Free Republic

Ukraine is increasingly worried about securing more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, as stockpiles sent during the Biden administration are drying up and the new administration is resistant to sending more, according to six Ukrainian and Western officials. While Russia bombards Ukraine with drones and cruise missiles, it is the ballistic missiles that are the most feared, and they can be reliably countered only by Patriot missiles. Ballistic missiles travel several miles per second, and they obliterated half of Ukraine’s power capacity in strikes on power plants. Their speed and size, plus the fact that they are difficult to intercept,...

Ukrainian forces struck multiple Russian airfields and military facilities overnight on June 6, hours before Russia launched one of its heaviest aerial assaults of the war, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported. Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted Engels and Dyagilevo airfields — two key hubs for Russia's long-range bomber fleet, as well as logistics sites in Russia's Kursk Oblast. -snip- Engels-2 air base, located in Saratov Oblast, nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine's front lines, hosts Russia's Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 bombers — aircraft regularly used in missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine's General Staff said a strike...

Ukraine has deployed an AI-powered turret that has already shot down at least six of Russia's devastating Shahed drones, a military officer told Business Insider. Yuriy, the commander of Ukraine's air defense group, told BI last week that the system, called the Sky Sentinel, has "already been deployed in real combat, demonstrating high effectiveness." He said one prototype shot down six Shaheds in as many operational uses. This appears to be the first confirmation that one of the Sky Sentinels had downed up to six exploding drones. Ukraine previously said that the turret had been successfully tested, including on the...

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday in an Oval Office news conference. “They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.” “And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday,”“I said, ‘President, maybe you have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering, before you pull them apart, before they’re able to be pulled apart.’” Merz had come to Washington...

“ The strike on Russian airfields was a tactical victory for Ukraine, but a strategic failure - at least in the eyes of the closest circle of the American leader Donald Trump. The rhetoric has changed dramatically. Kiev is no longer an ally, but a potential threat to global security. One of those who is sure that Kiev screwed up and at the same time exposed not only itself, is retired US Air Force General Blaine Holt. On the air of the Newsmax TV channel, he stressed that the attack of Ukrainian drones on airfields in Russia had affected a...