Free Republic

Ukraine’s war prospects have grown notably bleaker in recent weeks, with Kyiv overwhelmed by Russian air power and facing an acute cash crunch, a swirl of corruption allegations, new internal political divisions and growing exhaustion among its international supporters — even as the Trump administration is now pushing to revive long-stalled peace negotiations. Amid the constant Russian drone and missile attacks, two shortfalls are raising the greatest alarm: a lack of air defense interceptors and an unexpected $27 billion budget gap that Ukrainian officials say must be filled by year’s end. President Donald Trump on Sunday added new pressure, urging...

Russian forces unleashed a devastating overnight assault on Ukraine, hitting military-industrial sites, energy infrastructure, and UAV launch areas with precision strikes. Over 1,100 Ukrainian troops were killed in just 24 hours, alongside dozens of armoured vehicles, artillery pieces, and electronic warfare systems. From Sumy to Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia, Russian battlegroups advanced relentlessly, crumbling defensive lines and crippling logistics. Air defences were overwhelmed, morale is under siege, and Kyiv’s ability to resist is being systematically dismantled as Russia claims victory after victory.

Victoria Nuland: "With this money, Ukraine will be able to accelerate the asymmetric warfare that has been most effective on the battlefield. As I said in Kiev three weeks ago, this supplemental funding will ensure Putin faces some nasty surprises on the battlefield this year."

A Ukrainian “coup” in 2015 that ousted the country’s pro-Moscow president put Russian and Ukraine on the path to war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a much-touted interview with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson released Thursday. The Russian president in the two-hour interview also said peace talks with Ukraine early in the conflict had been “almost finalized” in 2022 before the U.S. and its European allies blocked further progress. ... Peace negotiations were “almost finalized after we withdrew our troops from Kyiv, but then the other side threw away all the agreement and obeyed the instructions of European countries and...