Free Republic

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed and wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The epic nature of the battle is out of all proportion to Bakhmut's strategic significance, they add. But after more than six months of grinding, horrific fighting, the future of Bakhmut still hangs in the balance. Since the fighting began, some 90% of its pre-invasion population has fled.

DEFENCE AND SECURITY, ECONOMY, MEDIA, POLITICS, WORLD Ukraine: Is it almost over? By Scott Burchill Mar 1, 2023 Joint press conference President Biden and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy December 21, 2022 Despite celebrating 12 months of surviving the Russian onslaught, promises of more money and military equipment (including tanks) from the West, and a chorus of support for the courage and resilience of the people, the war appears almost over for Ukraine. There are four reasons for thinking this. First, as the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal explains, public rhetoric [about Ukraine’s heroic resistance] masks deepening private doubts among politicians in the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an unusual New Year’s address to his people on Saturday pledging victory against the “neo-Nazis” of the West who are intent on “destroying Russia.”Putin kicked off his 9-minute speech by noting that the year 2022 “put a lot of things in their place – clearly separating courage and heroism from betrayal and cowardice.”“It was a year of difficult, necessary decisions, the most important steps toward gaining full sovereignty of Russia and powerful consolidation of our society,” the he said in regards to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.(Add Closed Captions and Auto-translate to English in Settings tab)“For...

"Danny Haiphong: For the last several weeks there has been this intense battle in the city of Bahkmut and the western mainstream media has been kind of sounding the alarm a bit. You've had places like the Guardian, the New York Times talk about how Ukraine has been using artillery and all kinds of weapons at alarming rates to the point where it seems like they are admitting that Ukraine is outgunned here. What is your assessment of the situation right now on the ground in Bahkmut and going forward as we enter this winter phase of this proxy war...

In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law No. 7172-1 that will ban opposition parties and seize their property. The law targets opposition parties if they deny the armed aggression against Ukraine.The law includes actions that support the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus, the two invading countries.The news was first published on the Ukrainian news website UKRinform. This news was reported the same day US GOP Senators paid him a visit in Kyiv to show their support.Zelenskyy also closed all of the TV stations and consolidated them into one state-run channel.“Ukraine has had to take extraordinary measures to...

Great interview by an excellent military historian.

Western mainstream press previously lauded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a guardian of democracy. However, as ex-Donald Trump adviser Steve Cortes observes in his Newsweek op-ed, its tone is changing. The Zelensky narrative used by western media "has palpably shifted" over the last few weeks, according to Steve Cortes, a US political consultant, market strategist and former Trump campaign adviser.This shift particularly comes in relation to the latest CBS News report which alleged that "much of the billions of dollars of military aid that the US is sending to Ukraine doesn't make it to the front lines." Cortes also cites...

Welcome to my newest update on Putin’s War in Ukraine. We are now 36 weeks — 254 days — since Russia launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine. My last update can be found at Putin’s War, Week 35. The Lull Before the Next Storm. There has been some action, but the crappy weather has slowed things down. Also, both sides are somewhat tired after a punishing summer’s campaigning. I look at this period as the break when the fighters have returned to their corners. Two significant items have been covered outside this update. First, the Pentagon is beefing up the...