Free Republic

The economic damage from Russian strikes, resulting in lost sales, disrupted workdays and logistical snarls, is in the billions of dollars. The war of attrition between Russia and Ukraine is expanding to encompass both countries’ economies. Military targeting officers are operating as economists in reverse. Increasingly, the objectives of missile and drone strikes are declining output, lost jobs and logistical bottlenecks. Ukrainian officials are calling the current Russian campaign “total war” for its focus on economic impact, rather than on narrower goals like battlefield gains or infrastructure damage. While Moscow has targeted commercial assets throughout the war, its assaults have...

Sergey Ryabkov pointed out that Moscow's position on the matter had been set out in detail in a note recently handed to the British charge d'affaires in RussiaMOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. The United Kingdom is providing the Kiev regime with "increasingly multifaceted support and assistance," thereby risking becoming a de jure party to the Ukraine conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters. According to him, by providing the Kiev regime with "unrestrained and increasingly multifaceted assistance and support," London is directly violating "a number of legally and politically binding documents, both bilateral and multilateral." "The UK has thereby...

War fever is ramping up again across Europe. This has happened several times in the four and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine, usually coinciding with important national elections — particularly those in Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, and Germany — when certain domestic political parties have been demonized as “pro-Putin” and “security threats” to the rest of Europe. The war drums also get loud whenever increased military budgets are being debated within the governments of the Scandinavian and Baltic states, Finland, Germany, and Poland, as well as the European Commission. The ebb and flow of political battle cries against...

Former Trump staffer Michael Caputo endured a decade of lawfare that he says forced him out of his home and gave him cancer from all the stress. But just when he thought the Russiagate nightmare was over, he was slapped in the face this month with a lawsuit cooked up by a former DOJ lawyer from the “national security” unit that hounded him and other Trump associates over alleged foreign agent violations without laying a single charge. It’s a simple $100,000 contract dispute case, but Jack Korba, formerly a prosecutor in the small national security section of the District of...

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continues to greatly exaggerate the extent of Russian advances across the frontline to construct a false narrative of Russian battlefield progress for domestic and international audiences... The Russian MoD claimed on September 19 that Russian forces have seized over 5,300 square kilometers and more than 220 settlements in Ukraine since the start of 2026, including over 670 square kilometers and 27 settlements so far in September 2026. ISW has observed evidence to assess that Russian forces have seized only 147.7 square kilometers and 40 settlements, but have lost a net of 20 settlements in...

EXCLUSIVE: A nonpublic Russian government document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital reveals how Moscow sought to deepen its relationship with Iran far beyond conventional trade — laying out plans for alternative financial channels, nuclear cooperation, Iranian production of Russian aircraft components, major energy projects and new transportation routes stretching toward the Persian Gulf. The 44-page Russian-language document, titled "Plan for Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2024-2026," is marked "For official use" and was approved on the Russian side on Sept. 2, 2024. It assigns ministries, agencies and state companies responsibility for...

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that some European leaders are openly preparing for war with Russia, accusing them of escalating tensions while ignoring their own citizens. Speaking during a meeting of Russia’s Military-Industrial Commission, Putin claimed that NATO continues to expand and that European governments are using the alleged Russian threat to justify increased military spending and cover up failures in economic and social policy. “Some European leaders openly say they are preparing for war with Russia,” Putin said, according to Interfax. Putin also insisted that Moscow has “no aggressive intentions” toward European countries and said Russia remains prepared...

Not this. Not again. A Russian disinformation campaign is doctoring celebrity videos to meddle in the midterms – MSNBC The Kremlin-backed operation, known as Matryoshka, has Hollywood actors telling voters to disavow the Democratic Party and vote Republican MSNBC (MSNOW/Whatever) found some fake videos of actors attacking Democrats. None of the videos seem to actually promote voting for Republicans. With the advent of AI, it doesn’t take that much ability to produce something like this. AI voice cloning and video fakes are widely available. Maybe this came out of Russia, but it could just as easily have come out of...

A coalition of British peace and faith organisations has launched a campaign demanding that the Government rule out any return to military conscription, as heightened tensions with Russia intensify debate over Britain’s military preparedness. Thirteen organisations, including ForcesWatch, the Peace Pledge Union and Quakers in Britain, are backing a petition calling for ministers to reject compulsory military service or any form of national service involving the armed forces. The campaign comes as the UK faces renewed discussion over the size and resilience of its armed forces. The Conservatives have previously proposed a national service scheme, while Labour has expanded opportunities...

Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized Moscow's plan to open additional polling stations for elections to the Russian State Duma in the unrecognized Transnistrian region. According to Ukrinform, NewsMaker stated this in an article. "The opening by Russia of an additional 16 polling stations in the Transnistrian region for elections to the Russian State Duma is unacceptable without the consent of Moldova's constitutional authorities," the diplomats said. The Moldovan Foreign Ministry was responding to a statement by Vadim Krasnoselsky, leader of the unrecognized Transnistrian region, who said that 17 polling stations would be opened in Transnistria for the Russian...

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...

Andrey Klepach, one of Russia’s top economists, has been replaced as chief economist of the country’s national development bank shortly after a speech was made public in which he reportedly said Russia’s economy was being damaged by the war in Ukraine. Russia’s state news agency TASS confirmed Sunday that Klepach “no longer holds the position of chief economist at VEB,” one of Russia’s largest banks, but did not give a reason for his departure. A new candidate has been selected and will be appointed soon, TASS added. VEB repeated the same statement to CNN. That announcement came two days after...

Ukraine on Sunday launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Russia since the start of the war, firing hundreds of drones and killing at least six people. A separate attack sparked a fire at a warehouse owned by the Russian online retail giant Wildberries in the town of Podolsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia is preparing to bring an additional 30,000 North Korean troops into its war against Ukraine, a move that would dramatically expand Pyongyang's direct involvement in the conflict if confirmed. "We also see Russia's cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops," Zelensky said in his nightly video address, according to Reuters. He added that preparations to receive the troops had been underway since June in Russia's Voronezh region. The claim comes nearly two years after North Korea first sent troops to support Moscow under a growing...

In the skies over eastern Ukraine, an aging F-16 fighter jet has reportedly scored a rare victory against one of Russia’s most advanced warplanes, the Su-35. The US has finally confirmed what the Ukrainians claimed earlier this month: a Ukrainian F-16 fighter, donated by NATO, may have downed a Russian Su-35 Flanker-E, the backbone of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). “I want to highlight the incredible work that the Ukrainian industrial base is doing. It ranges from their surface-to-air capabilities to their air-to-air capabilities. I’ll note that recently we had the first air-to-air kill where a Ukrainian F-16 shot down...

Days after Lithuania said its intelligence services had caught Russia preparing sabotage against the infrastructure that ties the Baltics to Europe, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys drew a public line. If those plans are carried out, he said, Vilnius will not treat the results as accidents. “If there is damage, or if there are casualties, it will be treated as an act of aggression, with all the due consequences,” Mr. Budrys said in an interview with The Washington Times at the foreign ministry. That means, he added, “not only the country’s self-defense but the collective defense of the alliance.” The warning,...

The Ukrainian Air Force says a "serious shortage" of interceptor missiles meant none of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia at Kyiv on Sunday night were shot down. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for allies to take "strong decisions" at this week's Nato summit to provide Kyiv with air defences. After the strikes, he said the Ukrainian military had been successful in intercepting cruise missiles and drones – but not ballistic missiles. Zelensky warned that Moscow would continue to hit residential buildings as long as defensive Patriot missiles "remain in our allies' stockpiles".

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Kyiv and Moscow's troops were still battling for the key eastern town of Kostyantynivka, which the Kremlin has claimed it has captured. Moscow earlier this week announced it had taken the outpost -- on the way to important hubs in the Donetsk region -- but Kyiv has denied that as a "lie", saying that it is defending the town. "Fighting is also continuing for Kostyantynivka, which (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin has already claimed as his own, but it is obvious that he will never dare to appear there," Zelensky said in his daily evening...

Ukraine and Germany have formed a joint working group to discuss how to return Ukrainian men of military age who left the country illegally, according to Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev. As of late May, Germany hosted approximately 1.35 million Ukrainian refugees, including 356,000 men between the ages of 18 and 63. However, the specific mechanisms currently under discussion have not been disclosed. The development followed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s April remarks that Berlin would limit the number of Ukrainian men seeking asylum and facilitate their return home during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Germany. The ambassador outlined broader...

While news reports have focused on the Middle East for most of 2026, the war in Ukraine has intensified and its potential for continental spillover increased. Also, there is evidence suggesting the globalists are fomenting escalation. Writers for the Council on Foreign Relations say that America should prepare to join Central and Western Europe in an eventual war against Russia. A Russian spokesperson recently appeared on a popular American podcast saying that, at this rate, the conflict is indeed heading toward another world war.State-controlled Russian media reported on Friday that a Ukrainian drone attack killed five Russian civilians and injured...