Free Republic

Vladimir Putin is facing an economic crisis on multiple fronts as the rouble collapses and inflation soars. The head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, looks set to compound Moscow's economic misery further as she warns that inflation is continuing to rise. She warned on Wednesday that interest rates may have to be hiked further but added that the decision is “not predetermined.” Ms Nabiullina said: “We have indicated that the Central Bank is open to the possibility of raising the rate, but I want to emphasise that this is not predetermined. "Yes, there is a new pro-inflationary factor,...

Fierce fighting has raged in the region over the past week, claiming the lives of hundreds of Russian soldiers. Ukrainian forces wiped put a Russian assault group trying to cross a river in Kursk in a brutal attack. -snip- Putin's army sustained heavy losses after attempting to storm the river Psel on Monday. The attack ended in unmitigated disaster for the Russians, as the unit was wiped out during a ferocious artillery barrage. Images shot by a Ukrainian drone show Russian soldiers crossing the river in rubber dinghies. As they reach the shore, they have no time to dig in...

North Korea has confirmed that dictator Kim Jong Un “gave the order” to bail out Vladimir Putin by sending North Korean troops to fight in Putin’s “holy war” against Ukraine. The troop deal was confirmed at a meeting between North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui and the Kremlin’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. More than 10,000 North Korean troops are reported to be deployed to Russia, with some already in the area of operations. The Pyongyang envoy said: “From the very beginning of the special military operation, respected comrade Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong Un gave the...

Tucker Carlson bashed Russian President Vladimir Putin's justification for invading Ukraine, claiming that the "denazification" of the country was "one of the dumbest things I'd ever heard." -snip- Carlson also described his first impression of Putin as someone who "seemed nervous," telling Fridman that the Russian president "went into [the interview] like an over-prepared student." Fridman specifically asked Carlson for his opinion on Putin's justification for continuing the war in Ukraine, which in part is to achieve the "denazification" of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, has repeatedly dismissed the Kremlin's claims that Kyiv's government is openly...

Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine — Ukraine's ammunition starved troops pulled back from two more villages in the country's war-torn east this week, ceding them to Russian forces who've capitalized on their enemies' shortages to seize more territory after taking the hard-fought city of Avdiivka about two weeks ago. After punishing battles that decimated Bakhmut and then Avdiivka — cities that stood as symbols of Ukrainian resistance for months, even years, but ultimately fell to Russian firepower — Russia's forces have turned their sites and their guns on the nearby city of Chasiv Yar.

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...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then...