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Russian defence chiefs have been mocked for claiming to destroy a German-supplied lethal Leopard 2 tank - when in fact they had blown up tractors in Ukrainian fields. The ridiculing was led by head of Wagner private army Yevgeny Prigozhin, who sees it as yet more evidence of blundering incompetence by Putin's defence chiefs and army. The Russian defence ministry hailed 'footage of the destruction of foreign armoured vehicles, including Leopard tanks'. But in reality, military analysts say the footage showed Russia blasting farm vehicles with a missile fired from a Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter. In the video, a Russian...

Ukraine says Russia is shelling flooded civilian areas around Kherson even as efforts to evacuate thousands from rising waters unleashed by the bombing of a major hydroelectric dam threatens lives. A spokesman for the Ukrainian government said they were being careful not to shell civilians in flooded areas south of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power dam on the Dnipro River towards Kherson, and that claims their forces were impeding evacuations are Russian falsehoods. Army southern command press officer Natalia Humeniuk said, per Kyiv, that “…[Russia’s] shelling continues.

Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian "sabotage" group had blown up the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of its 15-month offensive. "A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline" near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that civilians had been injured. Footage posted on social media showed white smoke coming out of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline, which is the world's longest ammonia pipeline and stretches roughly 2,500 kilometers.

It looks like the much-anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive may finally be getting underway. Yesterday, Russia repelled Ukrainian attacks in five places. It’s very early — these were likely probing attacks looking to detect weak points in Russian defensive positions — but these attacks were much heavier than previous probing attacks. We’ll have to see what happens. When the main offensive comes, it’s very possible that Ukrainian forces will break through in certain areas. They might capture some territory (with plenty of U.S./NATO-supplied reconnaissance and intelligence to assist them), but it’s unlikely that their gains will be sustainable. The offensive will...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has aided a Ukrainian intelligence effort to censor social media users and obtain their personal information, leaked emails reveal. In March 2022, an FBI Special Agent sent Twitter a list of accounts on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukraine’s main intelligence agency. The accounts, the FBI wrote, “are suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation.” In an attached memo, the SBU asked Twitter to remove the accounts and hand over their user data.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned on Wednesday that passing a bill later this year to provide more money for the Defense Department and military aid to Ukraine will be “a challenge,” despite a pledge Senate leaders made last week to defense hawks. Asked at a press conference how he could assure the passage of an emergency Ukraine and defense supplemental spending bill over the objections of House conservatives, McConnell acknowledged it faces an uncertain path forward. “All I can tell you at this particular point is defense is radically underfunded related to the Chinese threat and Ukraine will...

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that Russian forces blew up a major dam in southern Ukraine, while Moscow-installed official in the city of Nova Kakhovka in the Russian-controlled parts of the Kherson region denied it. "The Kakhovka (reservoir) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces," the South command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Tuesday on its Facebook page. "The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified." Reuters was unable to immediately verify the Ukrainian statement. Earlier, Russian state news agency quoted the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova...

The breach could result in devastating flooding, potentially killing thousands of civilians as well as disrupting the cooling systems for the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region, located on the Dnepr River upstream from the city of Kherson, suffered significant damage on Tuesday morning, according to a local official and several videos shared on social media. The upper part of the key infrastructure was “destroyed as a result of a strike,” the mayor of Novaya Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, confirmed to RIA Novosti. While several of the dam’s floodgates were damaged and unleashed an...

Ukrainian leader says 80 settlements — including Kherson — could be hit by rapid flooding because of Russia’s planned ‘terrorist attack’. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Thursday of an impending “large-scale disaster” in southern Ukraine, claiming that Russia mined a dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the south of the country. In an address via videolink to EU leaders meeting in Brussels, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had information showing Russia had already set charges. Should the dam be destroyed, more than 80 settlements — including the port city of Kherson — could be hit by "rapid flooding,"...

The wall of a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine that Moscow controls collapsed Tuesday after a reported explosion, sending water gushing downriver and prompting dire warnings of ecological disaster as officials from both sides in the war ordered residents to evacuate. Ukraine accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam and hydroelectric power station, while Russian officials blamed Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area. The fallout could have broad consequences: Flooding homes, streets and businesses downstream; depleting water levels upstream that help cool Europe’s largest nuclear power plant; and draining supplies of drinking water to the...

