Free Republic

For those who understand the basics of attrition warfare, the outcome of the fight in Ukraine was obvious a long time ago. Russia's superior logistical position along with its grinding offensive tactics have worn down Ukraine's defenses and left the country with a desperate manpower shortage. The recent capture of the vital hub of Pokrovsk has now opened the door to an accelerating Russian advance. The Russian offensive is gaining significant ground from Pokrovsk to the north, all the way to Kupiansk. The strategic city of Siversk is now largely under control of Russia according to geo-location mapping. Myrnohrad, also...

Military analyst Denys Popovych said on Radio NV that Russian troops are currently encircled near Kupyansk and explained how Ukrainian forces carried out a successful operation there on Dec. 13. There are now encircled Russian army units in the city that are clearly in the final stage of their presence there. Cleanup operations are ongoing, and it is impossible to predict when they will end. Why do the Russians make such statements about capturing Kupyansk? They are taking territory on credit. They need it to demonstrate that they are advancing and achieving success. They lost Kupyansk during our Kharkiv counteroffensive,...

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday shared a video of himself rallying troops at Kupyansk, a city Russia claimed to have taken control of. In the video, the city limit sign for Kupyansk is visible in the background, with intermittent explosions audible. The Kremlin claimed to have captured the city in late November and invited journalists to visit it alongside Russian troops. Zelensky rallied troops and said battlefield gains could influence ongoing peace talks.

Zelenskyy Compromises – He Is Ready to Hold Elections... But Under Certain Conditions🤝 MS2025.12.10

It has been a rough week for everyone in Kiev.Electricity is available only intermittently. Most nights there is a drone or missile strike. And the weather is gloomy and overcast.For president Volodymyr Zelensky, it has been particularly unpleasant. In the past seven days he has lost his chief of staff, the Russians claimed to have taken the strategic city of Pokrovsk, and the Americans have stepped up demands that he make humiliating territorial concessions to buy peace.On Tuesday morning, opposition MPs in Ukraine’s parliament mobbed the speaker’s chair to block Zelensky’s proposed budget and demand the government resign.The reality is...

Putin gambled on Western hesitation, and now a war born of miscalculation grinds on because neither Moscow nor NATO is willing—or able—to force a decisive end. Why did the war in Ukraine start in 2021?As in 2008 and 2012, but unlike 2017 to 2021, Vladimir Putin sensed an American president would not or could not deter him, so he invaded a former Soviet republic. Under past presidents, Putin saw no downside to grabbing Ossetia, the Donbas, and Crimea. Putin was also led to believe the West or Joe Biden would not challenge him following the recent humiliating U.S. withdrawal from...

President Trump issued a chilling warning to Vladimir Putin Monday after the Russian tyrant boasted about testing his country’s new “invincible” nuclear missile. “They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shore,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday as he prepared to travel to Japan. He was speaking after Putin on Sunday hailed an 8,700-mile, 15-hour test flight for Russia’s “unique” nuclear-powered missile, dubbed a “flying Chernobyl,” which the country says could strike targets in the US. The Burevestnik missile is a “unique product, unlike anything else in the world,”...

President Trump no longer plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a second in-person summit “in the immediate future” after Russia rejected his demand to stop the war in Ukraine along the current battle lines. The White House announcement followed a Monday call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which a source familiar with the conversation said demonstrated the Kremlin’s unwillingness to commit to Trump’s strategy for peace. -snip- Trump exhorted both sides to lay down their arms following the third White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Trump returned to...

Former British senior army officer Lord David Richards has told UK newspaper The Independent that Ukraine cannot win its war with Russia without NATO military support and should instead negotiate peace terms with Moscow. Speaking to The Independent’s “World of Trouble” podcast, the “five star” ranked former Chief of Defence Staff who led NATO forces in Afghanistan, said: “What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win.” The former commando added that even with the right resources, Ukraine “would not win” as “they haven’t got the manpower.”...

Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms to end the war, warning that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if he refused

Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday to make a deal with Russia, pouring cold water on Kyiv's hopes for Tomahawk missiles as the US leader renews a push to settle the war.Trump said as recently as last month that he believed Ukraine could take back all its territory -- but a day after agreeing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a new summit the American had changed his tune.After meeting with Zelensky at the White House, Trump said on social media that their talks were "very interesting, and cordial, but I told him, as I likewise...

