Free Republic

The headquarters of the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade based in the southern city of Mykolaiv is no more. It is now a pile of rubble, where on Saturday rescuers continued to search for bodies of missing marines. An early morning rocket attack a day earlier destroyed the base’s barracks where an unknown number of marines were sleeping. It killed more than 40 marines, according to a senior Ukrainian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal sensitive military information. That number would make it one of the single deadliest attacks on Ukrainian forces since the start of...

The Czech Republic is expelling 18 employees of the Russian embassy in Prague, who were allegedly "identified as members of the Russian secret services", Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said at news conference. According to local media reports, the move comes in response to evidence obtained by the country's security services which suggests Russia's involvement in two ammunition depot explosions in 2014 in the Czech Republic which killed two people. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in the same news conference that "there is well-grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the Russian intelligence service GRU, unit 29155, in the...

he Czech Republic is informing its NATO and European Union allies about suspected Russian involvement in a 2014 ammunition depot explosion and will discuss the matter at an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said on Twitter on Sunday. The central European country expelled 18 Russian embassy staff on Saturday and said that investigations linked Russian intelligence to the explosion, which killed two people. The expulsions and allegations by Prague have triggered its biggest dispute with Russia since the end of the communist era in 1989. The Interfax news agency cited Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy...

A series of huge blasts at a munition depot in southern Kazakhstan on August 26 has caused at least 66 injuries and precipitated the evacuation of hundreds of residents from multiple nearby settlements. Defense officials said that a string of six explosions occurred at the facility in the Zhambyl region, not far from the regional capital of Taraz, shortly after 7 p.m. No cause for the blast had been provided as of that same evening, but the Interior Ministry said a criminal probe had been initiated into suspected violations of rules on the handling of dangerous weapons. Amateur footage filmed...

The Czech Republic said on Monday Russia’s eviction of 20 Czech embassy employees in response to Prague’s expulsion of 18 Russian staff was a stronger than expected reaction and the government would consider further steps. Prague expelled the Russian diplomats on Saturday, saying it suspected that Russian intelligence had been involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in October and December 2014. Moscow has denied any of its agents were involved in the blast, which killed two people, branding the Czech stance a provocation. The row is the biggest between Prague and Moscow since the end of Soviet domination of...

The owners of an ammunition supply store in Rancho Cordova are protesting a school district's decision in Shingle Springs to pull down an advertisement for their shop at a local high school. El Dorado Union High School District officials last week ordered a sign on the scoreboard of the Ponderosa High School football stadium promoting the Ammo Depot to be turned around to conceal its content. The store sent officials a letter stating that it might pursue legal action, such as a breach-of-contract complaint. Brandon Lungren, who attended Ponderosa for two years, and his family run the ammunition store. His...