Free Republic

Ukraine will let foreign arms companies test out their latest weapons on the front line of its war against Russia's invasion, Kyiv's state-backed arms investment and procurement group Brave1 said on Thursday. -snip- "We have a list of priorities. One of the top of those would be air defense, like new air defense capabilities, drone interceptors, AI-guided systems, all the solutions against gliding bombs," he said. Unmanned systems in the water and electronic profile systems on the ground are also on Ukraine's list of priorities, as are advanced fire control systems or AI guidance to make howitzers more accurate. Under...

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed the Kremlin could launch "preemptive strikes" on Western nations if they escalate the war in Ukraine just days after United States President Donald Trump demanded a ceasefire. On Tuesday, President Trump threatened to impose "very severe" tariffs on Russia unless the Kremlin negotiated an end to its invasion. The US leader also declared he was "very unhappy" with Russian President Vladimir Putin's reticence to engage in peace talks, in a notable shift away from previous comments praising Russia's leader. The Kremlin subsequently dismissed the threat, with Mr Medvedev, who now acts as the...

-snip- I go home, I tell the First Lady, "I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation." She said, "Oh really? Another city was just hit." So it's like, look, he's— I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy. It's been proven over the years. He's fooled a lot of people. He fooled Bush. He fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn't fool me. But what I do say is that at a certain point, you know, ultimately talk—talk doesn't—it's got to be action. It's got to...

Donald Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky if Ukraine was capable of striking Moscow, as he encouraged more long-range strikes inside Russia. The US president told his Ukrainian counterpart that he wanted Ukraine to “make them [Russians] feel the pain” and force Putin to the negotiation table, sources told the Financial Times. “Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow?... Can you hit St Petersburg too?” the US president reportedly asked on the July 4 call. The Ukrainian president replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.” Following the call, Kyiv received a list from US aides of long-range strike systems that could...

President Donald Trump has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin. Having promised a “major” announcement on Russia, Trump has now confirmed that the US will dramatically increase weapons supplies to Europe for use in Ukraine and threatened 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Russia’s trade partners. Trump would only provide Russia with an off-ramp if Putin agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine within 50 days.

-SNIP- ... In his second term thus far, Trump has defied his critics with several major international wins, and he’s relished the results. His green light for the June 22 US strikes on Iranian nuclear-related targets was a stunning interpretation of what defines “America first.” At the NATO Summit in The Hague days later, he pivoted from years of lambasting European partners to securing a historic agreement to lift Alliance-wide defense and defense-related spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035, while reaffirming shared security guarantees. Both the Iran and NATO moves are legacy-defining, peace-through-strength actions. They could...

Vladimir Putin has lost four warplanes worth £37 million each despite stepping up their defences after Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb. A pair of Su-34 fighters were destroyed and two more damaged after an attack on on Marinovka military airfield in Volgograd. Ukraine used long range drones to fly more than 200 miles to inflict the latest £148 million blow to Putin’s aerial firepower. It came less than a month after Russia supposedly tightened its military air base security after 40-plus strategic bombers and spy planes were hit in Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb. Russia responded by hitting Ukrainian civilians with a strike on...

Russian TV presenters have urged Vladimir Putin to consider dropping nuclear bombs on a NATO country to "solve" the world's problems "at once". In a chilling diatribe hawkish presenter Vladimir Solovyov raged that Russia should move nuclear weapons into Iran, under Kremlin control, and even attack NATO member Poland with an atomic weapon. Speaking on Russian state TV, Solovyov said Russian should use tactical weapons against Ukraine and "just in case, also drop one into Poland", adding: "No one will say a word. They will impose sanctions, so what?". Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) it...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that a devastating drone strike which obliterated more than 40 Russian aircraft, including "irreplaceable" nuclear-capable warplanes, was orchestrated from within Russia—right under the nose of the Kremlin’s feared security service. The dramatic operation, which reportedly caused a staggering $7 billion in damage, was launched using 117 drones and struck at the heart of Russia’s air capabilities, hitting 34 percent of its strategic cruise missile carriers. In a remarkable statement on his official X account, President Zelensky shared details of the operation, describing it as a major success that had been in the works for...

Ukrainian forces have wiped out dozens of Russian military aircraft, including nuclear bombers, in a massive drone attack on President Vladimir Putin’s air bases deep inside the country, Kyiv sources are claiming. The mission carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) using first-person-view (FPV) drones hit 41 Russian heavy bombers at four separate airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine, a security source told the Kyiv Independent on Sunday. The drones were reportedly smuggled into the country hidden in trucks. TU-95 “Bear” nuclear bombers, TU-22 “Backfire” fast-attack strike bombers and A-50 “Mainstay” command-and-control jets were among the aircraft that were destroyed...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States "cannot agree on everything" after US President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin "absolutely crazy" and criticized strikes on Ukrainian cities. "But the political will to implement the agreements that are reached is there, and the work continues," Peskov added.

A Russian military expert stunned Kremlin hawks when he revealed that Ukraine's army currently enjoys a significant advantage over Putin's army. There is growing confidence among Russia's pro-war faction that Vladimir Putin can achieve all his military goals in Ukraine. Western analysts believe that Putin's aims have not changed since he launched his full-scale invasion of the neighbouring country, and that he is more than ever determined to seize all of Ukraine. With Donald Trump seemingly unwilling to get tough with Russia, many Kremlin supporters are starting to smell victory. However, Andrey Klintsevich warned that Ukraine's army was still a...

"It actually (found itself – ed.) in the epicenter of repelling a massive attack by enemy drones. We simultaneously conducted an anti-aircraft battle and ensured the safety of the president's helicopter in the air," said the commander of the air defense division, Yuri Dashkin. The events took place during Vladimir Putin's trip to the Kursk region earlier this week. According to Dashkin, the president was on board the helicopter during the drone attack.