Free Republic

Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after accusing him of deliberately drawing out the fragile peace process in Ukraine. The US president was asked whether he thought it was "disrespectful" of his Russian counterpart to accuse him of being overly emotional. A reporter questioned: "Do you believe the Russians are being disrespectful when they say that your criticisms of Putin are simply an emotional response? And do you still believe that Putin actually wants to end the war? Mr Trump responded: "I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks. Within two...

Avatar Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia! Likewise, President Zelenskyy is doing his Country no favors...

United States President Donald Trump admitted on Wednesday that he "can't tell" if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin truly wants to end his country's ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. Speaking at the White House amid the Swearing-In for the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Trump said that "I'll let you know in two weeks" after more negotiations have taken place. He also complimented US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff for "doing a phenomenal job" mediating the talks between Russia and Ukraine and for "dealing with him [Putin] very strongly." Asked about his...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States "cannot agree on everything" after US President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin "absolutely crazy" and criticized strikes on Ukrainian cities. "But the political will to implement the agreements that are reached is there, and the work continues," Peskov added.

Moscow makes comment after US president’s criticism of record drone strikes on Ukraine Russia has suggested that Donald Trump is suffering from “emotional overload” as it deflected his criticism of its record drone strikes on Ukraine at the weekend.

Two serious and literally life or death questions: Since when did trying to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people — including countless children — become something to be criticized? Conversely, when did sending hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers into the teeth of the Russian war machine with absolutely no plausible plan to win become the untouchable go-to policy of certain neoconservatives, many on the left and a fair number of editorial writers?I thought of these questions while reading two recent columns. The first is by Rich Lowry from the New York Post, titled “Trump is getting...

Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member, three senior Russian sources told Reuters. They also point out that many Russian officials cannot even fly there due to Western restrictions. The Vatican has so far been silent in public on the idea raised by U.S. President Donald Trump after a call with President Vladimir Putin that Pope Leo XIV could host talks aimed at ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. Italian Prime...

Vladimir Putin's forces are massing next to Russia's border with Ukraine's Sumy oblast, it has been reported, following evacuations from the region and a threat that Moscow has identified further territorial targets in its full-scale invasion. Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov said thousands had been evacuated from the region on Ukraine's northeast border and next to the Kharkiv oblast, according to the Kyiv Independent. On the other side of the frontier Russian troops numbers are said to be increasing. It comes Putin is trying to justify the renewal of Russian plans to seize Sumy City—16 miles from the border—and illegally annex...

Kyiv holds $15 trillion in natural resources which would help break the US’s dependence on China. The strategic significance of Ukraine’s mineral resources “cannot be overstated”, according to publicly-available Nato briefings. Its vast reserves span more than 100 metals across some 20,000 deposits, including several that have been identified as critically important by both the US and Europe.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) claimed Tuesday on CNN’s “News Central” that the Trump administration was bullying Ukraine and throwing them under the bus by beginning talks with Russia. Van Hollen said, “The big missing party at that meeting in Riyadh was Ukraine. What we saw in Munich was a series of Trump administration officials essentially trying to to bully Ukraine into giving up lots of its natural resources in exchange for continued U.S. support.” He continued, “Well, I think Ukraine needs to be at the table when these negotiations are going on. after all, Putin attacked Ukraine. Ukraine has...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then...

US Senators, including Republicans Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), John Cornyn (Texas), and Thom Tillis (North Carolina), flew to Europe this week to pledge their support to Ukrainian tyrant Volodymyr Zelensky and his war with Russia.During one press gaggle, Lindsey opened up about his respect and admiration for the Ukrainian president.Senator Lindsey Graham: “You and your people. You’re the ally I’ve been hoping for all of my life. Not one American has died defending Ukraine. You’ve taken our weapons and you kicked their ass. And, I’m very proud to have you as our ally.”At least $100 billion of US Aid sent...

A terror weapon becomes less terrifying when it doesn’t work. After warning U.S. officials of its intention to launch, Russia lobbed a mysterious new ballistic missile—initially mistaken for a nuclear-capable ICBM—at the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine on the morning of Nov. 21, damaging buildings and injuring dozens of people. The mystery weapon turned out to be a variant of Russia’s RS-26, a 40-ton, solid-fueled missile with six independent reentry vehicles. Its name, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin announced shortly after the strike, is “Oreshnik.” That’s Russian for “hazelnut tree.” Three months later on Thursday morning, the Russians reportedly launched...

President Trump is prepared to double down on US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week — but he knows both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make concessions to end the “industrial-sized” killing in Europe’s largest country. Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a three” on a scale of one to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said. The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector —...

Russia has got so desperate it has had to go back to one of the most old-fashioned ways to carry bullets and guns during a war. The Soviet army had to start using donkeys and horses to carry ammunition in Ukraine – something that hasn’t been done for over a century. Military blogger Kirill Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel that Putin and his soldiers have started to send the animals to the front line. He said that an official government transport list says these animals include horses, camels and deer. He wrote: ‘The fighters were given a donkey to...

Earlier, Brussels assured Budapest of providing energy security guarantees, including the commitment to seek Ukraine’s resumption of transit of Russian gas, to prevent the disruption of transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, and to secure the TurkStream gas pipeline from attacksBUDAPEST, January 31. /TASS/. Hungary will prevent further extension of EU sanctions against Russia if the European Commission fails to provide its energy security guarantees, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on the Kossuth radio station. Earlier, Brussels assured Budapest of providing energy security guarantees, including the commitment to seek Ukraine’s resumption of transit of Russian gas, to...

Russian propagandists expressed their outrage about President Donald Trump's recent statement regarding Moscow-U. S. relations. -snip- "Trump has threatened us twice in 24 hours. No illusions. A capitalist who doesn't give a damn about other countries. No matter, Russia is like a KAMAZ, the more you load, the better it goes. How tightly you can blockade 1/6 of the planet Earth's land mass." Sladkov added that he was "also outraged by Trump's lie: 'Russia helped us win the war (the Great Patriotic War)'" as "in 1944, we barely persuaded these Anglo-Saxons to take part in military operations in Europe. They,...

Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokesperson for the Iranian government, announced that a 20-year cooperation agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia will be signed soon. She stated, “We hope to witness the signing of the comprehensive cooperation document between the two countries on January 18th of this year.” On Wednesday, January 8th, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Fatemeh Mohajerani confirmed detailed discussions about this cooperation document had taken place. While the details of the agreement have not been disclosed, it is believed that Iran has accepted the changes Russia requested in the agreement. Ismail Baghaei, the spokesperson...

On March 5, 2022, the wreck of the sailing ship Endurance was found in the depths of the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. This, of course, was the vessel lost in Ernest Shackelton’s third expedition to Antarctica, which became trapped in the ice and sank in 1915. The story of that expedition is an extraordinary tale of human fortitude - with the Endurance lost to the ice, Shackleton’s crew evacuated to a loose ice flow where they camped for nearly 500 days, drifting about the Antarctic seas, before making a desperate dash across the open ocean in an...

US President-elect Donald Trump said that a meeting was being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. "He wants to meet, and we are setting it up," Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.