Free Republic

Oleksandr Usyk has become boxing's undisputed heavyweight champion for a second time after beating Britain's Daniel Dubois at a packed Wembley Stadium. The Ukrainian, 38, knocked Dubois down with a stunning right hook midway through round five, before finishing the job moments later with a devastating left hook to the chin of the 27-year-old. Dubois was bidding to avenge his previous loss to Usyk and become the UK's first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Usyk - who brought a group of Ukrainian war veterans to the fight - came in with the WBO, WBC and WBA belts,...

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Monday to discuss security and sanctions against Russia with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has said he will make a “major statement” regarding Russia on Monday, as he’s set to welcome NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to the White House.

US President Donald Trump says he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, saying they are necessary to defend the country because Russian President Vladimir Putin “talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening.” -snip- “We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,” Trump tells reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington. “We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated...

United States President Donald Trump voiced his displeasure with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he is "very disappointed" with him. "I thought he was somebody who meant what he said, he'll talk so beautifully and then bomb people at night. We don't like that," Trump told reporters on his way back from the FIFA Club World Cup final. When asked by a reporter whether he would be announcing sanctions on Russia tomorrow, Trump gave no direct answer. He announced last week that he would be making a "major statement on Russia" on Monday, without elaborating.

US President Donald Trump has said he will have "a major statement" on Russia on Monday, without going into detail. Trump made the remark in a phone interview with NBC News on Thursday, referring to the situation in Ukraine. The president said, "I'm disappointed in Russia, but we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks." Trump has recently been stepping up his criticism of Russia. He has suggested he would consider additional sanctions against Moscow. Russia's presidential spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday that Moscow is waiting for the statement to understand what exactly President Trump means.

In the battle for Ukraine, the front line is increasingly at a standstill. The reason: rapid innovations in drone technology. From just a few commercial and homemade drones, which the Ukrainians used at the start of the war to locate invading Russian columns, unmanned vehicles now dominate the battlefield. Each side has hundreds of them constantly in the air across the 750-mile front line. Drones can lay mines, deliver everything from ammunition to medication and even evacuate wounded or dead soldiers. Crucially, drones spot any movement along the front line and are dispatched to strike enemy troops and vehicles. ‘Wedding...

Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after a maternity ward was struck by drones in Ukraine. The US president responded to news that drones had damaged a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, as he said: “I know. You'll be seeing things happen.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that among the nine wounded in Kharkiv were women in the hospital - “mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery.” He said: “Russia is targeting life itself – even in the very places where it begins.” It comes ahead of Trump’s “major statement” on Monday for Russia as he grows frustrated...

Speaking on the State TV channel Russia-1, pro-government host Vladimir Solovyov warned that Russia could destroy both US coasts using nuclear-powered Poseidon torpedoes—underwater weapons designed to trigger a “radioactive tsunami.” During the broadcast, Solovyov directly addressed US President Donald Trump: “Will Trump understand that two Poseidons, launched from different sides, could wipe out the US and create a radioactive disaster? That would be the end—nothing will save them.” “No protective element will help them,” Solovyov declared, referring to US missile defense systems. Framing the hypothetical strike as a response to “Western aggression,” he suggested that Washington underestimates Russia’s capabilities and...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he expressed the United States' frustration that more progress has not been made on ending the war in Ukraine in a meeting on Thursday with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. "It was a frank conversation. It was an important one," Rubio said his 50-minute talks with the Russian foreign minister on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Malaysia. He said he expressed to Lavrov what U.S. President Donald Trump has said publicly, "that there's not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict." The envoys'...

The Trump administration has resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, a week after the Pentagon had directed that some deliveries be paused. The weapons now moving into Ukraine include 155 mm munitions and precision-guided rockets known as GMLRS, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been announced publicly.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was not happy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine. "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin," Trump said during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House.

At President Trump's direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops. Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.