Free Republic

When the Ukrainian Army begins pushing entrenched Russian adversaries out of defensive positions in the Donbas region during the initial phases, recapturing and liberating sovereign territory, the Biden administration will face a new dilemma. Will Biden support Ukrainian ground forces in the military pursuit of a retreating Russian army that attempts to escape annihilation by seeking sanctuary on the Russian side of the border? Will he support artillery and air strikes on the Russian side of the border? Following the May 22 Belgorod raid by elements of the pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, both composed...

Former Vice President Mike Pence condemned "apologists" for Russian President Vladimir Putin within the Republican Party, an indirect dig at former President Donald Trump, during a foreign policy address delivered on the first anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine. "While some in my party have taken a somewhat different view, let me be clear," he told the University of Texas at Austin's Clements Center for National Security Friday. "There can be no room in the leadership of the Republican Party for apologists for Putin. There can only be room for champions of freedom." Pence described Russia's war in Ukraine as "unprovoked"...

Most fascinating thing about the Ukraine war is the sheer number of top strategic thinkers who warned for years that it was coming if we continued down the same path. No-one listened to them and here we are. The first one is George Kennan, arguably America's greatest ever foreign policy strategist, the architect of the U.S. cold war strategy. As soon as 1998 he warned that NATO expansion was a "tragic mistake" that ought to ultimately provoke a "bad reaction from Russia". Then there's Kissinger, in 2014 He warned that "to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country"...

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said the situation in Borodianka was "significantly more dreadful" than nearby Bucha, where Russian forces' killing of civilians has been broadly condemned. In Borodianka, 60 km (37 miles) northwest of Kyiv, families looking for relatives watched diggers search through rubble of an apartment. The building was charred the middle section razed to the ground leaving a gaping hole. "My mother, my brother, brother’s wife, his mother and father-in-law, are still there, as well as other people who were in the basement," said resident Vadym Zagrebelnyi. "But there were other people on the upper floors with children. I...

UP to 40,000 Ukrainians have been snatched from besieged cities and forced into Russian slave labour in a war crime revealed by The Sun today. Sergei Orlov, deputy mayor of devastated city Mariupol, spoke exclusively from his bunker yesterday to reveal the plight of civilians hauled into enemy territory. And he said hundreds of children are now lost and alone in the clutches of ruthless Russian troops after being forced away from their families. Mr Orlov told the Sun: “Russian troops are bursting into cellars and basements where our people are hiding like frightened mice and telling them: ‘You have...

Do you like Nestle chocolate? A lot of us grew up with Nestle and Hershey as the go-to chocolates when we were kids. This article gives @Nestle and other companies being attacked by Ukraine through Anonymous an opportunity to reclaim lost revenue and seek justice against the people extorting them and damaging their country’s economies. A few days ago, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his disdain for the company by saying neutral Switzerland ISN’T a good European country. “‘Good food. Good life.’ This is the slogan of Nestlé. Your company that refuses to leave Russia,” Zelensky said Saturday during an address...

When he shoots down a Russian jet, “I am happy that this plane will no longer bomb my peaceful towns. And as we see in practice, that is exactly what Russian jets do.” “I had situations when I was approaching a Russian plane to a close enough distance to target and fire,” he said. “I could already detect it but was waiting for my missile to lock on while at the same time from the ground they tell me that a missile was fired at me already.” He said he maneuvered his jet through a series of extreme banks, dives...

Another stunning victory for the Ukranian military!

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says Edward Snowden likely received help stealing information from the National Security Agency — and that help may have come from Russian intelligence officials. In a pre-recorded interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press” with David Gregory, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) questioned how the former NSA contractor arranged travel out of the United States before leaking the trove of secret documents and eventually making his way to Russia. “Let me just say this. I believe there’s a reason he ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of an FSB agent in Moscow,” Rogers...

Political links boosted amid China moves, need for Sakhalin's fuels Just 160 km from the northern tip of Hokkaido, Sakhalin is a desolate island that has long been ignored by world powers. Remnants of Japanese shrines are reminders that the island was governed by Imperial Japan until the end of World War II. Now this lonely island, with huge reserves of oil and natural gas, is emerging as a strategic connection between Cold War-era foes Japan and Russia, making them close partners and even potential allies, with their leaders having met four times last year and discussed increased Russian energy...