Free Republic

General or partial assessments of the number of victims in the war in Ukraine reveal the high human cost of an armed conflict unprecedented in Europe in the last eight decades. With estimates of nearly two million military casualties, it is reminiscent of the worst conflicts experienced in the 20th century on the Old Continent. The most conservative figures — around half a million deaths on the Ukrainian side — are five times higher than those of the Balkan War (1992-1995), which totaled 100,000, of whom 13,500 were civilians. The Ukrainian Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has just...

Vladimir Putin is raking in at least $760m (£570m) a day as the war in Iran drives soaring demand for Russian oil. Kremlin sales from oil and gas will double from about $12bn to nearly $24bn this month as Putin profits from an enormous price surge and Donald Trump’s sanctions waivers, according to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Institute. Even if the war ends in the next few weeks, Russia’s oil and gas revenues are expected to surge to $218.5bn this year – 63pc more than if there was no disruption to Middle East energy supplies. It means Putin...

Democrats are furious that President Donald Trump took action against Iran with Operation Epic Fury. But one of the things that you wouldn't hear from them is how his action puts paid to one of their favorite fictions about Trump - the Russia collusion fiction, that Trump is somehow in the pocket of Russia. Well, he's pounding one of their principal allies, which he would not do if he were in Putin's pocket. So once again, the Democrat narrative gets blown up. Trump said he was in talks with an Iranian leader that were productive, and for that reason, he...

Beriev A-50U radar planes are Russia’s eyes in the sky. As Ukraine knocks out more of the A-50Us, Russian forces are slowly going blind. Russia went to war in February 2022 with potentially just seven Beriev A-50U radar planes The A-50Us use top-mounted radars to watch for Ukrainian warplanes and drones In a series of attacks going back three years, the Ukrainians may have knocked out more than half of the A-50Us A drone strike last week reportedly damaged a fourth A-50U on the ground in western Russia Sortieing drones deep inside Russia on 17 March, Ukrainian forces may have...

Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.Two people familiar with the U.S.-Russia negotiations said that such a proposal was made by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting last week in Miami.The U.S. rejected the proposal, the people added. They, like all other officials cited in this article, were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of...

Ukraine has received only about 600 advanced interceptor missiles for the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system during the entire course of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials told The New York Times. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv had received roughly that number of interceptor missiles over four years of war. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western partners to provide additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles as Russia continues to launch large-scale missile strikes targeting cities and critical infrastructure. The Patriot system remains among the few air defense platforms capable of reliably intercepting advanced ballistic missiles, including...

MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would respond if Finland ​placed nuclear weapons on its territory, saying such a move would make the Nordic country more vulnerable. ‌The Kremlin reacted sharply after NATO member Finland said on Thursday it was planning to lift a longstanding ban on hosting such weapons, in a move that could open the door to placing them there during times of war. "This is a statement that leads to an escalation ​of tensions on the European continent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "This statement adds to Finland's vulnerability, a ​vulnerability provoked...

Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran on the location of US forces in the Middle East in an attempt to help Tehran fight back, according to a new report. The Kremlin has passed on the locations of American warships, aircrafts and other military assets ever since “Operation Epic Fury” kicked off a week ago, three sources told the Washington Post Friday. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one official familiar with the intel told the outlet.

The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response. The claim of an invitation comes with Putin showing no signs of ending his invasion of Ukraine, in which hundreds of thousands have been killed and Russian troops have carried out atrocities against civilians. The Russian president has repeatedly rejected proposals...

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday called for the release of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife from U.S. custody after President Donald Trump announced that they were captured during military strikes on the capital city of Caracas. “We firmly call on the U.S. leadership to reconsider this position and release the lawfully elected president of a sovereign country and his wife,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, stressing the need to resolve the dramatic confrontation through diplomacy. In a separate message, the ministry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone to Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez...

