Free Republic

American President Donald Trump has once again threatened Russia. He claims that if Russia crosses the line, the United States will respond, Trump made this statement during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House. Furthermore, Trump recently said that in two weeks, he would know whether Putin is trying to deceive him about ending the war. According to Trump, if the Russian President lies about peace, the US will change its approach. "If i see somebody's out of line. If I see Russia's out of line — you will be amazed. Remember this: they like to...

"They (Ukraine) don't have any cards, but they play it tough. But we're not going to let this continue." (Trump said this three months ago during the Trump, Zelensky, JDVance, Marco Rubio press conference White House) In a cheeky nod to Trump's card analogy, the Business Ukraine journal posted a succinct seven-word taunt aimed at Trump. "Today Zelensky played the King of Drones," they wrote following news of the (audacious) aerial strikes. Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian defense journalist, made a pointed reference to Zelensky's public humiliation in the Oval Office. "This is what happens when a proud nation under attack...

The Russian rouble has plunged to its lowest level against the dollar since the immediate aftermath of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. The ruble hit 113 against the US dollar on Thursday. On Wednesday, Russia's central bank announced it would stop foreign-currency purchases to try and strengthen the currency and ease pressures on financial markets. The ruble has been sliding since late summer, falling by more than a third since August. Oil prices have fallen in the same period, hitting Russia's earning capacity from its most important commodity. That has piled pressure onto a war economy already...

Russia’s widespread overnight attack targeting critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine was a response to strikes on Russian territory using US-made ATACMS missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Putin claimed Russia hit 17 targets that were “military facilities, defense industry facilities and their support systems,” without acknowledging the hits to power infrastructure. “As I have said many times, there will always be a response from our side (to the use of American ATACMS),” Putin said during comments made at a security summit in Kazakhstan. Air defenses were activated across the country, with damage reported in 14 regions, according to the...

This is the moment Vladimir Putin's forces were left humiliated when one of his biggest recent assaults of his war on Ukraine ended in substantial losses. The Russian leader had ordered his troops to capture more territory in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, but the push near Kurakhove resulted in mass death and destruction. The failed assault led to the reported deaths of 40 invaders, and left 37 more injured. Russia is carrying out intense attacks in multiple sections of the eastern front, but in a Ukraine victory, troops managed to fend off 29 attacks in Kurakhove alone, the General...

Havrylyuk said that people were seen as expendable by Putin in his mission to conquer Ukraine, but economic issues and problems supplying its troops with ammunition and equipment could soon blunt its campaign. The ISW said that high casualties were part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy to grind out a victory in Ukraine through a war of attrition. "The recent increase in reports of entire Russian units becoming combat ineffective due to losses highlights the tactics on which Russian forces are relying on to pursue Putin's theory of a slow, gradual, grinding victory in Ukraine," it said. Vladimir Putin...

Russia went to war in Ukraine two years ago with twice as many artillery pieces as Ukraine had. But it isn’t the advantage in howitzers that really matters – it’s the advantage in shells. The Czechs found, for Ukraine, nearly a million shells precisely when Ukraine needed those million shells the most: at the peak of Russia’s winter offensive. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Czech artillery initiative probably saved entire Ukrainian cities, by giving the Ukrainian army the firepower to resist a much bigger Russian army. It’s no secret how Ukraine got into an artillery bind late...