Free Republic

The Biden administration on Tuesday formally accused Russia of violating the New START arms treaty over what it said was Moscow‘s failure to allow inspections of weapons sites or agree to meetings on treaty disputes. President Biden agreed to extend the New START treaty — one of the last major arms control treaties still in force — for five years shortly after taking office in January 2021 — without seeking changes or concessions from the Kremlin related to its strategic forces buildup. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine barely a year later has put bilateral relations in a...

Ukrainian forces surprised occupying Russians with a one-two punch Thursday, pushing deep into enemy territory to open a second front in Kyiv’s counterattack. Ukrainian authorities announced the liberation of 20 villages in the northeast, outside Kharkiv, as the military pushed for the occupied city of Izyum — all while continuing a fierce fight for Kherson in the south. Oleksiy Hromov, a deputy chief with the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, said Thursday that his nation’s forces — pushing toward the Donbas from Kharkiv — had penetrated more than 30 miles beyond Russia’s defensive line. “Since the beginning...

Russia has been playing this game for months and now it seems to have reached its inevitable outcome. The gas supply flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been completely shut off. Russia claimed this week that it was shutting the gas supply off temporarily in order to do maintenance on the line. Then it claimed it had discovered a problem which prevented it from resuming the supply. No one is being fooled by any of this anymore. Even the German company that built the machines used to pump gas through the pipeline has said Russia’s explanation makes no...

In the letter sent Monday, Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Robert Portman, R-Ohio, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged the Pentagon to increase the speed at which it was deploying the defensive aid agreed to in May under the $20 billion "Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations" package. "While the medium- and long-range air defense capabilities and HIMARS included in the June 27, 2022, and July 8, 2022 aid packages are a good start, these systems must be delivered at a pace and in quantity sufficient to impact the outcome of the fighting in the Donbas, Kherson and...

A negotiated end to the war in Ukraine is imperative, and the sooner the better. However, it will require Ukraine to make certain concessions to the warmongers who invaded their country. Doing so will be a bitter pill for Ukraine to swallow. These concessions are mostly symbolic. It will be distasteful, and morally unsatisfying. But prolonging the war in the hope of a decisive victory over Russia is a strategy fraught with peril and has few if any benefits. There is no guarantee Ukraine can defeat Russia, and losing on the battlefield will undermine Ukraine’s position. Plus, victory promises scant...

Any country trying to intervene in the Ukraine war will face a "lightning-fast" response, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned. "We have all the tools no-one can boast of... we will use them if necessary", he said, in what is seen as a reference to ballistic missiles and nuclear arms. Ukraine's allies have stepped up the supply of weapons, with the US vowing to make sure Ukraine defeats Russia. Western officials say Russia is being hampered in its efforts in the east. Last week, Russia launched a major offensive to seize the Donbas region after withdrawing from areas around the...

Many commentators have suggested that the greatest threat to the authoritarian regime in Russia would be a Ukraine that successfully navigated the difficult passage to economic development and political freedom, but apparently even Ukraine’s moves in that direction are a problem for the Kremlin. That is because, as the SerpomPo telegram channel put it, the chief reaction of Russians to the debates between the two Ukrainian presidential candidates is envy, envy that each of those who watched as many Russians did could decide for himself or herself who won and how they would if they could vote, something not possible...

This document contains an update on the work of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (FFM) regarding the alleged use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Douma, the Syrian Arab Republic, on 7 April 2018. The work of the FFM was conducted in accordance with preambular paragraph 8 and operative paragraphs 5 and 6 of decision EC-M-48/DEC.1 (dated 4 February 2015) and other relevant decisions of the OPCW Executive Council (hereinafter “the Council”), as well as under the Director-General’s authority to seek to uphold at all times the object and purpose of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as reinforced by...

Violent Russian thugs who attacked Liverpool fans in Ukraine have issued a stark warning to England supporters planning to attend the World Cup. Trouble Company, a notorious hooligan group, said fans traveling abroad will face 'hell' during the 2018 competition. The group's followers have released a string of messages on social media claiming responsibility for the violence in Kiev, which saw Brits hospitalised.