Free Republic

'Putin has STOLEN our Ukrainian children': Distraught parents tell how THOUSANDS of youngsters never returned from 'summer camps' they went to after being rounded up by Russian troops in 'campaign' likened to ISIS abduction of Yazidi girls Ukraine says it has confirmed that more than 16,000 children have been taken Parents have being tricked into allowing their children to attend 'summer camps' Ukrainian parents have shared their heartbreak at not knowing where their children are or if they will ever see them again after Russian forces kidnapped thousands of youngsters and transported them to 're-education camps' in Russia - in...

Two of Putin's top army lieutenants have 'openly declared war' on Defence Minister and staunch Putin loyalist Sergei Shoigu after a series of embarrassing defeats for the Kremlin in Ukraine. Chechen boss Ramzan Kadyrov and founder of the Wagner 'private army' or militia Yevgeny Prigozhin have turned on the minister amid heavy defeats and losses over the last two weeks, The Guardian reports. It comes after Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk and Luhansk in an announcement to which he gathered all of the country's top leaders and told the world the regions would 'remain with Russia forever.'...

Vladimir Putin today came under stinging criticism from his own side after Russia was forced to withdraw troops from a key Ukrainian city this afternoon as Ukraine's eastern counteroffensive recaptures more territory. Ukrainian forces encircled the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday in a counteroffensive that has humiliated the Kremlin, while Russian bombardments intensified after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of the war. Russia's own Tass and RIA news agencies announced that troops have fled Lyman, citing the Russian defence ministry. It comes after the Russian President Vladimir Putin was pictured grinning...