Free Republic

VLADIMIR Putin's brutal war machine was dealt another blow today as Moscow confirmed the death of another top Russian military chief. Russian authorities have confirmed the death of Colonel Sergei Ilyin, commander of Russia's notorious 155th Marine Brigade. Telegram news channel Astra reported the Colonel's death on Friday, citing a now-deleted post from officials, the Moscow Times has reported. Ilyin had died "during the special military operation" according to a post attributed to the Urmarsky district administration. "Special military operation" is the euphemism used by Kremlin authorities when referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It follows speculation that the...

Vladimir Putin's only aircraft carrier - the hulking Admiral Kuznetsov - is poised to be scrapped after seven failed years of repairs, say reports. Work on the jinxed ship, the largest in the Russian navy, has now been suspended despite the efforts to get it back in the water. News outlet Izvestia cites sources saying the vessel is likely destined for the scrapheap. Putin's 'Ship of Shame' is languishing in dock in grim Arctic port Murmansk, and has played no role in the war against Ukraine. Its crew were quietly sent to fight in the war instead. The 58,000-ton rust...

A Russian combat drone—Russia’s answer to the US MQ-9 Reaper—crashed in Kazan on July 8 after reportedly being disabled by electronic warfare. The crash was caused by a disruption to its satellite navigation system, according to Russia’s Ural Civil Aviation Plant, which now oversees the drone’s development, Russian media, citing the company, reported on July 9. “During the flight, the UAV’s satellite navigation was disrupted by unidentified electronic warfare equipment. The drone switched to inertial navigation and attempted a second landing pass. The landing was conducted in inertial mode, and a non-standard situation occurred,” the company’s press office stated. The...

Major General Mikhail Gudkov, the deputy head of the Russian Navy who also led a brigade fighting against Ukraine, has been killed in Russia's Kursk region, Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of a far eastern Russian region, said on Thursday. Unofficial Russian and Ukrainian military Telegram channels had earlier reported that Gudkov had been killed along with 10 other servicemen in a Ukrainian attack on a command post in Korenevo in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. He is one of the most senior Russian military officers to have been killed by Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in...

A series of explosions are heard inside the plant, with workers rushing and screaming as they try to get to safety. Ukrainian drones attacked a military-industrial complex in the Russian city of Izhevsk on Tuesday, in one of the deepest strikes inside the country since Putin's full-scale invasion. UAVS struck the Kupol Electromechanical Plant, causing a major fire to break out at the site. Video images circulating on social media channels show the dramatic moment of impact as the deadly drones zeroed in on their target. In one clip, an explosion can be heard, and then a giant ball of...

NORTH Korea is reportedly planning to send 30,000 more troops to fight alongside the Russians against Ukraine. It comes just a day after tyrant Kim Jong-un wept over the coffins of his soldiers whom he sent to die in Vladimir Putin's meatgrinder war. -snip- In April, Kim Jong-un confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops were sent to fight alongside the Russians against Ukraine. Pyongyang's state TV and Kim's propaganda machine KCNA reported that North Korean soldiers made an "important contribution" to help the Russians flush out Kyiv's troops from Kursk. It said Kim deployed "sub-units of our...

In a landmark case highlighting a deepening purge within Russia's defense and security establishment, a court in Moscow sentenced former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov to 13 years in prison. The Moscow City Court on July 1 found Ivanov, the most visible figure in a massive probe into alleged military corruption that also targeted several other top officials close to former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, guilty of large-scale embezzlement and money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, Ivanov was fined 100 million rubles ($1.1 million), and stripped of his state honors, including the prestigious Order "For Merit to the...

Three people were killed and 35 others injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on a factory in the Russian city of Izhevsk, regional governor Alexander Brechalov on his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Brechalov did not name the targeted facility, but a Ukrainian security official earlier told Reuters that at least two long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine struck the Kupol plant, which manufactures drones and air defenсe systems, and caused a fire. A column of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from the site of a fire at a cluster of buildings in videos...

Until today, there have been no confirmed reports of Storm Shadows being deployed since November last year. VLADIMIR Putin's officers have been killed in droves in the first British-made Storm Shadow strike in months, reports claim. Bombshell footage showed the damage in Donetsk amid claims of “massive casualties among Russian officers” and the “crippling” of a mad Vlad fighting force. If confirmed, it would be the first use of the British-supplied missiles in months. Red-faced Russian authorities admitted only that a woman had died and three people were wounded, including a teenager. A building collapsed in the combined missile and...

