Free Republic

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive actions were underway against Russian forces, asserting that his top commanders were in a “positive” mindset as their troops engaged in intense fighting along the front line. The Ukrainian leader, at a Kyiv news conference alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comment a day earlier that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had started – and Ukrainian forces were taking “significant losses.

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that the U.S. should arm Ukraine until they win the war against Russia. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Russian Dictator Vladimir Putin has launched this vicious invasion of Ukraine killing lots of civilians. As you know, two of your opponents have given some interesting signals. Donald Trump refused to say in the town hall with Kaitlyn Collins which side he wants to win, Ukraine or Russia. He refuses to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal. Ron DeSantis calls it a territorial dispute. Are they wrong? What’s your position?

Ukraine's Major General Andrey Kovalchuk, the former commander of November's Kherson Counteroffensive, tells The Post how he intended to blow up the dam. "Kovalchuk considered flooding the river," The Post writes. "The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper's water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages. The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but the step remained a last resort.

Russian defence chiefs have been mocked for claiming to destroy a German-supplied lethal Leopard 2 tank - when in fact they had blown up tractors in Ukrainian fields. The ridiculing was led by head of Wagner private army Yevgeny Prigozhin, who sees it as yet more evidence of blundering incompetence by Putin's defence chiefs and army. The Russian defence ministry hailed 'footage of the destruction of foreign armoured vehicles, including Leopard tanks'. But in reality, military analysts say the footage showed Russia blasting farm vehicles with a missile fired from a Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter. In the video, a Russian...

Ukraine says Russia is shelling flooded civilian areas around Kherson even as efforts to evacuate thousands from rising waters unleashed by the bombing of a major hydroelectric dam threatens lives. A spokesman for the Ukrainian government said they were being careful not to shell civilians in flooded areas south of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power dam on the Dnipro River towards Kherson, and that claims their forces were impeding evacuations are Russian falsehoods. Army southern command press officer Natalia Humeniuk said, per Kyiv, that “…[Russia’s] shelling continues.

Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian "sabotage" group had blown up the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of its 15-month offensive. "A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline" near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that civilians had been injured. Footage posted on social media showed white smoke coming out of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline, which is the world's longest ammonia pipeline and stretches roughly 2,500 kilometers.

It looks like the much-anticipated Ukrainian spring offensive may finally be getting underway. Yesterday, Russia repelled Ukrainian attacks in five places. It’s very early — these were likely probing attacks looking to detect weak points in Russian defensive positions — but these attacks were much heavier than previous probing attacks. We’ll have to see what happens. When the main offensive comes, it’s very possible that Ukrainian forces will break through in certain areas. They might capture some territory (with plenty of U.S./NATO-supplied reconnaissance and intelligence to assist them), but it’s unlikely that their gains will be sustainable. The offensive will...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has aided a Ukrainian intelligence effort to censor social media users and obtain their personal information, leaked emails reveal. In March 2022, an FBI Special Agent sent Twitter a list of accounts on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukraine’s main intelligence agency. The accounts, the FBI wrote, “are suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation.” In an attached memo, the SBU asked Twitter to remove the accounts and hand over their user data.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) warned on Wednesday that passing a bill later this year to provide more money for the Defense Department and military aid to Ukraine will be “a challenge,” despite a pledge Senate leaders made last week to defense hawks. Asked at a press conference how he could assure the passage of an emergency Ukraine and defense supplemental spending bill over the objections of House conservatives, McConnell acknowledged it faces an uncertain path forward. “All I can tell you at this particular point is defense is radically underfunded related to the Chinese threat and Ukraine will...