Free Republic

The war-ravaged eastern city of Bakhmut may fall to Russian forces, with Kyiv officials saying its military is contemplating pulling troops back from the city that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. A Ukrainian serviceman carries a 152 mm shell to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions, near the frontline town of Bakhmut on March 2, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A Ukrainian serviceman carries a 152 mm shell to fire a Msta-B howitzer towards Russian positions, near the frontline town of Bakhmut on March 2, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic...

Preliminary data from Russia's Finance Ministry showed that the country's fiscal surplus shrank to 55 billion rubles ($860 million) in the first nine months of the year, down from 137 billion roubles ($2.15 billion), Bloomberg reported. Olga Bychkova, an economist at Moody's Analytics, told Newsweek that the Russian government surplus is 30 times lower, when compared to the same period last year.... She predicted the government budget would post a modest surplus of 0.6 percent in 2022 on high energy prices but flip to a deep deficit of around nine percent in 2023 due to limited growth, imports, and the...

Nearly 8,000 mercenaries from the notorious Wagner Group have been deployed by Russia in Ukraine to boost Vladimir Putin's flagging invasion, but have suffered heavy casualties, British MPs have been told. Giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Christo Grozev, executive director of the Bellingcat investigative website, said 3,000 members of the private military company (PMC) were thought to have been killed on the battlefield. The shadowy group - which has been linked to a string of killings, rapes and war crimes around the world - is known as Putin's private army which carries out his dirty work at...

PRESIDENT Volodymyr ­Zelensky fought back tears as he visited the town of Bucha where Vladimir Putin’s troops have been accused of butchering civilians and burying them in mass graves. The Ukrainian leader, who was visibly emotional, was flanked by security as he vowed to ensure that the “war crimes” committed by Russian soldiers on his country’s soil were “the last such evil on Earth”. Harrowing pictures from the city, to the north-west of the capital Kyiv, showed the bodies of civilians scattered in the road and in shallow graves — many with bound hands and signs of torture. Some of...