Free Republic

Kharkiv is one of the cities in Ukraine eliminating traces of the country's Soviet past by removing Russian art, symbols, books and language. Few cities in Ukraine are making as much effort as Kharkiv, a city with a Russian-speaking tradition, to erase its past. Hundreds of streets with Soviet names have been renamed, dozens of monuments demolished and countless books written in Ukrainian have replaced Russian ones on bookshelves. "These books have a therapeutic effect on people," explained historian and book publisher, Oleksandr Savchuk. "That is, a person seems to get some protection by reading that in fact, Ukrainian culture...

Russia is going to lose this war. And Ukraine is going to win it. How can I say that with confidence? Because yesterday I was in the city of Kherson and saw Russia’s defeat with my own eyes. Kherson is part of the south of Ukraine that was invaded and occupied in March this year. In September it was one of the four regions which the Kremlin gave a “vote” to in order to pretend that the regions really wanted to be part of Russia, not Ukraine. These “plebiscites” were meant to validate the occupier. But the whole thing was...

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold an emergency meeting with top security, political and defence officials on Friday, following the Kremlin's announcement of plans by Russia to annex four Ukrainian regions.The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign documents on Friday proclaiming Moscow's annexation of regions where Russia organised what Kyiv and the West said were sham referendums staged at gunpoint on Russian-held Ukrainian territory."President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine for tomorrow. The agenda and other details will be announced later," presidential...