Free Republic

Ukrainian forces struck Russian targets in northern Crimea on the morning of August 30, 2025, destroying a Federal Security Service (FSB) border outpost and damaging patrol boats near Armyansk. Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi reported that the attack was carried out with Flamingo cruise missiles, correcting earlier claims cited by media that it was Neptune missiles. Footage circulating on Telegram shows a triple launch at sunrise from the coast of Ukraine. Low-resolution satellite imagery from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem suggests that the main outpost building was hit, and the surrounding areas were scorched. However, image quality prevents a more detailed damage...

It’s unfathomable. The account of two U. S. Navy vessels being seized by the Iranian navy earlier this week seems completely implausible. No part of it makes any sense. The story is that two river patrol boats – bristling modern-day incarnations of the Vietnam swift boats – were navigating south from Kuwait to Bahrain. At some point, via some means, the two boats, with their contingent of five sailors each, surrendered to the Iranians. Two accounts have been offered as to how that happened. The first was that one of the vessels lost its engine and that they both then...

HAI PHONG, Vietnam (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter pledged $18 million on Sunday to help Vietnam buy U.S. patrol boats, shortly after touring a Vietnamese coast guard vessel that was hit by a Chinese ship during a skirmish in the South China Sea. Carter, who has been focusing on maritime security during an 11-day trip to the Asia-Pacific, visited the Vietnamese navy headquarters and coast guard headquarters before boarding the ship. Carter is on his second visit to Asia since becoming defense secretary earlier this year. He said he planned to sign a "vision statement" on Monday with...