly what the Baltics had supposedly done. "We will also respond to the hostile actions of the Baltic states with asymmetrical measures, primarily in the economic and transit spheres," Zakharov detailed. Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has...