Free Republic

Ukraine reportedly shot down two of Russia’s top-tier aircraft over the Azov Sea. One of the planes, a Beriev A-50 is similar to an American AWACS, with a large radar dish mounted above the fuselage of the plane. The price tag of this plane is reportedly over $300 million dollars and Russia may have as few as 9 or 10 of these planes in service.Ukrainian media reported an A-50 early warning and control aircraft was shot down on Sunday evening shortly after take-off over the Sea of Azov in the Kyrylivka area of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine…It’s reported cost per...

LVIV, Ukraine — At least 35 people were killed and 134 people injured when a Russian airstrike hit a military base in western Ukraine about 20 miles from the Polish border, Ukrainian officials said Sunday. “The airstrike was carried out from the Black and Azov seas,” Lviv regional administration head Maksym Kozytskiy, said in a Telegram post, which confirmed the number of dead an injured. He added that around 30 missiles had hit the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security in Yavoriv.

In a stunning sequence of events, the Russian military opened fire then seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in an unprovoked attack on the Black Sea last Sunday. In the melee, several Ukrainian sailors were wounded and 24 captured. Moscow followed up this flagrant act of war by parading the sailors on Russian television to give clearly coerced confessions of guilt. This attack is but the latest escalation in the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine that has been churning since 2014. It’s also the first great test for the Trump administration regarding Russia and one that will have lasting consequences on...

The Trump administration is right in its assessment that Russia’s naval actions in the Azov are meant to harass Ukraine-bound ships and disrupt the country’s economy. Other analysts have offered similar descriptions of Moscow’s intent. The questions now become, at what point will the harassment become intolerable for Kyiv and when that point is reached, what is Ukraine prepared or capable of doing about it?

MOSCOW (AFP) - Five-metre high waves smashed a Russian tanker in half on Sunday, spilling 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil into the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine, officials said. Two other cargo ships, each carrying some 2,000 tonnes of sulphur, sank in the area and eight crew members from one of the vessels were reported missing amid worsening weather in waters between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Some 300 kilometres (187 miles) further west, the high winds sank a cargo ship carrying scrap metal with 17 sailors on board off Ukraine's Black Sea coast. Two crew...