Free Republic

A planned exchange of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war failed to take place on Saturday, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of postponing the swap at the last minute, something Ukrainian officials dismissed as “dirty games” from the Kremlin. Russia said Ukraine unexpectedly postponed a transfer involving prisoners of war and the bodies of dead soldiers, leaving more than 1,200 frozen Ukrainian bodies waiting in refrigerated trucks at an exchange point with no one to collect them. Ukraine rejected Russia’s account of the events, saying that the two sides had agreed to exchange seriously wounded and young troops on Saturday but...

Russia has removed a senior commander from his post for making false claims about the progress of the war in parts of eastern Ukraine, according to military bloggers and Russian media. Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the South Forces Group, was dismissed after providing misleading information about Russia’s progress near the Siversk settlement in the eastern region of Donetsk, according to the bloggers. Russian media RBC reported Anashkin’s removal, citing unnamed sources within the Russian Ministry of Defense who said he was removed as part of a planned rotation. There has been no official confirmation from Russian officials....