Free Republic

The presidential press office of Ukraine accused global media outlets of “nuclear hysteria” on Thursday for sharing remarks made by President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked the world for “preemptive strikes” on Russia to avoid nuclear war. Zelensky made the remarks during a question and answer session with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, on Thursday, asserting that NATO had a responsibility to “make it impossible for Russia to use nuclear weapons.

Raging Russian nationalists called on Sunday for President Vladimir Putin to make immediate changes to ensure victory in the Ukraine war after troops were forced to retreat amid a series of strong Ukrainian counterattacks. Ukraine's troops on Saturday stormed east out of second city Kharkiv, smashing through Russian lines and liberating huge swathes of territory, including the key strategic city of Izyum along with several key transport and logistics hubs supporting Putin's men in the Donbas. The news prompted Chechen leader and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov to publish an 11-minute-long rant on the Telegram messaging app, declaring that 'changes must...

Saturday, I posted on the new Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast that has liberated several hundred square miles of territory and threatens to unravel the entire Russian invasion; see Russia’s Disaster in Kharkiv Turns Into an Avalanche of Failure as Ukraine’s Army Advances Without Opposition.The main effort in yesterday’s report was Kupiansk, a critical rail and highway node on the Oskil river. That city is firmly in Ukrainian hands. As I noted yesterday, this places the main railroad line from Russian forces in Ukraine to Russia within range of Ukrainian tube artillery.The Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast shows some signs...

On episode 3 of the show we are joined by Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the Donetsk People's Republic's «Vostok» Battalion. Former commander of Ukraine's Alpha special unit of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The ships laden with grain recently leaving the ports of Ukraine might be taken to suggest that those who doubted it was possible for Ukraine and Russia to negotiate had been wrong. But with the exception of a brief meeting between U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, there have been no recent diplomatic attempts to negotiate an end to the war. Instead, the U.S. has consistently discouraged negotiations. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky not to negotiate with Russia. In his dying days as prime minister, he repeated that call...

Former President Barack Obama was frequently frustrated with Joe Biden, a new book claims, first as a Democrat senate colleague and then as his vice president. “Shoot. Me. Now,” Obama reportedly wrote in a note to one of his aides as Biden delivered long, rambling remarks during a 2005 senate confirmation hearing for then-President George W. Bush’s choice for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

When Viktor Zolotov, director of the Russian National Guard, briefed his boss, President Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday on the status of military operations in Ukraine, one remark in particular stood out. “I especially want to emphasize that we feel the support of the population in the liberated territories,” Zolotov told a stone-faced Putin. In reality, Russia has been struggling to rally the support of its own troops, according to internal government documents obtained exclusively by Yahoo News that detail drunken acts of insubordination six months into Putin’s invasion. The documents include an incident and homicide report by the Russian Investigative...

At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most experts expected that Kyiv would fall quickly. Ukrainian forces were fighting against a military that was bigger and better armed. Russia’s troops had more combat experience and funding. The question was not if Moscow’s forces would depose the Ukrainian government but when regime change would happen. Of course, Kyiv didn’t fall. Instead, the Ukrainian military stopped Russia’s assault on the capital and forced a retreat. Russia downsized its initial mission from wholesale conquest, and the war now mostly consists of grinding offensives and counteroffensives in Ukraine’s east and south. The question...