Free Republic

Summons delivered to eligible men at midnight. Schoolteachers pressed into handing out draft notices. Men given an hour to pack their things and appear at draft centres. Women sobbing as they sent their husbands and sons off to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The first full day of Russia’s first mobilisation since the second world war produced emotional showdowns at draft centres and even signs of protest, while it appears Russia could be considering far more than the 300,000 new conscripts claimed by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu. One woman in a small village in the Zakamensky region of...

Russian leader seems keen to curry favour with Chinese president as battlefield setbacks and sanctions bite Vladimir Putin has told Xi Jinping that he understands China’s “questions and concerns” about the war in Ukraine, in a rare nod to tensions between the two states caused by the Russian invasion. The remarks came as Xi and Putin met on Thursday for the first time since the war began, at a summit in Uzbekistan where the Russian president was expected to court the Chinese leader personally as an ally in his conflict with the west. invasion that drew the most attention. In...

Ed Arnold, former British Army Officer and Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute has more on the situation in Ukraine. He said the battle is "effectively over" in Kharkiv and that Ukraine has won the fight in the city.The UK Ministry of Defence has said that Russia has "lost a third of their forces deployed in Ukraine" and is "unlikely to accelerate their rate of advance in the next 30 days."Their latest statement came as Russia's offensive in Donbas "lost momentum" and has "fallen significantly behind schedule."