Free Republic

Russia has been burning through equipment, ammunition and weaponry at rates that have raised questions about how effectively and for how long it can continue to prosecute its war against Ukraine. The challenge of sustaining the military effort isn’t unique to Russia, which after making significant territorial gains early in the war has been yielding territory back to Ukraine in phases. Both sides have suffered heavy losses of men and materiel since the invasion began in February, but Moscow is more dependent on its own shrinking economy to replenish supplies than Kyiv is. Ukraine’s economy has been more devastated than...

Zelenskyy virtually addressed world leaders at the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday. He told them that Russia's war must end, and proposed a 10-step peace plan. The plan includes ensuring nuclear and food safety, and an "all for all" prisoner swap. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday laid out a 10-point peace plan for peace, which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and an "all for all" prisoner swap. Speaking in a virtual address at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, Zelenskyy said the war should be ended "justly and on the basis of the UN Charter...

A RUSSIAN commander closely involved in Vladimir Putin's war effort has been found shot dead at his office. Colonel Vadim Boyko, 44, who had been involved in the mobilisation campaign, reportedly had “multiple bullet wounds”. Colonel Vadim Boyko was found with 'multiple bullet wounds' He was deputy head of the prestigious Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School in Vladivostok. It was reported he came to work, entered his office, and soon afterwards five shots were heard. Another officer heard the shots and then rushed to find Boyko - only to find his corpse. Russian reporting initially said it was "suicide" -...

Russian troops destroyed a key Ukrainian dam before fleeing Kherson dressed as civilians in the latest humiliation for deranged despot Vladimir Putin. Incredible footage showed the moment the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River was blown up by retreating Russian soldiers. Alleged war criminal President Putin has suffered 'significant reputational damage' because of the retreat, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. Putin's army was caught on CCTV blowing up the hydroelectric dam before another explosion erupted along the power lines from the dam. The video will be seen as evidence of deliberate destruction by the Russians as they...

Russia said Friday it had completed its withdrawal of forces from the southern city of Kherson, two days after Moscow said it had made the "difficult decision" to pull back amid Ukrainian advances. "Today at 5 o'clock in the morning Moscow time, the transfer of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnipro River was completed," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram. “There was no loss of personnel, weapons and military equipment,” the ministry said, adding civilians “were assisted in the evacuation.” Following the withdrawal, the Kremlin said that the city of Kherson was still...

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. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers 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 the...

Russia removed a top military commander in Ukraine following criticism from some of President Vladimir Putin’s top allies over the officer’s responsibility for a recent chaotic retreat in the country’s northeast that underscored Russian weaknesses on the battlefield. Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, responsible for the Central Military District, Russia’s largest, was the last of Russia’s regional commanders still in place amid Moscow’s faltering invasion. It was unclear whether he had been suspended or removed from his post. Gen. Lapin was the top Russian commander for a part of Ukraine’s northeast that Kyiv’s forces retook in a lightning offensive in September....

On 9 February 2017, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, a member of the Expedition 50 crew, captured a winter landscape image from the International Space Station. It was of the Dnipro River. The photograph showed a great, coursing white snake that reminded Pesquet of a Japanese ‘Hokusai painting’. The white was ice and it explains why Russian forces on the Dnipro right bank now face a ‘difficult situation’, as described by General Sergei Surovikin, the recently appointed operational commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. In winter the Dnipro freezes over, usually after a 20-day spell of sub-zero temperatures. A...

Vladimir Putin is set to deploy special units to shoot his own military if they retreat from the war in Ukraine, UK government defence chiefs said on Friday. Britain's Ministry of Defence said that Russia will deploy so-called 'blocking units' which 'threaten to shoot their own retreating soldiers in order to compel offensives'. With low morale at a peak among Russian soldiers, Putin is turning on his own men. 'Due to low morale and reluctance to fight, Russian forces have probably started deploying 'barrier troops' or 'blocking units',' the Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Friday. 'These...

A more nuanced discussion of the false flag operation that the Americans are planning in Ukraine involving a dirty bomb.

Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine will be studied for centuries by military historians — as a master class in how not to fight. His latest tactic — bombing Ukrainian cities — is yet another desperate and despicable gambit that is likely to backfire.