Free Republic

NORTH Korea is reportedly planning to send 30,000 more troops to fight alongside the Russians against Ukraine. It comes just a day after tyrant Kim Jong-un wept over the coffins of his soldiers whom he sent to die in Vladimir Putin's meatgrinder war. -snip- In April, Kim Jong-un confirmed for the first time that North Korean troops were sent to fight alongside the Russians against Ukraine. Pyongyang's state TV and Kim's propaganda machine KCNA reported that North Korean soldiers made an "important contribution" to help the Russians flush out Kyiv's troops from Kursk. It said Kim deployed "sub-units of our...

Vladimir Putin has been dealt a massive setback after more than 20,000 soldiers deserted the front line in the war against Ukraine – leaving Kremlin forces even more depleted. Courts have received 20,538 cases of service personnel absent without leave, desertion or refusing orders since the illegal invasion began in February 2022, according to Russian independent news service Mediazone. The majority – 18,159 – were for soldiers going awol, with 17,721 being prosecuted under Russia’s Criminal Code. The maximum punishment is a 10-year jail term. However, those found guilty could commute their sentences by serving in the Storm-Z convict assault...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to see the war between Ukraine and Russia come to a close following their meeting at the NATO Summit. Trump was asked about the meeting during his press conference at the summit in the Hague, Netherlands. “He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’d like to see an end to this, I do. What I took from the meeting — couldn’t have been nicer, actually — but I took from the meeting he’d like to see it end,” Trump said. “I think it’s a great time to end it....

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...

The United Kingdom will buy 12 U.S.-made F-35A fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear bombs and will join NATO’s shared airborne nuclear mission, in a major expansion of its nuclear deterrent, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Wednesday. The government called it “the biggest strengthening of the U.K.’s nuclear posture in a generation.” Starmer made the announcement while attending a NATO summit in the Netherlands. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte welcomed the decision, calling it “yet another robust British contribution to NATO.” The U.K. phased out air-dropped atomic weapons in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War. Its nuclear arsenal...

President Trump said Wednesday the United States may provide Ukraine with additional defensive missiles to intercept Russian air attacks. The president, speaking at a press conference in the Netherlands where he was attending a NATO summit, said Ukraine is seeking more Patriot missiles as the war with Russia drags on into a fourth year. “They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, as they call them, the Patriots. And we’re going to see if we can make some available,” Mr. Trump said. “You know, they’re very hard to get.” Mr. Trump said the U.S. is supplying Patriot missiles to Israel,...

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...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday took aim at the recent U.S. strikes on Iran, calling them a “completely unprovoked act of aggression.” “You are visiting Russia during a challenging period, marked by a significant escalation of tensions both in the region and surrounding your country,” Putin told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to an English transcript from the Kremlin. “Russia’s position on the current developments is well known. It has been clearly expressed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is reflected in the stance we’ve taken at the United Nations Security Council, with which you are already...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will tell this week’s NATO summit that Russia is “preparing new military operations on the territory of Europe”, a warning that comes as the gaze of the world again shifts from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. The head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence (GUR) has briefed President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia is preparing a military strike on Europe, the President revealed on the eve of his trip to Western Europe. Zelensky arrived in London on Monday morning by Presidential plane where he is to meet with senior British figures...

Vladimir Putin today vowed to back Iran and condemned 'groundless' aggression against its ally after the U.S. joined Israel in striking nuclear facilities on Sunday. 'This is an absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran,' Putin told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who travelled to Moscow seeking support in mediation. Putin called recent strikes 'unjustified' and added that Russia was 'making efforts to provide assistance to the Iranian people.' Araghchi on Monday thanked Putin for condemning U.S. strikes on Iran, telling him Russia stood on 'the right side of history'.

Iran's supreme leader sent his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to ask President Vladimir Putin for more help from Russia after the biggest U.S. military action against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution over the weekend. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly speculated about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and about regime change, a step Russia fears could sink the Middle East into the abyss. While Putin has condemned the Israeli strikes, he has yet to comment on the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites though he last week called for calm and offered Moscow's...