Vladimir Putin has been dealt a massive setback after more than 20,000 soldiers deserted the front line in the war against Ukraine – leaving Kremlin forces even more depleted. Courts have received 20,538 cases of service personnel absent without leave, desertion or refusing orders since the illegal invasion began in February 2022, according to Russian independent news service Mediazone. The majority – 18,159 – were for soldiers going awol, with 17,721 being prosecuted under Russia’s Criminal Code. The maximum punishment is a 10-year jail term. However, those found guilty could commute their sentences by serving in the Storm-Z convict assault...

THE Russian invasion of Ukraine has been advancing at an incredibly slow pace - with Kyiv's "dronegrinder" warfare miring Putin's summer offensive. The rate at which Moscow is capturing land has been dubbed "slower than a snail" - all while the human cost of Russian casualties is sky high. After 448 days of fighting inside Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, the Russians reportedly only managed to take control of 50 per cent of the city. Which means the troops, on average, are only able to take 0.00629 square miles of land per day - which is a painfully low conversion...

Drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Kirovske military airfield in Crimea overnight on June 28, the SBU told the Kyiv Independent, APA reports. The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the SBU claimed. According to the SBU, Ukraine targeted Russian aviation, air defense systems, as well as ammunition, reconnaissance and attack drones storage facilities. Secondary explosions were heard at the airfield during the night.

Dramatic footage has caught the extraordinary moment the wing of a £15million Russian warplane fell off in the middle of a Ukraine attack mission. The attack jet crashed after flying in a pair over Ukraine's Donetsk region, with the pilot miraculously cheating death by ejecting before his aircraft fell to the ground. The doomed Su-25 warplane is seen on the video turning and falling out of the sky, crashing into a field. At first it appeared it had been shot down, with Ukrainian media claiming it had possibly been the victim of 'friendly fire' by an unguided missile from its...

"Russia traditionally has the world's largest and the highest abortion rate as well. With some statistics suggesting as many as 70% of all pregnancies are terminated. So we had at some point something like 10 million heroin addicts in posts Soviet Russia is a country with under 150 million people Very very bad for demographics"

At a farm near Moscow, newly arrived guest workers from India are planting potatoes and cabbages - work closely monitored by central bank analysts as they prepare for board meetings to set interest rates. While in developed economies such as the United States food accounts for about 14% of the basket used to calculate inflation, in Russia it makes up a hefty 40% or so, and surging prices for potatoes and other staples have been a major reason for its tight monetary policy. The central bank trimmed its benchmark rate to 20% on June 6 but even that is around...

Production of vodka in Russia has plummetted by more than 13%, according to the latest data. The dip occurred between January and May as the country also deals with a shortage of potatoes. On May 14, President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russians "don’t have enough potatoes". Figures suggest that, in the first few months of 2025, the price of the crop surged by 52%, while the overall harvest dropped by 12%. In the first five months of 2025, Armenia exported nearly twice as many potatoes to Russia as it did during the first half of 2024, and almost 17 times...

Russia launched what Ukraine said would be the largest air assault of the war to date, with nearly 500 missiles and drones airborne, prompting Warsaw to scramble NATO air assets to protect its airspace. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 479 drones, four ballistic missiles, and 16 cruise missiles against its territory overnight. If the figures are accurate, it would make Sunday evening the biggest Russian air raid against Ukraine in the course of the over-three-year war to date, and underlines the ability of the combatants to sustain ever-larger drone attacks as the conflict goes on, given Russia launched another...

Ukrainian drones struck two major facilities supplying Russia's military on Monday, dealing a double blow to President Vladimir Putin's war machine. The facilities struck in early morning attacks were a plant in the Chuvash Republic, which produces navigation systems for Russian drones and missiles, and a gunpowder factory in Kazan, according to local reports.

Ukraine's military launched another attack on a Russian airbase, thousands of miles from the frontlines. The attack took place overnight and targeted Savasleyka airfield in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The airbase is home to a number of fighter jets, including the MiG-31 K, which can fire lethal Kinzhal ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s army said the attack had wiped out a MiG-31 K and a SU-30/34 aircraft, which are regularly used to launch aerial bombardments on the country. The airbase is home to a number of fighter jets, including the MiG-31 K, which can fire lethal Kinzhal ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s army said...

Panic in Russia is growing amid intensifying attacks by Ukrainian forces on key infrastructure. Two major Moscow airports were temporarily shut down on Sunday due to a Ukrainian drone strike targeting Russia's capital city, Russian officials claimed, while an oil refinery in Engels, Saratov Oblast was targeted in a similar attack on Friday. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that Russian air defense units destroyed multiple Ukrainian drones flying towards the city. Emergency personnel have been deployed at the wreckage sites, he said. This comes as Russia unleashed a massive air strike in Ukraine, with the war showing no...