Free Republic

Russia launched a massive strike on Odesa overnight, according to Ukrainian emergency services. The strikes caused extensive damage and fires in several districts of the city, they said. Preliminary reports indicate eight people were injured. A block of flats and two houses were set alight. Meanwhile, in Kharkiv, firefighters rescued seven people from the upper floors of a high-rise building after Russian strikes caused floors to collapse between the 7th and 10th floors.

President Donald Trump cast doubt in recent days on allegations that Russia is helping Iran target U.S. forces, even as members of his own administration acknowledge Moscow and Beijing are supporting Tehran in other ways. Trump dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's claim that Russia supplied Iran with satellite imagery of U.S. military installations in the Gulf, saying any assistance would have been "very unimpactful" given the damage inflicted on Iran's military. "We’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin. We’ll find out," Trump told reporters at the end of July.

Summary Russian officials say at least seven people, including three children, have been killed by a Ukrainian drone on a beach in south-west Russia - BBC Verify examines footage It's not clear if the drone was intercepted before landing on the beach. It has been reported it may have been targeting a Russian naval base about 25 miles (40 km) away - Ukraine has not commented The area has long been a favourite of Russian holidaymakers, says our Europe reporter Earlier, an apparent Ukrainian drone strike hit a warehouse belonging to Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, around 112 miles east...

In April 2026, the Russian military lost 116 km²: this is the first monthly decline recorded by the Institute for the Study of War since the summer of 2023, when the territory controlled by Moscow had reached an all-time low of 26,573 km² following Kyiv’s counter-offensive

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea should be considered an assault on Iran itself and showed how important it was to eliminate what it said was the threat from Kyiv. Iran's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned the Ukrainian attack, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had struck vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday accused Ukraine of widening the geographical scope of what he called "terrorist attacks."

Days after Lithuania said its intelligence services had caught Russia preparing sabotage against the infrastructure that ties the Baltics to Europe, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys drew a public line. If those plans are carried out, he said, Vilnius will not treat the results as accidents. “If there is damage, or if there are casualties, it will be treated as an act of aggression, with all the due consequences,” Mr. Budrys said in an interview with The Washington Times at the foreign ministry. That means, he added, “not only the country’s self-defense but the collective defense of the alliance.” The warning,...

For four years, Russia has bet on outlasting Ukraine in a war of attrition. Now, as Kyiv’s drones inflict growing damage on both Russia’s army and oil industry, Moscow is finding out that time isn’t necessarily on its side. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion force is making ever-smaller gains at the front line, its losses exceed recruitment, and it is struggling to adapt to a Ukrainian drone campaign pounding its supply routes to its forward positions. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s stretched army hasn’t buckled as Russia hoped and is even pushing back the invaders in places with small counterattacks. Its increasingly capable...

There has long been a worry that Russian escalation or miscalculation might see the Ukraine war widen into a broader European one. But what if it’s Kyiv, not Moscow, that starts this process? The flashpoint is Belarus. Minsk’s dictatorial leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is beholden to Vladimir Putin, but not a helpless vassal. On the one hand, he has refused to join Putin’s war directly, saying that he won’t allow Belarusians to become ‘mincemeat.’ On the other, he has been willing to let Russian troops use facilities in his country, and fly drones and missiles through his airspace. There is growing...

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little f**ker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a new book. The suggestion that a US cabinet official described a world leader in such terms is included in Regime Change, a blockbusting account of the second Trump administration by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, set to be published worldwide on Tuesday. News of Bessent’s alleged remarks may embarrass the Trump administration, although the meeting that did take place...

Ukraine is seeking an additional $20 billion in military funding from its allies, Defence ​Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Wednesday at a joint ‌press conference with his Dutch counterpart. A Ukrainian defence source told Reuters last week that Ukraine would make the request on Thursday at a meeting ​of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an alliance of ​more than 50 countries also known as the Ramstein ⁠group that provides financial and military aid for Kyiv. Fedorov ​said that of the nearly $40 billion funding already announced, Ukraine saw $24 ​billion in the supply schedule. He added that Ukraine has been...

This video describes the military situation in Ukraine on the 15th of June 2026 0:00 — 🎬 Introduction 0:19 — 🎯 Biggest Russian advances since beginning of 2026 0:35 — 🚀 681 air vehicles: Iskanders, Kh-101, Zircons, NEW Bander cruise missiles 1:47 — 💥 Kyiv strikes: Nova Poshta terminal, Flamingo drone factory destroyed 2:40 — ⚔️ Northern Sumy: Russians advance on Basivka, Tovstodubove 3:41 — 📍 Sumy direction: Forest advances near Pysarivka 4:25 — 🔥 Kharkiv: Kazachi Lopan 10% Russian-controlled, infiltration toward Riznykivka 5:52 — 🏴 Kupiansk: Dozens of flags along Oskil River — major map adjustments 7:10 — 🔥...