Putin said that Israel had given Moscow assurances that Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran would not be hurt in air strikes... Asked if Russia was ready to provide Iran with modern weapons to defend itself against Israeli strikes, Putin said a strategic partnership treaty signed with Tehran in January did not envisage military cooperation and that Iran had not made any formal request for assistance.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned the United States on Thursday against interfering in the military actions between Israel and Iran. "We would like to especially warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step, with truly unpredictable negative consequences," Zakharova said during a press briefing. The spokeswoman claimed that the attempts to justify Israel's "unprovoked aggression" against Iran are "cynical," and noted that it the most important thing to do is to "prevent the further spiral of violence, to achieve a ceasefire, to restore peace, which in turn will create the preconditions...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call on June 19 during which both leaders condemned Israel for its strikes on Iran and agreed de-escalation was needed, the Kremlin said. Both men “strongly condemn Israel’s actions, which violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. “Both Moscow and Beijing fundamentally believe that there is no military solution to the current situation and issues related to Iran’s nuclear programme. “This solution must be achieved exclusively through political and diplomatic means,” said Mr Ushakov. Russia has warned of catastrophe...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin should first end the war that Russia started in Ukraine before talking about mediating in the Middle East, stated US President Donald Trump during a conversation with journalists, APA reports citing RBC Ukraine. "I spoke to Putin yesterday, he offered to help mediate. I said, do me a favor — mediate your own. Let's mediate Russia first, OK? I said, 'Vladimir, let's mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later," Trump said. According to the US President, he told Putin that he should deal with Russia first before involving himself elsewhere. "So many people have...

President Trump revealed to reporters outside the White House that he spoke with Vladimir Putin yesterday, saying the Russian leader offered to mediate the Iran-Israel conflict. Even Trump, who has been a staunch defender of Putin, admitted he couldn't play peacemaker while the Ukraine-Russia war rages. -snip- “Would have never happened if I was president,” he said before making a four-word comment to Putin directly. “Putin would have never done it and I spoke to him yesterday and I said you know, he actually offered to help mediate. I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own. Let’s mediate Russia...

Russia has strongly defended Iran’s right to maintain peaceful nuclear installations. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Iran had the right to such facilities in the past, holds it now, and will continue to do so in the future. She made these remarks while speaking to Sputnik Radio, stressing that peaceful nuclear sites are now under direct attack. Zakharova warned that the threat of nuclear conflict in the Middle East is no longer a theory but a real and growing danger. She said these attacks are not only increasing tensions but also posing a serious threat to both the...

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to support reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region, a top Russian official said Tuesday, the latest sign of expanding cooperation between the nations. North Korea has already supplied thousands of combat troops and a vast amount of conventional weapons to back Russia’s war against Ukraine. In April, Pyongyang and Moscow said that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region, though Ukraine has insisted it still has troops present there. Wrapping up a one-day visit to Pyongyang, Russian Security...

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Wednesday that direct U.S. military assistance to Israel could radically destabilise the situation in the Middle East, where an air war between Iran and Israel has raged for six days. In separate comments, the head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, was quoted as saying that the situation between Iran and Israel was now critical. Ryabkov warned the U.S. against direct military assistance to Israel or even considering such "speculative options," according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

President Trump, angrily, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, February 28: “You don’t have the cards! You’re buried there! Your people are dying! You’re running low on soldiers!” Since that time . . . In March alone, the Russians suffered an estimated 41,000 combined killed or wounded in action, with 272 Russian tanks, 1,644 artillery systems, and 607 combat armored vehicles destroyed or disabled. (Since the start of the war, Russia has lost an estimated 12,835 tanks and armored vehicles, 305 aircraft, and 22 naval vessels.) Without anything resembling a manned navy, Ukraine has largely nullified the...