Free Republic

One of President Trump’s core objectives heading into negotiations with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin will be to prevent a third invasion of Ukraine, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I am here to tell you that President Trump will end this war in a way to prevent a third invasion and not to entice China to take Taiwan,” Graham (R-SC), who went golfing with Trump on Saturday, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re not out to humiliate Putin, we’re out to get a deal to make sure there’s no third invasion.” -snip- “Militarily, we need to keep Ukraine strong, keep flowing...

A top aide to President Donald Trump on Sunday accused India of effectively financing Russia's war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, after the U.S. leader escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. "What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia," said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House and one of Trump's most influential aides. Miller's criticism was some of the strongest yet by the Trump administration about one of the United States' major partners...

Evil Vladimir Putin suffered a huge blow after Ukraine launched dramatic strikes on the dictator's oil refineries, defence plants, a military airfield, and radar facilities. These huge hits came after Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to move closer to Russia after "provocative" threats of war with the US came from Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev. In a dramatic dawn strike, a huge fireball explosion hit military-linked Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in Samara region with mushroom-shaped flames rising into the sky. -snip- Another key oil refinery in Ryazan - crucial for supplies to capital city Moscow - was also in flames....

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile.… Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one...

Six B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri appear to be en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, according to flight tracking data and voice communications with air traffic control. The bombers apparently refueled after launching from Missouri, suggesting they launched without full fuel tanks due to a heavy onboard payload, which could be bunker-buster bombs. The B-2 can carry two 15-ton bunker-buster bombs—which only the U.S. possesses. Experts say the bombs could be critical to targeting Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear site: Fordow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Alexander Khinshtein acting governor of southern Kursk region on Thursday, saying "crisis management" was needed in the area, which has been partly occupied by Ukrainian forces since August. Putin was shown in a clip posted on the Kremlin website offering the post to Khinshtein, a journalist and veteran member of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. "I would like to offer you the position of acting governor of Kursk region, as at this time crisis management is needed there, in view of the situation occurring there," Putin told Khinstein.

Russia has seen a huge spike in butter theft as inflation and Western sanctions send Moscow's economy into crisis. The BBC's Russia Editor, Steve Rosenberg, highlighted reports in Russian media outlining how "people are stealing butter because of high prices." He added: "Some shops have decided to sell packs of butter in security boxes to reduce theft." -snip- Meanwhile, the government newspaper in Moscow warns that interest rates could go up again despite the Russian Central Bank's already-record hike to 21%. The paper warns they could rise to 23% in December.

Kyiv’s Security Service salvaged the remains of the new hypersonic ballistic missile Russia fired at central Ukraine as it warned that Moscow would transform Ukraine into a “testing ground” for its bombs. Charred fragments of the new Oreshnik missile were put on display for reporters on Sunday following its use last week against a military site in Dnipro. The Oreshnik, Russian for hazel tree, appears to be based on Moscow’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile and is capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads. Several destroyed components of the rocket were recovered from the blast, including mangled wires and...

A half-dozen U.S. ballistic missiles, fired by Ukraine, slammed into an ammunition depot some 75 miles across the Russian border early Tuesday, setting off further detonations that turned the sky red. The following morning, 10 British-provided cruise missiles pounded the vicinity of a Kremlin-run sanatorium that was apparently used as a military headquarters, smashing one after another in the town of Marino, located in Russia’s Kursk region about 20 miles from the front line there. These two strikes, the first Kyiv launched with Western-supplied missiles after receiving authorization from the U.S. and allies, show the range of military targets now...

Vladimir Putin has mysteriously disappeared from public view as his regime issued apocalyptic World War Three nuclear threats over the use of long-range Western missiles by Ukraine against Russian territory. It is unclear if during the past 12 days of high international tension the Kremlin dictator has been holed up in a hi-tech bunker, unwell, underwent another round of plastic surgery, took a secret holiday or simply chose to remain out of sight. Yet Putin, 72, has not been definitively seen since an appearance at the Valdai Forum in Sochi on November 7 when he congratulated a "courageous" Donald Trump...