Free Republic

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...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his "productive meeting" with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, after which Trump appeared to jettison his long-held skepticism of Kyiv's battlefield ambitions. Shortly after the meeting, Trump wrote on social media, "After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form." (snip) But on Tuesday, the...

President Trump’s dramatic pronouncement Tuesday that Russia is a “paper tiger” is based on new US intelligence that shows the Kremlin is spiraling toward economic ruin and battlefield defeat as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump’s insistence in the same statement that Ukraine can regain all the land currently occupied by Russia is the president’s latest “strategic move” to try and bring Russia to the negotiating table, sources inside and outside the White House told The Post Wednesday. -snip- “The president is making it very clear that Russia is in a very weak position,” White House press...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an exclusive interview with "Special Report" that his relationship with President Donald Trump has grown closer, with more frequent communication and stronger alignment on how to handle the ongoing war with Russia. Asked directly by Baier if his ties with Trump had improved, Zelenskyy said, "I think we have better relations than before. It’s good that we have often [had] phone calls and meetings, and the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was lying to President Trump so many times also made a difference between us." Zelenskyy also said...

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine could restore its borders from before Russia’s invasion and that he believes NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace, escalating his rhetoric against the Kremlin as its war in Ukraine drags on. Taken together, Trump’s remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly about shooting down Russian aircraft and his later post on Truth Social about Ukraine’s borders seemed to reflect a significant shift in his attitude toward Moscow and what the end of the intractable conflict might look like. His comments on Ukraine’s borders...

0:12 Mr. President, excellencies, 0:17 this Emergency Security Council meeting 0:19 has been called because a mere mere week 0:23 after Russia sent drones into Poland, 0:27 three Russian MiG31 fighter jets with 0:30 their transponders off, entered Estonian 0:33 airspace without authorization and 0:36 lingered for 12 minutes. On the same 0:39 day, two Russian fighter jets violated 0:42 the security zone over the Polish 0:44 drilling platform in our economic zone 0:47 in the Baltic Sea. 0:49 If these were accidents, why not 0:52 immediately acknowledge them and 0:54 apologize? 0:56 We have given Russia a pass in...

Baltic incidents—drones, airspace brushes, GNSS spoofing—could cascade into a NATO–Russia war driven by fear, honor, and interest. Opening phases likely favor NATO in air and sea with superior ISR, EW, and standoff fires; Russia counters with missiles, dense air defenses, cyber, and navigation attacks. Two plausible endgames emerge: a non-nuclear grind to an armistice shaped by attrition and political risk, or limited nuclear use to coerce termination, shattering the taboo and accelerating crisis instability.

Speaking in China at the end of a visit there, Putin said that he perceived "a certain light at the end of the tunnel" given what he said were sincere efforts by the United States to find a settlement to Europe's biggest land war since World War Two. "It seems to me that if common sense prevails, it will be possible to agree on an acceptable solution to end this conflict. That is my assumption," he told reporters in Beijing. "Especially since we can see the mood of the current U.S. administration under President Trump, and we see not just...

Ukrainian defenders launched a counterattack and cleared Russian invaders from three villages in Donetsk Oblast, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi reported in a Facebook post on Aug. 24. "Our forces successfully counterattacked and cleared the enemy from the villages of Mykhailivka, Zelenyi Hai, and Volodymyrivka in Donetsk Oblast," Syrskyi stated. While working on the Pokrovsk front, he met with defenders holding the line in Pokrovsk, and listened to reports from corps and brigade commanders on the operational situation. "The situation is indeed challenging; the enemy has concentrated its main efforts on this front line. But we must hold...

US President Donald Trump joined other world leaders in sending messages of support to Ukraine on Sunday as it celebrates Independence Day at a time when there is little hope for peace despite intense diplomatic efforts. Trump sent a letter to Ukraine on the country’s 34th Independence Day – which marks the anniversary of declaring itself free of Soviet rule – praising its courage and saying the United States believes in its future as an independent state. -snip- In the letter, Trump wrote: “The people of Ukraine have an unbreakable spirit, and your county’s courage inspires many. As you mark...

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of "doing everything it can" to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday "that's like oil and vinegar... they don't get along too well".Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine's leader "when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all", accusing Zelensky of saying "no to everything". After an intensive week of diplomacy, in which Trump first met Putin in...

By nature’s curious design, I was born an optimist — though in some obscure recess of my soul a cynic curls and whispers his dry, inconvenient truths. I believe neither in immaculate conceptions nor second comings, and certainly not in the benevolence of Russian rulers. The fragile hope entertained by some, that they might one day act with reason, springs from a naïve faith in miracles, and miracles stand at odds with both nature and common sense. At all times, under all tsars, commissars, and the latest Kremlin grotesques, Russian rulers, with rare exceptions, have acted not for the benefit...

The fuel shortage is becoming increasingly acute in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine, APA reports, citing Russian "Telegram" channels. It is reported that currently in a number of Russian regions there are kilometers of queues of cars in front of gas stations, and the population complains about the low quality and high prices of fuel. Officials say that the gasoline shortage is due to ongoing repairs at a number of large oil refining plants and increased planting and harvesting work in agriculture. Regular attacks by Ukrainian drones on oil refineries also contribute to the fuel shortage.

The number of dead and seriously wounded Ukrainians is apparently much higher than imagined.Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine some three and a half years ago, the Western media has promoted a non-stop barrage of disinformation about the military developments, trying to present a rosier picture than reality can afford.Perhaps no other aspect of the hostilities has been so blatantly misrepresented as the number of casualties and fatalities.We got to the point where Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky had the nerve to say that Ukraine had had 35 thousand losses.That is particularly absurd since we know that Kiev’s...