Free Republic

PRAGUE (AP) – The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage – reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies – even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons. “Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn´t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Adm. Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of...

In July, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country's low birth rate was "catastrophic" for Russia's future. Russia's birth rate is at its lowest since 1999 with the number of live births falling under 100,000 in June, causing concern in Moscow over what has been described as a severe population downswing. From January to June of 2024, 599,600 children were both in Russia — 16,000 less than the same period in 2023, according to data published by Russia's governmental statistic agency Rosstat. Over the same period, Russia's population decline accelerated by 18%, with 49,000 more deaths recorded in 2024 than...

Russell Bentley, the so-called "Donbass Cowboy" from Texas who fought for the 'Donetsk People's Republic' (DPR), is reported to have been tortured to death in an abandoned mine being used as a concentration camp for 'remotivating' Russian soldiers who refuse to fight. On 8 April 2024, Bentley was kidnapped by DPR soldiers outside the administration building of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. He was driven away in an unknown direction. On 19 April, his former unit, the Vostok Battalion, confirmed his death. His body has not been found. ASTRA reports that he was electrocuted during torture by men from the...