Free Republic

VLADIMIR Putin's top propagandist has seemingly turned on the tyrant and hinted at ending his 25 years of "catastrophic" rule in Russia. Popular Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov was live on air when he argued that "a resignation is necessary" while referring to the embarrassing Kursk siege that has left Putin red-faced. Russia has taken a massive hit at the country's western borders near Kursk where Kyiv's troops managed to grab Russian land for the first time since World War Two. Speaking of the dire consequences of the Ukrainian onslaught, Solovyov hinted at a regime change inside Russia, saying punishing...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suffered an emabarassing setback as his feared Satan 2 nuclear arsenal failed four out of five missile tests, according to arms experts and satellite imagery from the launch site. High-resolution satellite images of the launch pad at Russia's Plesetsk test site, where the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile exploded, shows extensive damage. A crater approximately 60 meters wide at the launch silo at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, along with visible damage in the surrounding area that was not present in images taken earlier in the month. -snip- The missile's liquid-fuel engine likely exploded...

A Russian RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile likely failed during a test earlier this month, according to arms experts and satellite imagery from the launch site. Maxar satellite images from Sept. 21 show a crater about 60 meters (200 feet) wide at the launch silo at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia and damage around the area that was not visible in imagery from earlier in the month. It was not clear from the imagery if the liquid-fueled Sarmat failed during a launch or if there was an accident during defueling. “By all indications, it was a failed test. It’s...

Russia’s plans for their ‘doomsday’ hypersonic missiles have been delayed for years after the Satan-2 missile exploded during a test launch. ‌The huge detonation destroyed Russia’s only site suitable for testing the doomsday hypersonic rocket, the centrepiece of Vladimir Putin’s bragging of nuclear superiority compared to the West. ‌The explosion at Plesetsk is now known to have partially wrecked an observation building close to the launch site, with fears some of Russia’s lead rocket scientists could be dead. ‌Experts say the test programme for the rocket – also known as RS-28 Sarmat – may now be delayed for years, or...

Since last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has postponed several official visits to Turkey. A multitude of reasons have been offered by officials. Some have said Putin has been avoiding any countries that were not part of the Soviet Union since the Ukraine war began. Others have put it down to the Russian elections earlier this year. However, sources familiar with Russian thinking told Middle East Eye that Putin’s conditions to visit Ankara are the primary reason for the constant delay. Putin would like to fly to Turkey with Russian fighter jet escorts, the sources said, possibly concerned by Ukraine's...

Vladimir Putin has awoken to one of the largest bombardments on Moscow and other parts of Russia after 30 months of bloodshed. Ukraine unleashed 144 drones, targeting three airports in the capital and lighting up residential buildings in the region of Moscow, during what the Kremlin called a ‘terrorist attack supported by the UK and US’. Debris from aircraft damaged at least two high-rise buildings in the Ramenskoye district in the early hours of Tuesday, setting several flats on fire. A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured, governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram. He added that 43...

DRAMATIC footage shows the moment Ukraine launched over 140 drones into Russia hitting Moscow in its biggest ever UAV attack on the capital. The massive barrage struck key airports in the capital and sparked fires in a residential area just 30 miles south of the Kremlin, killing one woman. Kyiv's kamikaze drones struck the Ramenskoye district just outside of the city, with dramatic pictures showing wrecked apartment blocks. Scene footage showed two high-rise buildings in the area that were hit with flats inside set on fire. It was unclear how many drones reached Moscow itself but some 15 were downed...

Huge plumes of smoke and fierce fires erupted into the skies above the Russian city of Voronezh last night. Local residents in the southwestern Russian city recorded the devastating aftermath of an overnight Ukrainian drone strike. Videos showing a large fire in which explosions can clearly be heard were shared across Telegram. The explosive attack reportedly blew up an ammunition depot - the second time a drone strike has hit an ammunition depot in Voronezh in just two weeks. At the end of August, Ukrainian drones managed to blow up almost 5,000 tonnes of Russian weapons. Following this attack, explosions...

"Oops!... He Holocausted again," is one historian's take on Adolf Hitler and World War II, as presented yesterday on Tucker Carlson's X show. -snip- According to Cooper — and Carlson nodded along the entire time — Winston Churchill was perhaps "the chief villain of the Second World War" and "primarily responsible for that war becoming what it did." It's true that Hitler did not want or expect Britain to fight. He wanted Britain to acquiesce to German dominance of Europe from the Urals to Gibraltar and subsume the UK to Nazi interests. This is all a matter of historical record....

This is the terrifying moment a Ukrainian 'flamethrowing drone' set Russian defences alight with incendiaries that can burn up to 2,400C. Footage taken by another drone shows the flamethrower unit methodically tracing a forest understood to be hosting Russian troops, spitting hot thermite down below. The length of forest can be seen quickly catching alight, as smoke billows upwards. The video was posted by Ukraine’s 108th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade with a single word, referencing the dragons in Game of Thrones: 'Drakaris.'

