Free Republic

For Ukraine’s Independence Day celebration, Volodymyr Zelensky brought some real fireworks right to the heart of Russia’s occupation. Officials in Kyiv announced this morning that they have landed forces on the western shores of Crimea, raised the Ukranian flag, and have engaged and destroyed Russian forces near two settlements.No word yet from Russia, but this would be bad news indeed for Vladimir Putin if this beachhead succeeds. If it is a beachhead, that is:Special forces landed on the western shore of Crimea, near the settlements of Olenivka and Mayak, in a joint operation with the country’s Navy, according to Ukrainian...

A Russian pilot has defected to Ukraine with a Mi-8 helicopter, Ukraine's intelligence service said. The military-intelligence agency said it was part of a six-month-long secret plot. The helicopter's other crew members, who were unaware of the plan, were "eliminated," the agency said. A Russian helicopter pilot landed on a Ukrainian air base in what Ukrainian officials claimed was a planned defection. The pilot landed a Russian Mi-8 AMTSh at the Poltava military air base in Kharkiv on Wednesday, taking the staff by surprise, the Kyiv Post reported. Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's directorate of military intelligence, told local...

Ukrainian forces have carried out their most complex and ambitious operations to date against Russian military facilities in the occupied region of Crimea, officials in Kyiv have said. Special forces landed on the western shore of Crimea, near the settlements of Olenivka and Mayak, in a joint operation with the country’s Navy, according to Ukrainian Defense Intelligence. “While performing the task, Ukrainian defenders clashed with the occupier’s units. As a result, the enemy suffered losses among its personnel and destroyed enemy equipment,” the intelligence agency said. While they were there, the Ukrainian unit also raised the national flag, it added.

First, Nato-trained brigades of Western tanks would cross no-man’s land and clear a path through the minefields to the main Russian defences.A second corps would leapfrog through the first to punch a hole through the “Surovikin line” – the three-layered system of trenches, tank traps and strong-points Russia has built to protect its precious “land bridge” to Crimea.Then a third echelon – using British Challenger tanks and US Stryker fighting vehicles – would exploit the breakthrough, chasing collapsing Russian troops across the Pontic steppe all the way to the Azov Sea.At least, that was the idea.In reality, Ukraine’s counter offensive...