Free Republic

DRAMATIC footage captured the moment Ukraine "shot down" a Russian Tu-22M3 nuke bomber sending it spiralling to the ground. The £228million aircraft was part of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear strike force - and the downing is seen as a major blow to the dictator. It crashed over the Stavropol region - some 250 miles from the border - in southern Russia after completing a bombing attack on Ukraine. The long-range strategic bomber was shot down by a S-200 anti-aircraft missile system, said Channel 2, citing sources in Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency. The GUR said: “As a result of the damage,...

Russian state media outlet Tass has reported that a Russian TU-22M3 strategic bomber crashed in Stavropol Krai, southwestern Russia. The exact cause of the crash remains unknown at this time as some Ukrainian sources claim that it was shot down, which would mark a first for the conflict. The crash comes as Russian bombers launched a series of missile strikes against Ukraine.

Trump defended America First by keeping Putin's Russia from invading Ukraine. During the Biden administration’s tenure, multiple conflagrations have pushed the world to its most unstable point since the end of the Cold War. -snip- Unfortunately, in response, Washington seems to have produced two equally terrible strategies: One, blindly follow President Joe Biden’s policies that have allowed this chaos to reign, or two, give in to the forces of evil seeking to destroy our republic and retreat within our borders, shutting our eyes to the dangerous world around us. Both are wrong. There is a better solution, one that brought...

The Kremlin said on Thursday that any new U.S. military aid for Ukraine would not change the situation at the front where Kyiv's forces were in a poor position and cast such aid as part of a "colonial" policy which enriched the United States. -snip- "Ukraine has to not only fight to provide profit for the Americans but it also has to fight to the last Ukrainian and is loaded up with debt," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "The favourite colonial policy of the United States of America." Peskov noted that "a very significant" part of the proposed aid would...

Ukraine's government has mocked Russia on the second anniversary of the sinking of Moscow's former Black Sea flagship at Kyiv's hands, after Ukraine targeted a slew of Russia's vessels since the start of the year. The Moskva sank on April 14, 2022, less than two months after the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The loss of the large cruiser, housing hundreds of crew members, was a significant strategic and propaganda blow to Russia in the opening weeks of the war. -snip- Kyiv said it used home-grown anti-ship missiles to strike the guided missile cruiser close to Snake Island,...

Up to 30 Russian personnel may have been killed and another 80 injured, according to a new report, after dramatic footage appeared to show explosions at a Russian military base in northern Crimea overnight. "About 30 Russian servicemen were killed and about 80 were wounded at the airfield in Dzhankoy," a Crimean-based Telegram channel called Crimean Wind reported on Wednesday. Crimean Wind is a pro-Ukrainian monitoring group that focuses on Crimea and generally offers reliable information. Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine's southern forces, described Dzhankoy as a legitimate military target on Wednesday but declined to offer up further details. A...

Desperate locals are appealing for aid from the government, with one heartbreaking video showing a young boy from Orenburg whose home was flooded begging Vladimir Putin for help. Concerns are growing over the potential spread of deadly diseases following severe flooding in Russia and Kazakhstan, resulting in bodies being washed out from their graves. Widespread displacement was reported along the border region between Russia and Kazakhstan, with hundreds of thousands having to abandon their homes. Many residents are pleading for aid from Vladimir Putin amidst these desperate conditions and an apparently slow response from official sources. Desperate locals are appealing...

River Ural has burst its banks, inundating thousands of homes after heavy rain and melting ice swelled rivers across the region and in neighbouring Kazakhstan. Vast swathes of the city remain covered in muddy water, piling more misery on its residents. "I saved every penny, I denied myself everything, I tried for the sake of the house. And now it's all flooded - it's a nightmare," says 56-year-old medical worker Lyudmila Borodina.

UKRAINE has launched another blistering attack on one of Putin's key military airfields in occupied Crimea. Dramatic footage shows blinding explosions erupting overnight as Kyiv's forces destroyed valuable ammunition stores in the blitz. Ukraine launched it's overnight ambush above Dzhankoi airfield in northern Crimea. The military base - a key hub for Russia - is used by Putin’s twisted forces to launch strikes on Ukraine. Ukraine used US-made ATACMS long range missiles in the pinpoint strike. Some of Putin's valued choppers are kept at Dzhankoi along with Russian S-300 and S-400 missile systems. Missile alerts were only sounded after the...

