Free Republic

Ukraine has run out of missiles for the US-made Patriot air defense system, leaving it more vulnerable to Russian ballistic missile attacks, a source familiar with the situation told CNN on Thursday. The stark development comes amid an increasingly bitter public feud between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. In recent days, the White House struck a highly criticized deal to import Russian diesel and heaped increasing pressure on Ukraine to halt its strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure. Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has since announced Ukraine...

As President Donald Trump and his administration have ratcheted up pressure on Ukraine to stop striking Russian refineries, citing harm to American consumers, they have remained silent on recent Russian strikes on US businesses in Ukraine. Russia has escalated its attacks on facilities tied to American corporations – and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine writ large – over the past several months. According to Andy Hunder, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Russian missiles and drones have damaged facilities belonging to some of America’s most notable brands, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, McDonalds and Oreo. Although Russia has tried...

Ukrainian military officials allege that SpaceX interrupted military-grade Starlink terminals, which prevented Kyiv from using them to guide drone strikes.Serhiy Beskrestnov, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Telegram that the country's defense forces didn't receive a warning from SpaceX concerning the interruption, Reuters reported. Poland pays for Ukrainian Starlink subscriptions on Kyiv's behalf, and Polish ⁠Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X about the interruption. "Hey, @elonmusk, ‌big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you," Sikorski wrote. The U.S. has reportedly threatened to cut...