Free Republic

Sending Ukraine offensive weapons could push Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, retired Adm. James Stavridis, the former NATO supreme allied commander, said on Monday. Speaking ahead of the announcement of the U.S.-NATO weapons deal for Ukraine, Stavridis said he was hoping the deal would “move beyond strictly defensive weapons, such as the Patriot missiles, which are the air defense systems that the Ukrainians desperately need.” “What I would like to see is a provision for the United States to send more harpoon missiles to go after the Black Sea fleet, more HIMARS, surface-to-surface weapons that can reach...

President Trump is set to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week on the heels of the U.S. leader announcing plans to sell NATO allies weapons that it can pass on to Ukraine. In a statement, NATO said Rutte will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and will also meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of Congress. CBS News reached out to the White House for additional comment. Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he and Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal will be meeting with...

Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after a maternity ward was struck by drones in Ukraine. The US president responded to news that drones had damaged a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, as he said: “I know. You'll be seeing things happen.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that among the nine wounded in Kharkiv were women in the hospital - “mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery.” He said: “Russia is targeting life itself – even in the very places where it begins.” It comes ahead of Trump’s “major statement” on Monday for Russia as he grows frustrated...

US President Donald Trump has said he will send weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to Ukraine via Nato. Trump told NBC News that in a new deal, "we're going to be sending Patriots to Nato, and then Nato will distribute that", adding that Nato would pay for the weapons. His announcement came after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of having a "positive dialogue" with Trump about ensuring that arms arrived on time. He said he had asked for 10 Patriot systems after a surge in Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in the past week. Patriot batteries...

President Trump said Friday he plans to make a “major statement” on Russia early next week — as the Senate considers legislation to force his hand on sanctions after months of threats from the commander-in-chief. “I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday. “You’ll be seeing things happen,” Trump told a reporter Friday morning on the White House lawn when asked about an overnight Russian drone attack that damaged a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv. The comments by Trump appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that stockpiles have declined too much. “We have to,” Trump said. ”They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going...

Russia has ordered the largest increase in conscription since the Ukraine war began as a further 160,000 servicemen are called up to the frontline. The planned draft size has increased from 150,000 in 2024 and 134,500 in 2022, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia to boost the size of its army to 1.5 million active servicemen - an increase of some 180,000 troops over three years.

Donald Trump is losing patience with Vladimir Putin’s stalling tactics over the Ukraine ceasefire, the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, said after spending nine hours with the US president – including winning a golf competition with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Stubb, who also spent two days with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week in Helsinki suggested in a Guardian interview a plan for a deadline of 20 April, by which time Putin should be required to comply with a full ceasefire. Stubb pointed out that a third golf partner on Saturday, the Republican senator Lindsey...

Gen. Jack Keane: We have to apply leverage against Putin . . [Fox News senior strategist analyst Gen. Jack Keane joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss Russia’s attack on Ukraine just hours after more ceasefire talks.]

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest on Saturday for separate pro-Europe and anti-Russia protests. At least 50,000 people marched in Hungary to demand an end to Viktor Orban’s 15-year rule, while Serbia saw its largest anti-government rally in recent history and thousands in Romania demonstrated in support of the European Union. In Budapest, Hungarians came out in force against Mr Orban, considered Vladimir Putin’s closest ally among EU leaders, in favour of the surging pro-Europe opposition Tisza Party, led by Peter Magyar. “Those who cheat on their own nation should end up in the...

Sweden donated 10 of its best Strv 122 tanks to Ukraine. In two years of hard fighting, Russian forces have scored no fewer than 14 hits on the 63-ton, four-person tanks—possibly meaning all 10 of the tanks have been damaged, some more than once. Incredibly, most of the tanks—up-armored Swedish variants of the German-made Leopard 2A5—are still operational, according to one detailed accounting. The tanks’ durability is testimony to German and Swedish engineering and the courage and ingenuity of Ukrainian engineers who must tow damaged tanks off the battlefield for repairs. The add-on armor works. One up-armored Leopard 1A5 recently...

VLADIMIR Putin's snarling mouthpieces have launched a furious tirade at the West after Donald Trump’s “end-the-war” ultimatum. Kremlin propagandists have shockingly called on Vlad to nuke London and blitz through the battlefield in spite of global ceasefire hopes. Trump threw the gauntlet squarely at Vlad's feet just days into his presidency as he ordered the dictator to bring the raging conflict to a halt. The Republican stalwart threatened Russia with financial ruin through increased sanctions, tariffs and taxes if Putin failed to stop the “ridiculous” war. Henchmen for the despot didn't take kindly to Trump's clear and concise warnings and...

Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak held a meeting on concluding bilateral agreements on security commitments between Ukraine and partner states as part of the implementation of the G7 Joint Declaration signed in Vilnius. The meeting was attended by Deputy Heads of the Office of the President Ihor Zhovkva and Roman Mashovets, Special Presidential Commissioner for the Implementation of International Security Commitments and Development of the Defense Forces Yevhen Moysiuk, Head of the Security Service Vasyl Maliuk, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin, Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries Serhiy Boyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mykola Tochytskyi, Deputy Minister...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a basically upbeat assessment of Ukraine’s long-awaited “counteroffensive” against invading Russian forces but conceded “nobody knows” if there will be a major breakthrough this year in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. Zelensky added that he thinks “we will have more success” in the coming year, following a slower-than-expected start for the big counteroffensive. As in several other recent interviews, he disputed criticism that Ukraine’s push has deteriorated into a stalemate, pointing to gains made by his forces in the east of the country.

The idea was that China's regime, given a stake in the existing system, would then defend it... By now, however, that bet looks like a mistake history will remember. For as the Communist Party grew stronger, it did not align itself with its Western supporters. On the contrary, it came to believe it could avenge centuries-old grievances and remake the world in its own image. The West's generous approach created the one thing it had hoped to avoid: an aggressive state redrawing its borders by force, attacking liberal values around the world, and undermining institutions at the heart of the...

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The U.S. is sending Ukraine about $325 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition as the launch of the spring offensive against Russian forces approaches, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The U.S. has declined to say exactly how much munitions will be sent to Ukraine, but the latest package resembles other recent deliveries, which included rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers, as well as an array of other missiles and anti-tank ammunition. It will all be pulled from Pentagon stocks, so it can go quickly...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned on Sunday that potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders who have called for the U.S. to pull back its support for Ukraine in its war with Russia should be careful with their words. During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan asked Rice about recent remarks from former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) criticizing the U.S. for its robust support for Kyiv.

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Here’s what you need to know about the United States: it’s a lie. All of those things we say we believe in, like individual liberty, the Bill of Rights, capitalism….the vast majority support them conditionally, at best. This haphazard adherence to basic civil liberties has been on full display recently as the Right and the Left seem to be in some kind of a race to see who can do the most damage to the First Amendment and principles of free speech. But while the Left works to implement dystopian “disinformation boards” and the Right passes laws giving states the...

The Pentagon announced on Monday it had carried out an airstrike against a senior leader of Al-Qaeda* located in Idlib Governorate, the northern Syrian province occupied by Turkish troops and radical Muslim rebel militias. "US forces conducted a kinetic counterterrorism strike near Idlib, Syria, today, on a senior al-Qaeda leader. Initial indications are that we struck the individual we were aiming for, and there are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday. Kirby said he had no further details on the target's identity, but according to SITE Intelligence Group,...