VIDEO AT LINK......... Residents of Kherson region are evacuating as water levels rise. Here's what we know about the destroyed dam From CNN staff Kyiv and Moscow exchanged accusations over the destruction of a sprawling dam in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region, triggering a wave of evacuations as floods of water spilled from the Nova Kakhovka hydro-electric plant. Here are the latest developments: "Terrorist attack and war crime": The Ukrainian defense ministry claimed Russian forces blew up the dam "in panic" amid heightening speculation that a major push by Kyiv to recapture land held by Russia’s occupying forces could be getting...

Russia continues to pummel Ukrainian positions throughout the country and Ukraine continues to insist that it is shooting down Russian missiles and that the Russian attacks are inconsequential. Well, as Chris Berman of ESPN was fond of saying, “let’s go to the video tape.” The following video provides clear evidence that Ukraine’s air defense system is not working (you can see the launches from Patriot or IRIS batteries) and that Russia is blasting the Ukrainian air defense system into smithereens. Focus on the lower left hand quadrant of the video. Ukraine launched a few missiles and they disappeared into the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his forces stand ready to launch their long-promised counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory. "We strongly believe that we will succeed," Zelenskyy told The Wall Street Journal. "I don’t know how long it will take." "To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different," he said. "But we are going to do it, and we are ready."

Our instructors were training a Ukrainian national guard unit near the Moldovan border. When we arrived at the range, a Ukrainian unit was already on the range throwing hand grenades in an open field less than 200 meters from us, then just dropping to the ground and watching them explode without any cover. These soldiers then proceeded to conduct machine gun training, shooting from positions from the left range berm across the range (not against the backstop). Our instructors were conducting round-robin training about 150 meters behind the range, and the rounds were whistling over our heads. When we approached...

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the WSJ that Ukraine is ready for its counteroffensive.But he warned that Russian air superiority would exact a heavy toll on Ukrainian soldiers. Zelenskyy said he would like to wait for more support from allies but isn't willing to wait "for months."Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive may be near.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Wall Street Journal that his country was ready to start re-taking territory from the Russians. "We strongly believe that we will succeed," he told the outlet.

Sanctions against Russia are the success story of the advanced democracies. Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage military war against Ukraine, geo-ideological war against the liberal world, is being ground down systematically with each month. Earnings from Russia’s oil and gas exports fell 52pc over the first four months of this year, and hydrocarbon rent is what funds two-fifths of the Kremlin’s budget. Last year, Putin had no difficulty financing his invasion from the windfall gains of the energy price spike, caused in large part by his own actions. He raise pensions by 10pc and scatter enough money to shield Russia’s...

Ukraine claimed “another unbelievable success” on Tuesday morning, stating it had shot down six ‘hypersonic’ missiles over Ukraine overnight, stating that the damage on the ground in Kyiv this morning was caused by falling missile debris. Six Kinzhal (Dagger/Killjoy) ‘hypersonic’ missiles were shot down over Ukraine overnight, as well as nine cruise missiles, three ballistic missiles, six suicide drones, and three reconnaissance drones, the Ukrainian government claimed Tuesday morning.

Ukraine used a U.S.-made air-defense system to intercept a Russian ballistic missile, the first known time that it has been able to block one of Russia’s modern missiles. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were able to take down a Kinzhal, or Kh-47, missile that a MiG-31K aircraft launched from Russia toward the Kyiv region. He said it happened during an attack that Moscow launched on Thursday night.

Moscow media mouthpieces often refer to history books when they talk about Russia's invasion of Ukraine but one Kremlin propagandist decided to turn to the Bible. During a monologue on Solovyov Live, host Roman Golovanov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among those who have used the Old Testament story of David versus Goliath as a parallel for the war in Ukraine, in which Russia is portrayed as the larger adversary. However, Golovanov said that the perennial tale of the underdog triumphing should be flipped around and that Russia "was in fact the David" because "at least 50 countries are...

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday he would send troops to fight in Bakhmut if the Wagner Group pulls out of the Ukrainian city. Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the pledge in a statement he posted on his official Telegram channel. Earlier in the day, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries, announced he would be removing his fighters from Bakhmut on May 10 because of an ammunition shortage. Prior to his announcement, Prigozhin published a video in which he angrily blamed top Russian officials for the deaths of Wagner fighters...