Free Republic

The EU has warned Donald Trump it is ready to retaliate against “hurtful” tariffs as the US president kick-started a global trade war. European leaders including Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, warned that the EU had “its own courses of action” after the new president said the bloc had treated the US “terribly” and would be next in line for tariffs after Canada, China and Mexico. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer is set to be the UK’s first Prime Minister to attend an EU summit since Brexit, when he travels to Brussels on Monday as part of a “reset”...

Volodymyr Zelensky has piled pressure on Britain to allow missile strikes deep inside Russia as he claimed his army’s cross-border attack could oust Vladimir Putin.By Monday evening, Ukrainian forces were in control of around 1,000 square kilometres of Kursk, a border region in southern Russia, according to Kyiv’s top general.The stunning cross-border attack marks the first foreign invasion of Russian soil since the Second World War.Mr Zelensky said that the “Kursk disaster” 24 years ago, in which 118 Russian sailors died in a submarine accident, marked the start of Putin’s rule.“And now it is clear this is the end for...

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky conceded on Wednesday that the US elections, which Donald Trump is favourite to win, poses a “challenge” to Ukraine. Ukraine has flown its first combat missions with an F-16 after the American-made fighter jets’ long-awaited arrival. The Telegraph understands the modern warplanes have only been used in an “air defence” capacity so far. A Ukrainian air force official did not deny this. A report by the Bloomberg news wire first revealed that a small, but unspecified, number of F-16s had been delivered to Kyiv.

The update by the Ministry of Defence added that the heavy losses would likely continue as Russia looked to make gains across the front lines in Ukraine. “The average daily Russian casualties (killed and wounded) in Ukraine, throughout May and June 2024, increased to conflict highs of 1,262 and 1,163 respectively,” the MoD wrote.

All along the 600-mile frontline, the Kremlin’s invasion forces are exploiting Ukrainian exhaustion and a six-month delay in American military aid. A shock offensive in the Kharkiv region has seen Putin’s troops cross the border for the first time since the 2022 invasion. Villages in the Zaporizhzhya region have been wiped off the map as Russia tries to reverse the gains of Ukraine’s 2023 counter-offensive. But the central Russian effort is focused on Donetsk region, where they are now on the outskirts of the hill-top town of Chasiv Yar. If they capture it, they will be in striking distance of...

Drone footage shows tank taking multiple hits before it smashes into a tree, forcing crew to flee A Russian T-90M comes under intense fire from the 25mm cannon of a Ukrainian operated American M2A2 Bradley Source: OSINTtechnical via X VIDEO AT LINK................. Better video than yesterday's ground view...............

The capture marks the first time since Russia’s invasion in February last year that Ukraine’s forces have been able to retake land seized in the initial Donbas invasion eight years prior. Ukrainian troops were said to have liberated the lands last week, but news of the victory has been kept secret until now for tactical reasons.

Russia is welding ageing naval turrets onto old armoured vehicles to make crude tanks as Vladimir Putin’s forces face worsening arms shortages. The crudely engineered vehicles are being deployed in a likely attempt to shoot down Ukrainian drones as the armed forces grapple with crippling shortages of fighting machines and ammunition. (snip) New footage from an undisclosed location appears to show a 25mm 2M-3 twin-barrelled naval anti-aircraft turret fitted to a Soviet-era MT-LB amphibious fighting vehicle to form a new hybrid weapon. The amalgamation, which was constructed with parts manufactured as early as 1945, could be seen being transported by...

The West is poised to send nearly 200 battle tanks to Ukraine in a potential hammer blow that could help Kyiv win its war against Vladimir Putin...It brought the total number of tanks Kyiv can expect to have at its disposal to nearly 200, with potential for more...Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said the new tank deliveries "would bring nothing good to the future relations".