Free Republic

The FBI is searching the Delmar home of ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter in connection with a federal investigation. A NewsChannel 13 photographer captured video of agents searching and taking pictures of both cars at the property on Dover Drive. Agency spokeswoman Sarah Ruane confirmed that they were searching the home, but would not provide details on the investigation – per standard policy.

At least two people have been killed and six injured in a "massive" overnight Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow region, Governor Andrei Vorobyev has said. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 450 drones heading for the capital had been shot down in what he called an "unprecedented attack". The city's main oil refinery was damaged and several homes were set ablaze. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Kyiv had hit a "key" Russian oil facility and a logistics site in the region, representing "billions of dollars that sustain the war machine". The overnight attack is thought to be among the largest...

The Iran and Ukraine wars have exposed the world’s reliance on the Middle East and Russia for diesel Persian Gulf states and Russia have invested tens of billions of dollars in refineries over the past decade to grab a bigger share of the global diesel market. Now, war in both regions has sent exports plunging, squeezing supplies of a fuel that powers much of the global economy. Diesel prices are soaring—they eclipsed $6 a gallon in the U.S. for the first time last week and have kept climbing, hitting $6.45 on Friday. The surge has rattled governments and markets around...

From the gun cabinet of his shooting range, Volodymyr Sukhomlyn pulls out a semiautomatic shotgun. **SNIP** Not an easy target “But more recently it’s been bus drivers and cabbies buying them, too — anyone who is out on the streets a lot.” One FPV attack this month injured several people at a supermarket, leaving the floor stained with blood. Another ploughed into the upper floors of a government building downtown. “I heard it coming and we had to hide in a shop when it exploded,” said Julia Sologub, 31. “It used to be just a problem for soldiers — now...

An elite group of Ukrainian drone operators is hunting Russians from desert dugouts across Africa, as Kyiv wages a proxy war to bleed strongman Vladimir Putin’s global army. Moscow has deployed about 5,000 troops across Mali, Sudan and Libya to back coup-installed military dictatorships and warlords since 2020 — as Putin has tried to fill the void left by Western forces’ withdrawal and assert himself as a power player — often in exchange for lucrative mining rights. And Ukraine has worked alongside local rebels to fight off those same Russians forces in an effort to forge new alliances against Moscow....

Fierce battles have raged in and around the city since May, when Russian forces launched a surprise attack across the border, opening a new front. -snip- The soldier was injured by a sniper and found himself holed up in the basement of a bombed-out building with other men from his unit, sheltering from persistent drone attacks. The only route to safety was along a 50-metre path under the fire control of Ukraine's army. "Fifty metres, no more say those who managed to cross that distance in our direction," he wrote in his blog. "The path is blocked by debris, construction...

Mothers and wives of mobilized men in Russia have called Vladimir Putin a liar and launched a campaign to get their sons and husbands back from the front line in Ukraine. A group calling itself The Way Home has built support in 29 cities across Russia since it was established three months ago and has now published a manifesto, accusing the Kremlin of betrayal.

Ratcliffe declassified an intel report revealing Ukrainian officials viewed Biden family business deals 'as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power' Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would "strongly prefer" an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to "corrupt" business deals in the country "not be disseminated" — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly declassified email and records made public by the agency. CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of...

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine may not endure the upcoming winter, and is therefore unlikely to return to the negotiating table before at least mid-March, according to the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Serhii Kyslytsya. Kyslytsya made the remarks in an interview with Ukrinform on Thursday, Aug. 20, telling the news outlet that Moscow currently lacks motivation to enter negotiations and could see winter as an opportunity to weaken Ukrainian society. His comments came as Ukraine increasingly continues preparations across all sectors, particularly its air defenses, critical energy and water infrastructure, as well as residents for the...

Every August, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Georgia is accompanied by familiar reflections about missed warning signs, intelligence failures, and a supposedly unexpected turning point in European security. The language has become so standardized that it obscures a far more uncomfortable reality. Georgia did not reveal a new Russia. It exposed a Russia that had been behaving consistently for nearly two decades while much of the West continued searching for evidence that Moscow had fundamentally changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Describing the failure to recognize this trajectory as a collection of mistakes understates what actually occurred....