New videos appear to show a fire raging in northern Crimea, after reports of explosions around a military airfield overnight. Footage widely circulated on social media by Russian and Ukrainian sources early on Wednesday show bright flashes of light and explosions, with sirens wailing in the background. A local Telegram channel reported "several loud explosions," starting just before 4 a.m. local time, before a fire broke out. Roads around the air base are blocked, the channel later reported. Dzhankoy is a major military hub, home to one of Russia's largest airfields in Crimea. It is a key location for supplying...

-snip- Putin made the remarks in a phone call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday. The leaders discussed what the Kremlin called “retaliatory measures taken by Iran” after an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on April 1. -snip- Russia, which has forged close ties with both Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and several Arab leaders, has repeatedly scolded the West for ignoring the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. “Both sides stated that the root cause of the current events in the Middle East is the unresolved Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” the...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to his Iranian and Saudi counterparts late Monday night, following Iran’s attack on Israel, describing the aerial bombardment as Tehran’s “right to self-defense.” Russia had issued a similar response as China, recognizing the Iranian claim of acting in self-defense following an alleged Israeli strike in Damascus which killed several high-ranking military officials at an embassy compound site used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). During the phone call with the Iranian foreign minister, Wang strongly condemned the attack in Syria and said Iran will be able to handle the situation well in order...

Sergey Lavrov has affirmed that Russia supports Iran's response against Israeli aggression. In a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia would vehemently back Iran's response against "Israel" at the United Nations Security Council. Lavrov additionally affirmed that the Iranian response was "responsible and within an interval of self-control," and noted that Russia never doubted Iran's intention to retaliate against "Israel's" aggression against its consulate and officials in Syria. He also described the aversion of certain countries to condemn "Israel's" attack against the Iranian consulate as "unfortunate". On his part, Amir-Abdollahian...

After its drone attack against Israel, Iran seeks to continue building its partnership with Russia, which has slammed the UN Security Council's emergency meeting after the attack. Iran is hoping for Russian support in the wake of its massive attack on Israel. The Iranian Foreign Ministry praised Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday and noted a phone call between Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart, in which Russia said it would defend Iran at the UN Security Council. According to pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen media, Tehran views Russia’s comments positively. The Russians, according to the report, said the Iranian attack was coupled...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday called the April 1 Israeli strike on the Iranian diplomatic mission in Damascus that left at least 13 people dead, including a high-ranking general, a “political killing,” Anadolu Agency reports. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Lavrov condemned the Israeli attack in a phone talk with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. “Any attacks on diplomatic and consular facilities, the inviolability of which is guaranteed by the relevant Vienna Conventions, are categorically unacceptable, as well as political killings,” he said. Seven Iranian military advisers are said to have been killed in the...

Russia said on Sunday it was extremely concerned by Iranian strikes on Israel and called on all parties to exercise restraint but said tensions would remain high until the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was resolved. -snip- Russia noted that Tehran had said the attack was made within the right to self defence after Israel's strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that Moscow condemned. Russia, which has close ties to Iran, said that the West had blocked attempts in the United Nations Security Council to respond to the Israeli strike on the consulate. "We have repeatedly warned that...

Tens of thousands of residents in the Russian city of Orenburg and neighbouring Kazakhstan have been told to evacuate immediately as flood waters inundate homes. -snip- Orenburg is home to half a million people, and the city's mayor Sergei Salmin said the situation was extremely dangerous. "Over the last 10 hours, the water level in the Ural River has risen by 40cm … these levels are dangerous," he wrote on the Telegram messenger app. He called on residents to gather essential items and to abandon their homes. Emergency workers said water levels in the Ural River were more than two...

Iran sent a message to the Biden administration through several Arab countries earlier this week: if the U.S. gets involved in the fighting between Israel and Iran, U.S. forces in the region will be attacked, three U.S. officials told Axios. Why it matters: The U.S. and Israel are preparing for Iran to retaliate against Israel for an airstrike that killed a top Iranian general in Damascus last week. The Iranian supreme leader has threatened "punishment" for Israel but through private channels Iran has signaled it would be limited. Israel and the U.S. think an Iranian attack would include the launch...

Russell Bentley, an American who fought against Ukrainian forces, is missing in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, police there said Friday, adding that a search was underway. Bentley went missing on April 8, according to police. The online news outlet Mash said he had disappeared after a district in the city of Donetsk was shelled by Ukrainian forces. Mash cited his wife as saying he had gone to see if anyone needed help but had not returned. She was quoted as saying she had found his car with his baseball cap in it along with his smashed mobile...

Iran is reportedly preparing to launch a revenge attack on Israel in just 48 hours - amid heightened tensions between the rival powers. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated a promise to retaliate against Israel over the attack on its consulate in Damascus. Tehran holds Israel responsible for the strike that levelled the building, killing 12 people.