Free Republic

VLADIMIR Putin's new despicable pal has bizarrely dubbed the despot "God's child" who was sent to Earth to save humanity from World War Three. Professor Sergei Karaganov, Putin's new right hand, claimed the tyrant is the saviour of the world who will not only win against Ukraine but will also thwart a global war. Putin, who has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers as well as civilians in his illegal war in Ukraine, was also compared to Russia’s most famous emperor, Peter the Great. In an address scripted by the Kremlin, Karaganov chillingly told Putin:...

A Ukrainian warplane has for the first time fired a weapon that struck a target inside Russia, a Ukrainian military source has told Sky News. The source said a "Russian command node" was hit on Sunday in the area of Belgorod, western Russia. Belgorod is close to the border with northeastern Ukraine. -snip- Speaking on condition of anonymity, the military source told Sky News: "A Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) mission has struck a Russian command node in Belgorod. "Whilst damage assessment is still occurring, it is confirmed as a direct hit. This is the first UAF air-delivered munition delivered against...

Ukrainian forces have damaged an advanced Russian Su-57 jet hundreds of miles away from the front lines inside Moscow's internationally recognized territory, Kyiv's military spy agency said on Sunday, adding this is the "first such case in history." An Su-57 jet was struck on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk airfield, in the southern Russian republic of Astrakhan, Kyiv's GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement. The site is around 365 miles from the current front lines in eastern Ukraine, according to the GUR. One of Russia's influential military bloggers—often considered sources for information on losses in lieu of official commentary...

THIS is the dramatic moment a Ukrainian drone destroys Russia's "indestructible" turtle tank in the latest blow to Putin's failing forces. Footage shows the sturdy military vehicle suddenly blowing up in flames after its crew left the hatch wide open in a fatal mistake. The drone is seen in the daylight mission smoothly descending until it enters Mad Vlad's tanker, hitting it with pinpoint accuracy. Bright orange flames engulf the turtle tank, reducing it to debris and melted metal. The precise attack was recorded by the Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade. Ukraine's Ministry of Defense confirmed the blow on X, writing:...

A large part of Russia's mauled Black Sea Fleet was seen leaving the port of Novorossiysk this week, with satellite images suggesting the berths of the southern Russian port had been largely emptied despite the ever-present threat posed by Ukrainian maritime drones and missiles. The intentions of the vessels departing Novorossiysk—further from Ukrainian-controlled territory and considered safer than the Crimean ports repeatedly bombarded by Kyiv's forces—remain unclear. -snip- The Black Sea Fleet has been forced to largely abandon its traditional bases of choice on the occupied Crimean Peninsula because of numerous—and ever more sophisticated—Ukrainian long-range attacks. Despite having no conventional...

A crack Russian unit of fighters was almost totally destroyed during intense fighting near Kharkiv, rendering it inoperable, according to reports from the frontline. The devastating massacre took place last weekend during fighting for Vovchansk, a city located 73 km (45 miles) northeast of Kharkiv. The city has become the focus of heavy fighting after Russian troops launched a surprise attack in the Kharkiv region in early May. As of last week, the Russians claimed to control around and half of the city - but the situation on the ground remains very fluid. After making initial gains, the Russians have...

Two of Vladimir Putin’s daughters have made rare public appearances despite efforts by the Russian president to keep his family tree a secret. Putin proudly traces his family tree back to the 1600s as it’s put on display at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum – but the names and details of his partners and children have been censored. Two of his children are speaking at the forum, but ordinary Russians are not allowed to know of their familial link. Endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, 39, is Putin’s eldest daughter and was speaking at the forum about Russia’s bioeconomy. Younger sister Katerina...

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday hailed Turkiye’s significant efforts to resolve the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians since 7 October and left most civilians homeless and at risk of famine, Anadolu Agency reports. “What is happening now in Gaza … does not really look like a war, it is some kind of total destruction of the civilian population,” Putin told the heads of leading global news agencies, including Anadolu, at the Lakhta Centre as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). -snip- The real issue, political matters, need...

Top officials in Russia have raised concerns about Kremlin moves to nationalize companies and an overheated economy in rare rebukes of Vladimir Putin's economic policy. On Tuesday, Herman Gref, the CEO of Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, warned about the negative effects of high state spending on the military to fund the war in Ukraine. "Our economy is definitely overheated," Gref told the Federation Council, Russia's upper house, on Tuesday, according to the Tass news agency. The next day, questions were raised about a Kremlin policy of forced nationalizations since the start of Putin's full-scale invasion, which has been followed by...

Ukrainian intelligence published a video on Thursday that purportedly shows the moment Kyiv's forces destroyed a Russian tugboat near annexed Crimea using naval kamikaze drones. "Maritime strike. All hits on target. Minus one more enemy ship," Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) spokesperson Andriy Yusov said during a national broadcast. The HUR said one of its units successfully attacked and destroyed a Russian "Saturn" tugboat. Kyiv has targeted Russia's Black Sea Fleet throughout President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of the country, which began in February 2022. Ukraine has vowed to reverse the Russian leader's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which now serves...

