Free Republic

Many Ukrainians see Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator who has betrayed his own country for a handful of silver. From tomorrow, May 20th, Zelensky’s presidential term is formally at an end—but no new elections will be held as long as Ukraine is under martial law because he would be overwhelmingly voted out. He preaches that Ukraine is fighting for freedom and then denies them the right to vote on his policies – so much for freedom and democracy. Zelensky has no incentive for peace at this point in time. Zelensjy won the election, which some say was rigged, promising PEACE...

Ukrainian drones attacked the only large oil refinery on Russia's Black Sea coast on Friday morning, authorities said. The attack on the Rosneft-owned refinery in the southern Russian town of Tuapse was reported by local authorities, who said a fire had broken out at the facility and that emergency services were working to extinguish the blaze. -snip- The Russian Black Sea naval port of Novorossiysk and Crimea's Sevastopol were also targeted a the massive aerial assault, which Russia's defense ministry said involved at least 100 drones.

Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov was arrested "on suspicion of criminal activity" just after Putin dismissed his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. A RUSSIAN general was dragged out of his bed at 5am to be taken into detention facing "criminal charges over state secrets" in Vladimir Putin's latest purge. Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, 55, was arrested by heavily armed cops in balaclavas who smashed their way into his home using crowbars. The top MoD official was reportedly “dragged out of bed and taken away for interrogation”. The arrest of the military chief comes a day after Vladimir Putin oversaw major changes in Russia's defence,...

A 10-story residential building in Belgorod, Russia, was struck overnight by a Ukrainian missile, a local governor said. "The Belgorod city and the Belgorod district came under a massive attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said in a post on Telegram. The Ukrainian Tochka-U missile that struck the building was among several that Ukraine launched overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. Ukrainian military officials did not immediately comment on the claims, which could not immediately be verified.

Can someone please tell me what a Zeeper is. I keep seeing it in some comments and have been unable to find a definition. Thank you in advance.

House conservatives have stymied proposed supplemental funding packages for Ukraine since the fall. But their justifications for further delays in delivering military aid to Kyiv got little oxygen during an April 17 defense budget hearing before a key appropriations panel. “With Mr. Putin saying very openly and repeatedly that he wants to restore the old Soviet Union, all of the nation states, in Eastern Europe especially, are looking to us,” House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said, referring to the Russian leader’s demands seeking no further NATO expansion, no missiles on Russia’s borders, and a return of...

As Russia steps up airstrikes and once again advances on the battlefield in Ukraine more than two years into its bloody invasion, there is no end to the fighting in sight. And President Volodymyr Zelensky’s options for what to do next — much less how to win the war — range from bad to worse. Zelensky has said Ukraine will accept nothing less than the return of all its territory, including land that Russia has controlled since 2014. But with the battle lines changing little in the last year, militarily retaking the swaths of east and south Ukraine that Russia...

A team of vigilante hackers carrying out cyber-attacks against Russia has been sent awards of gratitude by Ukraine's military. The team, One Fist*, has stolen data from Russian military firms and hacked cameras to spy on troops. The certificates are a controversial sign of how modern warfare is shifting. [excerpt] *One Fist is made up of hackers from eight different countries including the UK, US and Poland.

About a month ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to public and stated that Kiev forces had lost a grand total of 30 thousand troops in the war. It was a shame to see how the world’s MSM sheepishly accepted these figures, that everyone knew were not accurate in the least. Russian defense minister Sergey Shoigu had put the number of Ukrainian losses at over 600 thousand – and apparently the real numbers may be an order of magnitude greater. A high-ranking Polish general has just gone on the public record saying that Ukrainian losses in its confrontation with the...

DRAMATIC footage shows the moment another Russian warship is blown to pieces in a massive explosion. Footage shows Putin's £35million Sergey Kotov corvette being struck by a kamikaze sea drone near Feodosia, in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian intelligence confirmed the strike and said the ship was entirely destroyed. One of Vladimir Putin’s most modern warships, the 308ft long patrol vessel Sergey Kotov came into service during the war in 2022. The vessel normally has a crew of 80 - and the fate of those on board remains unclear. The strike is a major blow to Putin's crumbling Black Sea fleet as...

The Russian air force lost another Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber on Thursday, the Ukrainian air force claimed. If confirmed, the Thursday shoot-down would extend an unprecedented hot streak for Ukrainian air-defenses. The Ukrainian claim they’ve shot down 11 Russian planes in 11 days: eight Su-34s, two Sukhoi Su-35 fighters and a rare Beriev A-50 radar plane. But those 11 claimed losses are worse than they might seem for the increasingly stressed Russian air force. In theory, the air arm has plenty more planes. In practice, the service is dangerously close to collapse. Exactly how the Ukrainians are shooting down so many...

“Millions” could die in Ukraine’s war with Russia if US lawmakers don’t approve President Joe Biden’s $60 billion aid request for Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Sunday. Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about a claim made by the US Senator J.D. Vance that the outcome of the war would not change even if Ukraine receives the money, Zelensky said he wasn’t sure Vance “understands what is going on here.” “To understand it is to come to the front line to see what’s going on, to speak with the people, then to go to civilians to understand …...

The Ukrainian air force claimed it has shot down 10 Russian warplanes in 10 days: nine of the Russian air force’s best Sukhoi Su-34 and Sukhoi Su-35 fighter-bombers and also a rare Beriev A-50 radar plane. -snip- The Ukrainian defense ministry announced this month’s ninth and tenth shoot-downs—both involving Su-34s—on Tuesday. “Oops, we did it again!” the ministry quipped. “And now it's 10 destroyed Russian planes in 10 days!” How the Ukrainians are shooting down so many jets is unclear. It’s possible the Ukrainian air force has assigned some of its American-made Patriot missile launchers to mobile air-defense groups that...