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Panicked Russian soldiers are abandoning their tanks, weapons and even clothes as they "literally run from their positions" in the face of a shock Ukrainian offensive, soldiers have told The Telegraph. A Ukrainian intelligence unit on the front line said the Russian chain of command was broken and soldiers were fleeing without putting up a fight, many of them changing into civilian clothes to avoid detection. A drone operator returning from the front line on Sunday also told The Telegraph that the speed of the offensive had even taken their own army by surprise, with troops struggling to recover the...

Negotiations Russia "does not reject" negotiations with Ukraine, but there are some "delays that complicate the process" of negotiations. This was said by Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov quoted by Tass. In an interview with Rossiya-1 television, Lavrov reported that Vladimir Putin convened a meeting with the Duma, the lower house of parliament, and leaders of the different factions. "The president told the participants that we do not reject negotiations," Lavrov stressed, but he accused the Ukrainians of delaying the process of negotiations. Kiev, Putin said again according to Lavrov's account, "should understand that the longer it delays the process, the...

US military aid has been key to Ukraine's effective defense against Russia's renewed invasion. Most of those weapons have come from US military stocks, but some are coming straight from the design table. The Phoenix Ghost tactical unmanned aerial system is one of them. In late April, the Pentagon announced it would send 121 Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine. According to the Pentagon, the US Air Force had been working on the Phoenix Ghost well before Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24. However, once the war started, the Pentagon decided that the drone would be well suited...

Chinese president Xi Jinping has set a timeline for his nation's military to be capable of taking Taiwan by 2027 — just five years from now. Recent events in the Taiwan strait have some questioning the strategic situation and prospects of a near-term invasion. Colin H. Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said that while China is very interested in expanding its sphere of political and military influence in the Indo-Pacific region, it's likely going to be more cautious when it comes to a move as aggressive as an invasion of Taiwan. "I do not think that China wants...

President Joe Biden has approved another big spending package on arms for Ukraine, this one worth nearly $3 billion. He justified the expenditure with the usual lofty rhetoric: “Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.” This, after toadying up to the criminally aggressive Saudi dictatorship. Kiev warrants support. But what is the administration’s strategy? To fuel the war as long as governments are willing to fight and people are willing to die? Ukraine...

Just before 11 a.m. Moscow Standard Time on March 1, after a night of Russian strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, a set of Russian-language Twitter accounts spread a lie that Ukraine was fabricating civilian casualties. (snip) Late last month, the network of accounts shifted to focus almost exclusively on Ukraine, echoing similar narratives and content across accounts and platforms. A popular post by the account @QR_Kod accused the Ukrainian military of using civilians as human shields. Another post by @QR_Kod portrayed Ukraine as provoking Russia at the behest of its NATO masters. Both tweets received hundreds of likes...

Russia expects the price of its natural gas exports will more than double this year compared to a year ago, according to an economy ministry forecast seen by Reuters. This year's average price is now seen at $730 per 1,000 cubic meters, up 140% from 2021 and up 39% from the Kremlin's previous forecast for 2022. European gas prices have skyrocketed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine as state-run energy giant Gazprom reduces flows via the Nord Stream pipeline. After this year, Russia sees its gas export prices retreating to $471.8 in 2023 per 1,000 cubic meters, $383.9 in 2024 and...

Update(11:40): One thing in particular that Russian President Putin harped on in his speech before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok was that his country has 'lost nothing' in launching the "special operation" in neighboring Ukraine: "We have not lost anything and will not lose anything," Putin said. "In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty."Putin conceded, however, that Moscow's decision to send troops into Ukraine had created a "certain polarization, both in the world and within the country."Below: screenshot of Europe freezing from eerie Gazprom videoHowever,...

ussian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday doubled down on threats to cut off all energy supplies to Western countries if they impose price caps on its oil and gas exports, ratcheting tensions and escalating Europe’s energy crisis as Moscow struggles to supply its military under sweeping sanctions. Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok, a port city in Russia’s far east, Putin said Russia would walk away from its supply contracts if price caps are imposed on the country’s energy exports, Reuters reported.