HORRIFYING pictures show a Ukrainian prisoner of war left extremely skinny and fragile after being trapped in one of Putin's 'concentration camps'. An emaciated Gorilyk Roman Vasilyevich was seen returning to his homeland in a harrowing state after two years of savagery at the hands of thuggish Russian officers. -snip- Vasilyevich was a National Guardsman before his capture and was one of 74 prisoners exchanged in a prisoner swap on May 31. Upon his return to Ukraine, photos were taken of the seriously malnourished man to prove the horrors of Putin's regime during the Ukraine war. His rib cage can...

Ukrainian forces held their ground in the strategically important eastern Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar as Russian troops are reported to have failed an attempt to cross a canal in the area. The town, which had a pre-war population of more than 12,000, and is dissected by a canal, is located some 7 miles from the war-torn city of Bakhmut which was seized by Russian forces last May. The town in the Donetsk region has been the focus of Moscow's military since March.

When a combined force of 40,000 Russian troops launched an assault across Ukraine’s northern border with Russia on May 9 – that’s Victory Day, the day Russians celebrate the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II – observers tried to understand the Russians’ aim. Was the goal to drive on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city just 25 miles south of the northern border? Was it to capture a string of border settlements in order to push Ukrainian troops, and their artillery, farther from Russia? Was it to convince the Ukrainians that either of the above was the goal –...

After months of fighting, the Russians are still struggling to gain a toehold in Ukraine’s 266th biggest population center. Shortly after finally capturing the ruins of Avdiivka following a bloody, five-month battle that culminated in February, Russian forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region took aim at another eastern prize: the industrial town of Chasiv Yar, which had a pre-war population of around 12,000. Exposed on the very edge of the line of contact west of Bakhmut and depending on a north-south canal—a canal with two easy crossing points—for its defense, Chasiv Yar is vulnerable. And its easternmost canal district, on...

Ukrainian forces captured dozens of Russian troops in Kharkiv Oblast on Sunday, a military official said, amid reports Kyiv has regained some ground in the embattled region. Some 60 Russian soldiers were captured near the war-ravaged town of Vovchansk, where fierce battles are ongoing, Nazar Voloshin, a spokesman for Ukraine's Khortytsia operational-strategic group told local publication Liga.net. -snip- Julian Röpcke, an open data analyst with the publication Bild, shared footage on X (formerly Twitter) that first circulated on Telegram, which purportedly shows the moment the Russian troops were captured.

Russia's new offensive into Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region has done what months of lobbying from President Volodymyr Zelensky could not: secured Kyiv's ability to fire advanced Western weapons at Moscow's forces within their borders. The Russian drive into the Kharkiv border region—where fighting is ongoing some 15 miles north of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and an important political, economic, and cultural center—has prompted Kyiv's NATO backers into a flurry of diplomatic and military activity, with the result that Ukrainian cross-border strikes are now ravaging Russian forces operating in the Belgorod region.

China delivered a devastating blow to Russia's economic prospects after refusing to commit to a Kremlin deal over future gas exports. The Kremlin saw its gas revenues severely hit by its decision to invade Ukraine, as European countries started to introduce bans on Russian energy exports in the aftermath of the war. Gas and oil pipeline flows to Europe have plummeted by more than eighty percent since 2022, with the state energy company Gazprom taking a US$6.9billion (£5.4billion) hit to its finances.

Vladimir Putin is furious after Ukraine's military staged a dramatic fightback and seized back control over most of a town that Russia thought they had captured in Kharkiv. Russia launched a surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv earlier this month and many military sources within the Russian army had boasted that they had captured the pivotal town of Vovchansk. However, Ukraine's Defence Forces have now confirmed that Kyiv has regained control of 70 percent of the town, amid fierce ongoing street battles. Ukraine's Lieutenant Colonel Nazar Voloshyn said that Ukrainian counterattacks, along with effective artillery and drone strikes, were thwarting Russia's efforts...

Russia's proposed tax hikes for companies and the wealthy, which may add an extra $30 billion to next year's budget revenues, will allow Moscow to further ratchet up spending, including on its war in Ukraine, without compromising fiscal stability. The finance ministry insists the tax hikes, proposed on Tuesday, are fair and target Russia's wealthiest. It says tax changes should solve national problems, reduce inequality and help develop Russia's regions. The changes will cover President Vladimir Putin's more than 11.5 trillion roubles ($128 billion) in infrastructure and social spending pledges for his new six-year term, analysts say, without requiring a...

Ukraine has launched another stunning strike against Putin's army on the peninsula, inflicting crippling damage to the Kremlin's war machine. Vladimir Putin suffered a major setback after Ukraine launched more devastating attacks in the Crimea region. Ukraine has intensified its attacks on the peninsula and its immediate surrounding regions in the last few days. On Thursday, Ukrainian maritime drones destroyed seven Russian ships in a daring and spectacular attack. Kyiv's army bosses have now followed that up with another stunning strike that inflicted crippling damage on Putin's war machine in the region. Overnight, Ukraine fired US-supplied ATACM missiles at the...