Free Republic

This war is one that Russia cannot win in any meaningful sense. Putin's foreign military successes around the world after 2008 were all achieved by using small units of elite forces, mercenaries and local militia groups alongside Russian air power. This gave Moscow considerable leverage at low cost during interventions in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, Libya, Mali and twice in Ukraine during 2014, first in illegally annexing Crimea and then in creating self-declared Russian statelets in Luhansk and Donetsk. In every case, Russia moved swiftly and ruthlessly in ways the western world was unable to counter except through graduated sanctions regimes...

VLADIMIR Putin was noted to be looking "puffy" and struggling to move "like he used to" in a rare outing to mark Victory Day in Moscow. Vladimir Putin has sparked speculation about his health after political analysis began to notice changes in his appearance since he resumed public duty following the Coronavirus pandemic. Russia's leader effectively disappeared from the public eye during the health crisis and only recently began to be pictured once again surrounded by his aides, albeit keeping them at a distance. Lord Dannatt noted Putin appeared rather "puffy" and struggling to move "freely" as he walked around...

Incredible footage captures the moment two Ukrainian fighter jets bombed the Russian-occupied Snake Island. Footage released on Saturday shows Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flankers striking facilities during a high speed bombing of Snake Island, which was seized by Russian forces earlier this year. A Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 drone captured two Su-27s flying low over the island from the south, before dropping multiple bombs and infrared countermeasure flares, TheDrive.com reported. The southern approach to the island was a strategic measure from Ukrainian forces because Russian defenders on the island would most likely be focused on looking north and west toward the...

Terrifying video footage captured the moment the Ukrainian Bayraktar-TB2 drone annihilated the Russian Mi-8 transport helicopter on Snake Island. In the chilling black and white footage, human figures can be seen leaving the helicopter moments before it was blown up. The video was published by the Operational Command South. They said: "We cannot stop doing this. "We are driving the enemy out of every piece of our land, even from a small island, from the sea, and even from the air." Meanwhile, another Ukrainian drone took out a Russian landing ship near Snake Island which had been supplying Vladimir Putin's...

Vladimir Putin suffered another grievous blow ahead of his Victory Day military extravaganza in Moscow tomorrow with the death of his 39th colonel in his bloody war in Ukraine. Lt-Col Fezul Bichikaev, 36, was a high-flying elite soldier who died on a secret intelligence mission. The father-of-three is being portrayed as a hero who was killed near Kharkiv 'with a machine gun in his hands covering his subordinates', according to reports in Russia. A radio signal announced 'the commander is wounded' after a bullet pierced an artery, but he reportedly ordered his men: 'It's a scratch! Keep working! Work!' 'Thanks...

MAD VLAD's so-called "victory over Ukraine parade" is set to be a sorry sight after the Russian tyrant is forced to scale it down by a THIRD, figures show. The Russian president - who is rumoured to be "Cancer stricken" - will face public humiliation as he rolls out his massively depleted military stock on May 9 following horrendous losses in Ukraine. The parade - held every year to commemorate the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II - has been used by Russian leaders to flaunt their strength and demonstrate Russia’s military prowess. But this year the show...

A prominent Russian state TV host has warned that opponents of Russia's war in Ukraine will face harsh punishments including 'concentration camps and sterilisation'. Karen Shakhnazarov, a pro-Putin filmmaker, said any 'opponents to the letter Z' - the symbol of Russia's invasion - will face 'no mercy'. 'The opponents of the letter Z must understand that if they are counting on mercy, no, there will be no mercy for them,' Shakhnazarov, who leads the state-backed Mosfilm film studio, said on the state-owned Russian television channel Russia 1. 'It's all become very serious. In this case, it means concentration camps, re-education...

Russia has stepped up its propaganda war against Sweden by producing bus stop advertisements accusing the peaceful Scandinavian nation of being Nazis. The hybrid warfare strategy comes as Sweden prepares for NATO accession, abandoning decades of neutrality in light of Moscow's military aggression towards Ukraine. The provocation comes hot on the heels of Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's incendiary comments that 'Hitler had Jewish blood', which drew demands for an apology from Israel. The campaign has seen adverts pop up in Russia depicting various Swedish national heroes as Nazis with the slogan: 'We are against Nazism, they are not.' The...