A state of emergency was declared in the Voronezh region of Russia after akamikaze drone strike caused a major blaze at an ammunitions warehouse. There were several explosions and huge flames for hours after the Ukraine hit in Ostrogozhsk overnight. At least 200 people were evacuated and two people were injured, one seriously, in the district. Regional governor Aleksandr Gusev acknowledged there was a ‘detonation of explosive objects’ and claimed the ignition came from the falling debris from a drone. Russian channels, meanwhile, confirmed that an ammunition warehouse had been struck. Ukrainian forces are engaged in a long-term campaign of...

Vladimir Putin has sought to shift blame for Ukraine's surprise incursion into the Kursk region, as evidence emerged that his country's handling of the offensive was damaging the Russian leader's image. At a virtual meeting held by Putin Thursday on the situation in Russia's Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions, which border Ukraine, the president told regional officials that the "security issues" in Kursk "are problems that are the responsibility of the security agencies." -snip- "I hope that, as was reported today, interaction between local and regional authorities, the government, and security agencies has been established, and this will also play...

Ukrainian forces sank a Russian ferry carrying fuel tanks in a missile strike on a port in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on August 22, Russian officials said. "As a result of the damage, the ferry sank in the waters of the Kavkaz port," the Krasnodar region's operational headquarters said on Telegram. The headquarters reported earlier that "a railroad ferry with fuel tanks in the Kavkaz port was attacked" and that emergency services had been dispatched. Images circulating on social media showed a plume of dark smoke rising in the area of the ferry crossing. The port sits in the Kerch...

Vladimir Putin's forces have been caught red handed going on a looting spree in their own country amid the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk. The Russian 'defenders' took advantage of the chaos caused by the stunning cross-border incursion launched by Kyiv's forces almost two weeks ago to steal goods from a mobile phone shop. A quartet of Moscow's soldiers are seen helping themselves in a MegaFon store in frontline town of Glushkovo in shocking security footage. At least three of the four are thought to be from the elite Chechen assault force Akhmat, which was partially responsible for defending the border...

Rumours of Vladimir Putin body doubles have been circulating for a while and now speculation is rife about the Russian president again. Putin visited Baku, Azerbaijan, between August 18 and 19 to discuss Armenian settlement with the President of Azerbaijan. But some people have noticed there is a problem with Putin’s face in comparison to a meeting he held with the Russian security council just a few days prior. This includes Anton Herashchenko, a former advisor to Ukraine’s government, who is convinced Putin appeared as a body double in Baku. He posted: ‘Putin in Baku looks different from Putin at...

Vladimir Putin is feeling the stress from Russia's invasion of Ukraine - as he is seen wringing his hands in a meeting with his top officials after Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops bit back and made a counter-incursion into the country. The dictator, 71, was in a security council session on the crisis he faces due to Ukraine's dramatic invasion of the border areas of Kursk region. His very public hand-wringing and fidgeting came as he was told earlier this week about how Russia had lost territory to Kyiv troops and - at the time - more than two dozen settlements, a...

Secretive peace talks between Ukraine and Russia collapsed before they even started following Kyiv's incursion into the Kursk region last week. The two countries were set to hold indirect talks in Qatar on a deal to halt strikes on energy and power infrastructure, in a first step towards a partial-ceasefire. However, Russian officials were said to be furious at Ukraine’s surprise incursion, according to the Washington Post, which revealed the secret Doha talks. Moscow’s delegation described it as “an escalation" and immediately pulled out of the talks this week. A Qatari diplomat said that Russia “didn’t call off the talks,...

The head of a Russian private militia has called on the army to overthrow Vladimir Putin in what is potentially shaping up to be the biggest threat of revolt the Kremlin has faced since the Wagner mutiny last year. Georgy Zakrevsky is the founder of the Paladin PMC, one of many shadowy military groups like the former Wagner militia, that are loosely linked to the Kremlin. The private military company (PMC) has around 300 members and has fought in wars around the world, including in Syria and Africa. Zakrevsky launched a blistering attack on the Russian president during a video...

-snip- After my first trip to Ukraine, a few readers wrote in or left comments urging me to check out the assessments of retired colonel Douglas Macgregor, contending he had the real scoop. I wasn’t familiar with Macgregor, but a bit of digging illuminated the retired colonel’s very consistent assessment of how the war is going: March 4, 2022: “The first five days Russian forces I think frankly were too gentle. They’ve now corrected that. So, I would say, another ten days, this should be completely over.” March 15, 2022: “The Ukrainians are being crushed. Even the Washington Post and...

Terrified dictator Alexander Lukashenko has urged Russia and Ukraine to agree a peace deal to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus. President Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, said he fears Kyiv's troops are now planning an incursion into his nation after they launched a cross-border offensive in Russia. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through Russia's western border on August 6 in a major embarrassment for Putin's top military brass. Now in an interview with Russia state television, Lukashenko has said that only 'high-ranking people of American origin' wanted the Ukraine-Russia war to continue. The West, he said,...