Free Republic

An upcoming 60 Minutes investigation into the drone sightings that took place toward the end of 2024 promises to reveal more about the government's knowledge and response to the still largely-unexplained phenomena. In a preview for the special, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker speaks with Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, inquiring about the intelligence community's thoughts on the mysterious sightings and whether these could have been an attempt at espionage by a foreign power. "I am privy to classified briefings at the highest level," Wicker said. "I think the Pentagon and the National Security...

Russia is reportedly assembling a battalion of North Korean nationals to help push Ukraine's forces out of Kursk. -snip- In an apparent effort to remedy its waning forces, the North Korean soldiers will form a "special Buryat battalion," named after the Mongolic ethnic group, indigenous to the region spanning Siberia as well as northern Mongolia and China. -snip- The battalion is anticipated to comprise up to 3,000 North Korean soldiers and is currently being equipped with small arms and ammunition. This North Korean unit will complement the Buryat presence in the Russian army, currently one of the most overrepresented groups...

Russian firefighters are battling a three-day inferno in the southwest of the country, after a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil storage depot ignited the facility's diesel reserves. On Saturday Rostov Oblast Governor Vasily Golubev said that Russian air defense forces had repelled an attack by a Ukrainian UAV in the town of Proletarsk, located around 150 miles from the Ukrainian border. A day later, however, Golubev said that fallen debris from the UAV had landed on the industrial warehouses at the Proletarsk state reserve fuel facility, igniting a fire which Russian authorities have since struggled to contain. Golubev also...

North Korea's supreme leader has reiterated his country's support for Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and expressed his intention to foster closer ties between the two regimes. "I express firm belief that the strong and brave Russian people will firmly defend the sovereign right and security interests of the state and surely win victory in the sacred war for regional peace and international justice," Kim Jong Un said on Thursday, according state news agency KNCA.

Ukraine has offered to help Russians evacuating from the country's embattled border regions, which have been embroiled in armed hostilities since Kyiv's surprise incursion onto Russian soil began last week. In a Telegram post on Wednesday evening, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said: "Due to the possible deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the adjacent territories of the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, Ukraine must be ready to receive Russian refugees." Vereshchuk, who also serves as minister of reintegration for the areas under Russian occupation, announced that her ministry had opened a "24-hour hotline" for residents of Kursk...