Grok Summary of Video Transcript:Summary of MaxAfterBurner's Breaking News Video on B-52 Bombers and Venezuela TensionsIn this YouTube video dated around November 20, 2025, former fighter pilot Ryan (MaxAfterBurner) provides a real-time briefing on U.S. B-52 Stratofortress bombers reportedly heading south toward the Caribbean, potentially as a show of force amid escalating tensions with Venezuela's Maduro regime. He speculates on their mission, flight path, and role in a possible conflict, while analyzing target packages briefed to President Trump on November 18. The tone is informal, speculative, and pro-U.S. intervention, emphasizing regime change over endless war.Key Developments and ContextB-52 Deployment: Two...

Seeing Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral seemed fitting: Z-Man’s money-laundering operation in Kyiv was the proximate cause of Graham’s death. Had the senator not been working so hard to add to the butcher’s bill in Europe, he would still be alive today. Surely there is a lesson here for some people to see. I know there are plenty of pro-Ukraine cheerleaders who just cannot stomach any criticism of an ongoing military conflict that has now lasted longer than WWII. However, I have never seen this as anything other than a civil war that British, European, and...

The Ukraine war has evolved into an innovation contest since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Faced with a larger adversary that it can’t match tank for tank or aircraft for aircraft, Kyiv has compensated with ingenuity—adapting commercial tech for military purposes, pioneering new applications for drones, and refining battlefield tactics for maximum effect. The result has been a conflict in which information is as crucial as firepower. Ukraine is now exploiting that advantage in a new way. This summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky launched an online platform called TrophyLab, a digital repository devoted to the analysis of captured Russian military equipment....

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he was reassured in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha that Ukraine’s attack on an Iranian ship “was unintentional and Ukraine seeks no escalation”. In a post on X, Araghchi wrote that “Iran does not seek escalation either, but made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable”. “There must be restitution for losses,” he said. Sybiha earlier described the call as “frank” and “direct”.

Iran summoned a Ukrainian diplomat in Tehran on Sunday to protest an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, as the war in the Middle East threatened to overlap with the Ukraine conflict. Iran said the attack left one sailor dead and injured several others. The country’s foreign ministry complained to Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran early on Sunday and “conveyed Iran’s strong protest over the ‘hostile and criminal act.’” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported. In a post on X highlighting Ukraine’s attacks on distant Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his country’s...

These are tricky times for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The “special military operation” he launched against Ukraine in 2022, intended to last a few days until a puppet regime in Kyiv could be installed, has now gone on longer than both the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany and all of World War I. His forces have long ceased making significant gains on the battlefield; some data even suggest that Russian forces lost territory in April and May. What gains the Russians have made have come at enormous cost: Last month, Anna Keast-Butler, the director of British intelligence agency GCHQ, cited...

Twenty-five inflatable boats capable of carrying 1,700 illegal migrants, which were being shipped to people smuggling gangs operating in the English Channel have been intercepted in Bulgaria. Customs officers in the Eastern European country, who work closely with the National Crime Agency to track and stop consignments of small boat equipment shipped through the country, made two separate seizures. Five boats were found in an HGV attempting to enter Bulgaria at the Lesovo border crossing after the NCA and Home Office International Operations shared intelligence with Bulgarian partners through the NCA’s international network. Then, two days later on Friday 26...

The incident was likely the result of a 'blatant' Russian sabotage operation, Bulgarian authorities told the European Commission. Read More Yvette Cooper warns Britain is 'ready to act' after Trump backs Nato shooting down Russian planes article image 'We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria,' European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta said. 'We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.' 'The whole airport area GPS went dark,' an official brief on the incident told the Financial Times. Russia is feared...

More than two million Russian and Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded in the four years that Russia has been waging war against its neighbor, according to a new study, a bleak milestone as Russia’s assault grinds on. The study, published on Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Russia has borne the heavier toll, with 1.4 million troops killed or wounded since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Of that total, 450,000 were killed, a number that is four times greater than U.S. fatalities in all wars combined since World War II. Ukrainian...

Russia’s top banker has called on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, warning that the four-year-old conflict is dragging the country into economic collapse. German Gref, head of the state-controlled Sberbank, said ordinary Russians are increasingly feeling the economic effects of the war, which are being worsened by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries. “I think we are all worried about the same thing. I don’t believe there is anyone in this country whose primary concern is anything other than an end to military hostilities as soon as possible,” Gref told state TV on Tuesday, as reported...