Free Republic

When is extrajudicial killing just war by other means, and when does it become a state-sponsored act of terror? ‘We were not terrorists but fighters for freedom who fought with our eyes open,’ Menachem Begin wrote of Irgun, the irregular group of fighters he led during the 1947-48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, the tactics of whom included bombings and assassinations. But where does the 1 August bombing of the Balzi Rossi restaurant in central Moscow – which killed at least five people and injured more than 20– stand on the scale? Some would describe the attack as a legitimate...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that holding elections during wartime would pose a threat to the country, following a controversial call by his former defense minister to pave the way for an election. According to the latest opinion poll by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology carried out this summer, only 15 per cent of those surveyed want an election to be held at this time. Details by Eliza Herbert.

Summary Russian officials say at least seven people, including three children, have been killed by a Ukrainian drone on a beach in south-west Russia - BBC Verify examines footage It's not clear if the drone was intercepted before landing on the beach. It has been reported it may have been targeting a Russian naval base about 25 miles (40 km) away - Ukraine has not commented The area has long been a favourite of Russian holidaymakers, says our Europe reporter Earlier, an apparent Ukrainian drone strike hit a warehouse belonging to Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries, around 112 miles east...

U.S. President Donald Trump declined to provide Ukraine with 300 Patriot interceptor missiles that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had requested to defend the country against Russian attacks this winter, The Atlantic reported on July 30. Instead, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump offered Kyiv a license to produce its own interceptors domestically — though large-scale production could reportedly take years. The Atlantic's report did not specify exactly when Zelenskyy made the request to Trump. According to an analysis by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the war in Iran has depleted U.S. Patriot interceptor...