Free Republic

Putin is amassing nuclear weapons and attack submarines in the Arctic Circle as his country prepares for war with NATO, Norway has said. Norway's Defence Minister Tore Sandvik claimed his country had found Russia had been increasing its military presence in the Arctic, particularly in the Kola peninsula. The politician also said Vladimir Putin had been attempting to take over the Arctic region where its fleet is based to block shipping routes to Nato allies if war broke out. 'Russia is building up on the Kola peninsula... where one of the largest arsenals of nuclear warheads in the world is...

President Trump no longer plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a second in-person summit “in the immediate future” after Russia rejected his demand to stop the war in Ukraine along the current battle lines. The White House announcement followed a Monday call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which a source familiar with the conversation said demonstrated the Kremlin’s unwillingness to commit to Trump’s strategy for peace. -snip- Trump exhorted both sides to lay down their arms following the third White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Trump returned to...

0:12 Mr. President, excellencies, 0:17 this Emergency Security Council meeting 0:19 has been called because a mere mere week 0:23 after Russia sent drones into Poland, 0:27 three Russian MiG31 fighter jets with 0:30 their transponders off, entered Estonian 0:33 airspace without authorization and 0:36 lingered for 12 minutes. On the same 0:39 day, two Russian fighter jets violated 0:42 the security zone over the Polish 0:44 drilling platform in our economic zone 0:47 in the Baltic Sea. 0:49 If these were accidents, why not 0:52 immediately acknowledge them and 0:54 apologize? 0:56 We have given Russia a pass in...

A rare £44 million Russian naval ship has suffered significant damage after being attacked by Ukrainian special forces in the Black Sea, it is claimed. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said the vessel has been “put out of action for expensive repairs” after crucial electronic systems were destroyed in the drone strike. Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said the attack happened near Novorossiysk where Russia’s depleted Black Sea Fleet is now based. The 240ft MPSV07 was reportedly carrying out patrols and electronic reconnaissance near the entrance to the port when it was struck by a Ukrainian-made combat drone. Footage released by...

Kyiv will not give up land that Moscow troops aren’t occupying as part of any peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands. Speaking ahead of his meeting with President Trump on Monday, Zelensky told reporters in Brussels that while Kyiv would be open to “land swaps” in exchange for peace, Putin’s demands to cede the entirety of the Donetsk region — including parts under Ukrainian control — is off the table. “We need real negotiations, which means they can start where the front line is now,” Zelensky said. “The contact line is...

Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Sunday that it would be “impossible” for Kyiv to cede territory to Russia and reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire.Speaking from the European Commission headquarters in Brussels ahead of his planned sit-down with President Donald Trump in the United States on Monday, Zelensky appeared set to maintain his maximalist position towards the war with Russia, and seemingly shoot down officially recognising Moscow’s territorial gains in exchange for a peace agreement.“Putin has many demands, but we do not know all of them. And if there are really as many as we heard, then it will...

Vladimir Putin has pulled back the curtain on what has been described as the ‘largest and most secret’ drone factory ahead of a joint naval drill with Iran. Footage – a blend of Cold War secrecy and TikTok-era propaganda – offers a rare glimpse of the Yelabuga production facility in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. Recorded by Zvezda, the Russian defence ministry’s TV channel, it shows the star of Putin’s war in Ukraine – the ‘Geran-2’ drones. This is the Kremlin’s locally branded version of Iranian-designed Shahed 136. -snip- Above the entrance to the factory, a giant screen read, ‘Kurchatov,...

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch and German intelligence agencies have gathered evidence of widespread Russian use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, including dropping a choking agent from drones to drive soldiers out of trenches so they can be shot, they said on Friday. Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans called for tougher sanctions against Moscow. "The main conclusion is that we can confirm Russia is intensifying its use of chemical weapons," he told Reuters. "This intensification is concerning because it is part of a trend we have been observing for several years now, where Russia's use of chemical weapons in...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to see the war between Ukraine and Russia come to a close following their meeting at the NATO Summit. Trump was asked about the meeting during his press conference at the summit in the Hague, Netherlands. “He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’d like to see an end to this, I do. What I took from the meeting — couldn’t have been nicer, actually — but I took from the meeting he’d like to see it end,” Trump said. “I think it’s a great time to end it....