Russian forces appear close to being pushed out of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupyansk, with only a small number of isolated troops remaining and even pro-Kremlin voices acknowledging the setback, according to a report.

‘Ze’ has gone overboard with his latest remarks.For four years, Volodymyr Zelensky has been painted by the MSM as a heroic ‘defender of democracy’, a ‘present-day Winton Churchill’, and any questioning of him was surely to be described as the work of Putin’s shills and puppets.But that was then – and this is now, when Zelensky has been revealed as a failing leader of an incredibly corrupt country rife with real-life Nazis, and dealing with an alleged nasty drug habit.Citizens of the western countries now know that much of their taxpayer money sent to the Kiev regime was stolen by...

In the United States, several transcripts of conversations between Russia's leader Vladimir Putin and former US president George Bush have been published, in which Putin argued that Ukraine is an artificial state with a fragmented society and warned of a long-term confrontation with the West if Ukraine were admitted to NATO.Source: European Pravda with reference to the non-governmental research institution the National Security ArchiveDetails: In a conversation dated 16 June 2001, Putin, speaking in a passage about the need for honesty in relations and saying that he senses the mood of Russian society well, spoke about his disappointment with the...

MOSCOW (AP) — A car bomb killed a Russian general on Monday, the third such killing of a senior military officer in a year. Investigators said Ukraine may be behind the attack. Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died from his injuries, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s top criminal investigation agency. “Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said. Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine nearly...

Director of US National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has described as "a lie and propaganda" a Reuters report claiming that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin intends to seize all of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that once belonged to the former Soviet Union. Source: Gabbard on X (Twitter) Quote: "No, this is a lie and propaganda Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump's tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides. Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump's peace...

For those who understand the basics of attrition warfare, the outcome of the fight in Ukraine was obvious a long time ago. Russia's superior logistical position along with its grinding offensive tactics have worn down Ukraine's defenses and left the country with a desperate manpower shortage. The recent capture of the vital hub of Pokrovsk has now opened the door to an accelerating Russian advance. The Russian offensive is gaining significant ground from Pokrovsk to the north, all the way to Kupiansk. The strategic city of Siversk is now largely under control of Russia according to geo-location mapping. Myrnohrad, also...

In contrast to the warmongers, President Trump has continuously said, “I want everybody to stop dying.”So, what’s preventing peace? Russian President Putin offered peace December 25, 2022, January 6, 2023, and again on June 14, 2024, with TASS reporting Putin offered “another real peace proposal to Kiev,” stating, “These parameters were generally agreed upon by everyone back during the Istanbul talks in 2022.” Yet, all of these proposals were rejected by Zelensky, the Biden administration, and the Brennen-infested CIA.Remember, this mess started in 2014 with Biden and the CIA in Kyiv toppling the duly elected pro-Russian president of Ukraine, because...

Military analyst Denys Popovych said on Radio NV that Russian troops are currently encircled near Kupyansk and explained how Ukrainian forces carried out a successful operation there on Dec. 13. There are now encircled Russian army units in the city that are clearly in the final stage of their presence there. Cleanup operations are ongoing, and it is impossible to predict when they will end. Why do the Russians make such statements about capturing Kupyansk? They are taking territory on credit. They need it to demonstrate that they are advancing and achieving success. They lost Kupyansk during our Kharkiv counteroffensive,...

President Donald Trump's envoys have given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy only days to respond to a proposed peace deal that would require Ukraine to accept territorial losses in exchange for unspecified U.S. security guarantees, with one person familiar with the timeline saying Trump wants an agreement "by Christmas." Zelenskyy told European leaders that he was pushed during a two-hour phone call with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, to make a quick decision, reports the Financial Times on Tuesday. Officials familiar with the talks said that the Ukrainian leader told Witkoff and Kushner that he...

Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were “resilient to external pressure”. The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries – particularly the US – that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow. The US president, Donald Trump, in August imposed an additional 25% import tariff on India over its purchase...