At the specific request of then-Vice President Joe Biden, the CIA buried an embarrassing intelligence report detailing the poor view the Ukrainian government took of his diplomatic efforts and the business dealings of his own family in that country.Biden had traveled to Kyiv in December 2015, ostensibly to meet with leaders of that fledgling democracy and to deliver a warning against “the cancer of corruption.” And during an address to the Ukrainian parliament, he did condemn the “pervasive poison of cronyism, corruption, and kleptocracy.”But behind the scenes, Ukrainian officials expressed “bewilderment and disappointment” that the vice president had crossed the...

Most citizens say graft has increased since 2022, according to a new national poll Most Ukrainians have said corruption in the country has worsened since escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022, a new survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) has shown. In findings released on Friday, the poll revealed that 71% of respondents believe the level of corruption has increased over the past three years. Another 20% said they had not noticed any change, while only 5% felt the situation had improved. The survey was conducted over September 19-28 and included 1,029 participants across...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces are prevailing in what he said was a "righteous battle" in Ukraine. "Our fighters and commanders go on the attack, and the entire country, all of Russia, is waging this righteous battle and working hard," Putin said in a video published on the Kremlin's website. "Together we are defending our love for the Motherland and the unity of our historical destiny, we are fighting and we are prevailing."

Once again, it feels as if we’re tiptoeing toward an official war between the United States and Russia — as opposed to the proxy war that has endured for three and half years between Russia and NATO-backed Ukraine. Although President Trump has downplayed the “rare and urgent” meeting of top military commanders from around the world at Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, the event has generated intense speculation. The Pentagon says that secretary of War Hegseth merely wants to deliver a speech on the “warrior ethos” and make sure that military leaders are all walking in the same direction. The president...

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungary's Viktor Orban said on Monday that Ukraine was not a sovereign country, as he hit back at accusations that Hungarian reconnaissance drones violated its airspace - the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter row between Kyiv and Budapest."Ukraine is not at war with Hungary; it is at war with Russia. It should be concerned with the drones on its eastern border," the Hungarian prime minister said during an interview on a right-wing podcast popular with his supporters."I believe my ministers, but let's say it would have actually flown a few metres there, so what? Ukraine is not...

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Monday that its military was analysing whether or not the United States would supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into Russia, a step that Russian officials say could trigger a steep escalation.U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Washington was considering a Ukrainian request to obtain Tomahawks. President Donald Trump has not made a final decision, and he has been wary of escalating the Ukraine war into a direct confrontation with Russia. But the fact he is now weighing such a move shows the extent of his frustration with President...

Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is trying to manifest her own destiny — insisting this week that she remains a top leader in the Democratic Party, despite November’s devastating loss and perception as a back stabber for shuffling her boss out of the race. “I was the Democratic nominee for president,” the former vice president told the Wall Street Journal Friday. “I came close to winning. Of course I do.” Harris – who was in Philadelphia plugging her new book “107 Days” about the 2024 loss to now President Donald Trump, declined to say whether the tour is the...

“Dare to Ukraine” is The Kyiv Independent’s wartime travel series that shows the country beyond the war headlines. In Episode 4 of “Dare to Ukraine: Village,” Masha’s quiet rural routine is interrupted by a new mission: uncover the local history and debunk Russian propaganda myths about Ukraine. What starts as a simple day in the countryside turns into a journey through Ukraine’s past and present — proving that even the smallest villages and communities carry stories of independence that shatter Russian lies."

The front line on the battlefield in Ukraine has grown in length to nearly 1,250 kilometers (800 miles), stretching Kyiv’s defenses, while Russian forces employ a new tactic of sending swarms of small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian lines, Ukraine’s top military commander says. The line of contact has grown by roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles) over the past year, and Ukrainian forces are averaging between 160 and 190 combat engagements every day with Russia’s bigger army, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a review of the battlefield situation. At the same time, Russian tactics have switched since the start of...