Free Republic

The news of municipal deputies from Russian districts signing a petition demanding Putin resigns was shared by Ksenia Torstrem, a member of the St. Petersburg municipality Semenovsky, who published the statement on Twitter. She urged other municipal deputies to join the statement. “We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President V. V. Putin are detrimental to the future of Russia and its citizens.” “We demand Vladimir Putin’s resignation as President of the Russian Federation!” reads the text of the petition, signed by about 20 deputies.

Ukrainian forces were charging through an expanding area of previously Russian-held territory in the east on Friday after bursting through the frontline in a surprise breakthrough that could mark a major turning point in the war. After keeping silent for a day, Moscow effectively acknowledged that a section of its frontline had crumbled southeast of Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv. "The very fact of a breach of our defences is already a substantial victory for the Ukrainian armed forces," the head of the Moscow-installed administration for occupied areas in Kharkiv province, Vitaly Ganchev, said on Russian state TV.

Russia has given up on rebuilding bridges destroyed by Ukraine in the Kherson counteroffensive, a Kremlin-installed leader of the occupied southern region said on Tuesday. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed military-civilian regional administration, told Russian state-owned news agency Tass that it does not make sense for Russia to restore the Antonovsky Bridge, which has been targeted for weeks by Ukraine. "So far, no one is restoring the Antonovsky Bridge, because there is no point, there is no expediency," he said. Stremousov said that the key bridge, as well as a bridge in Nova Kakhovka, are completely closed at...

It was supposed to be the bright spot in a grim day. Of a dozen unclaimed bodies set for burial recently at Bucha City Cemetery, one had just been identified. The dead man’s family was present and would be able to bury him with full ceremony. His grave would be marked with his name instead of just a number. But there was a hitch. No one could find the body. (snip)When Russian troops retreated at the end of March from the region around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, they left behind a trail of more than 1,200 bodies. At least 458 dead...