Free Republic

Japan is an energy-dependent nation that relies on imports to function. Despite being a G7 member, Japan has remained largely silent on the Russia-Ukraine war and is the only member to deny Zelensky’s pleas for weapons. The prime minister was the last in the alliance to visit Ukraine amid the war. The G7 nations set a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude but granted Japan a pass. Japan has purchased nearly 748,000 barrels of Russian oil for $70 a piece in the first two months of the year alone. All of the MSM headlines read: “JAPAN BREAKS ALLIANCE...

This is the moment a man, said to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war, takes one last drag from a cigarette next to a shallow grave before reportedly being executed by Russian troops. The chilling video has emerged as Kyiv described the death of the soldier as a 'heinous war crime'. In the grim footage, a man - who can be seen smoking a cigarette in a small hole in the ground - says 'Glory to Ukraine' - while a group of unseen soldiers are heard sneering in the background. He is then shot to death with automatic weapons in...

Starlink being used to control drones that carry chemical weapons, Musk pulls the plug IOW, the system was being used for war crimes. Scott Ritter claims that those drones have been seen dropping cannisters of some sort of chemical mixture behind Russian lines.

A former Kremlin official has said that prior to Russian President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization order in September 2022, Russia's Airborne Forces had lost up to half of their personnel. Mikhail Zvinchuk, creator of the Rybar Telegram channel, and former Kremlin military press agent, was speaking on his state TV show. An excerpt of the program was posted on Twitter by Dmitri, a member of War Translated, an independent project that translates materials about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. "The creator of Rybar channel who now has a live TV program admits that Russian VDV forces lost 50% of personnel...

Coast guards rescued three divers off the northern coast of Poland over the weekend whose dubious explanation of their night-time dive near critical energy infrastructure, along with their mysterious identities, has reportedly sparked a cross-agency investigation. The three men, who told authorities they were Spanish nationals, were rescued near the Polish coastal city of Gdansk on Saturday night after their small motorboat broke down and they couldn't return to shore. Since then, doubts over their intentions have mounted. They were rescued not far from the Naftoport facility at the Port of Gdansk, which receives tanker shipments of oil and other...

A former commander with the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group has claimed asylum in Norway after deserting from the mercenary outfit. Andrey Medvedev, 26, crossed the border into Norway last Friday, where he was detained by border guards. He is currently being held in the Oslo area where he faces charges of illegal entry to Norway, his lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told the BBC. Mr Risnes said his client left Wagner after witnessing war crimes in Ukraine. The Norwegian Border Guard confirmed to the BBC that a Russian man had been detained after crossing the country's 198km (123miles) long border with Russia,...

Recently, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen carelessly revealed the devastating cost of the Ukraine war. “It is estimated that more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian military personnel have died to date,” she said. The comment drew sharp backlash and the E.C. later deleted the comments from video recordings of the address. The censorship was left unexplained and demonstrated the confusion of the purveyors of the approved narrative. If Von der Leyen’s estimate is true, that is nearly ten times the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers reported by the Ukrainian government. The E.C. president’s remark shows that even...

Ukrainian forces have reportedly damaged a key bridge outside the southern occupied city of Melitopol, a key objective in the region. The crossing over the Molochna River is situated between Melitopol and the village of Kostyantynivka just to the east of the city on the M14 highway and was struck overnight. Video posted online showed two supports of the bridge had been damaged during the attack, with the span partly collapsed by the blast, making it reportedly unusable for heavy military traffic.

Putin promised the Russian people that Donbas would be liberated. And the path to that goal - however fantastical - lies through Bakhmut. So the show must go on. The battle is more symbolic than practical. Analysts agree the blood price that Russia has paid trying to take Bakhmut - thought to be more than 100 troops per day - is not worth the value of capturing it. 'They are just meat to Putin,' a commander named Kostyantyn told the FT on a visit to the front. 'And Bakhmut is a meat grinder. For what? A f****** metre of our...

Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries have sent a "bloodied" sledgehammer in a violin case to the European Parliament after members started proceedings to label them as terrorists. Sledgehammers have become an unofficial symbol of the Kremlin-linked group because its fighters have used them to kill during overseas missions. In a video posted on one of its Telegram channels, a suited lawyer working for Wagner Group carries a violin case into a bare room and places it on a table. He lifts the lid of the violin case, showing off a highly polished sledgehammer. The head has been engraved with Wagner's logo...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said 10 million Ukrainians are without power after a fresh wave of missile strikes by Russia. At least seven people were killed in the strikes, with the number expected to rise. "We are doing everything to normalize the supply," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address. Ukraine's air defence managed to shoot down six cruise missiles and five drones, he added. On Thursday, Russia pounded Ukraine with a fresh missile barrage, hitting more energy installations and other civilian buildings less than two days after one of its heaviest bombardments yet. Seven people died when a missile...

At 5am on Wednesday Serhii Melnikov heard a noise outside. The Russian soldiers who were living in the house opposite – were packing up to leave. They had occupied the village of Mylove in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region for eight months. Now they were off, as part of a humiliating pull-out from the right-bank of the Dnipro river. “Vladimir Putin said Russia would be here for ever. In the end they left in five minutes and ran away like goats,Putin wanted to kill us. He’s ended up destroying his own country. Russia’s retreat from Kherson is an enormous failure.” ...The...

Putin sacks ANOTHER top general, Western officials say Russia is in advanced stages of planning retreat from Kherson, officials believe 'Reinforcements' are actually conscripts designed to cover the retreat, they said If retreat happens, Russia will try to play it off as 'evacuation' to protect civilians Meanwhile Russian General Lapin has 'probably' been sacked, officials added Russia is planning to retreat from the city of Kherson and play it off as a civilian evacuation, Western officials said today. Putin's troops are in the advanced stages of preparing for the retreat, the officials said, having moved conscripts into the city to...

World’s richest man previously said company would not pay for satellite internet in war-torn country indefinitely Elon Musk Elon Musk on Saturday announced that his company would continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine, a day after suggesting he could not keep funding the project. “The hell with it,” the world’s richest man wrote on Twitter. “Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.” Musk had said on Friday that SpaceX would not be able to pay for Starlink in Ukraine...

KYIV — Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, announced by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, will not affect Kyiv’s resolve to free them with military force, said an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “For our plans, [Russia’s annexation] doesn’t matter,” Mykhailo Podolyak told POLITICO, speaking before the signing ceremony in Moscow orchestrated by Putin. The Russian leader railed at the United States and the West, denounced the Ukrainian government, and warned: “We will protect our land using all our forces.” The annexation comes on a day when Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly encircled thousands of Russian troops near the city...

Vladimir Putin will formally annex occupied regions of Ukraine to Russian in a major speech tomorrow, the Kremlin has confirmed, as he attempts to regain the initiative after his forces suffered a humiliating rout earlier this month. Putin's speech comes after Russian-backed proxy governments in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions held sham referendums earlier this week on whether to go ahead with the move. Armed Russian soldiers taking ballot boxes door-to-door left the results in no doubt, and Ukraine along with its Western allies have vowed not to recognise the results. But it still marks a turning point in...

The Kremlin this summer scrambled to form a new army corps, seeking replacements for 80,000 troops injured or killed in Ukraine and 5,000 wrecked or captured vehicles. ...As Russian casualties exceeded 50,000 this spring, the Kremlin began scraping together fresh battalions by raiding the training and garrison establishment of existing brigades. At the same time, the army announced an initiative to form scores of new regional volunteer battalions—and even offered elevated salaries of up to $5,000 a month. This should come as no surprise. The recruitment drive behind the 3rd AC collided with Russia’s unhappy demographics and conscription practices. Roughly...