The Pentagon is preparing detailed analysis and working out how to support Ukraine's military in the medium and long term, including after the war with Russia has ended, according to three defense officials. The efforts are being led by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and would build on the billions of dollars in military aid the US has given to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. The process is at an early stage and a senior defense official said it is looking at the "future of Ukrainian forces," aiming to answer key questions about "what...

[G]athered in a basement on a quiet, tree-lined street, the Belarusians preparing to leave Warsaw to join the Ukrainian army look more like a bunch of computer programmers getting ready for a long car trip. Maybe that’s because they are a bunch of computer programmers—or anyway, some of them are—gathered in a basement on a quiet, tree-lined street, getting ready for a long car trip...If they are identified, members of their families could be visited, harassed, even arrested by the Belarusian police. “Our relatives are hostages,” one of them told me. Already, mothers of Belarusian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have...

Last night Politico Europe published an interesting story about where Russia is starting to feel the pinch as it tries to keep its war machine going. Despite sanctions, Russia has managed to keep selling lots of oil and that has kept its economy from collapsing. But while it has lots of cash on hand it’s not so easy to import supplies of high tech chips that are needed for its weapons of war. In order to find those parts, Russia has put together a shopping list.Having fired off (or lost in combat) way more of their missile firepower than they...

What is the scale of the energy challenge?We got a very shocking sense of the staggering numbers involved in the existential, crippling European crisis earlier today when Norwegian energy giant Equinor echoed what Zoltan Pozsar said in March, warning that “European energy trading risks grinding to a halt unless governments extend liquidity to cover margin calls of at least $1.5 trillion." As Bloomberg put it, in its best non-Zoltan imitation, "aside from inflating bills and fanning inflation, the biggest energy crisis in decades is sucking up capital to guarantee trades amid wild price swings. That’s putting pressure on European Union...

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).

Joe Biden has made his obsession with President Trump known, most recently through his hellishly lit Mussolini-meltdown speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia last week, manically painting Trump and all his voters as "threats to the republic."Heil #Shitler pic.twitter.com/sgOS2nx6w0 — Badabing (@bada_b1ng1) September 2, 2022He may be doddering and insentient, but he still burns bright against his potential opponent in the 2024 presidential race, which even Democrats don't want him to get involved with. On Trump, Biden's as obsessed with Trump as Stalin was with Trotsky.So it comes to light that not only has Biden tried to smear Trump as...

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the bookmakers' favorite to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the Kremlin is unlikely to be betting on a different British approach to relations with Moscow, or the war in Ukraine, should she take over from incumbent Boris Johnson. Although enjoying less support among fellow Conservative Party MPs, Truss's greater popularity among grassroots Tories than Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final run-off has seen Betfair put her odds-on 4/6 to win. If successful, she will be the face of the British response to the war in Ukraine during which she...

When it comes to fumblin,' stumblin' and bumblin', Joe Biden is in a class of his own. When it comes to being a pernicious liar teetering on the brink of complete mental collapse, the demons from hell would not defend him as being mentally and emotionally stable. He's not! This shows just how dishonest and manipulative the mainstream media try to be. Biden cannot put his pants on without pictures on sticky notes to guide him. But, enough of my pointing out the obvious; let me discuss his Philadelphia debacle. It couldn't have been more crude and disgusting if Hillary...

Yesterday, Medvedev posted a rant on his messaging app (for some reason) in which he accused the United States and NATO of plotting to “break up” the Russian Federation. But he warned that even if the alleged plot succeeded, the result would be “doomsday,” and any country attempting it would be engaged in a “chess game with Death.” And I think we all know what that means. (Associated Press)

Father of the Year and alleged President Joe Biden is busy trying to rile up his base of weirdos, adjunct professors, gender studies grads, government timeservers, sexually unsatisfied wine women and their sexually unsatisfying life partners. That’s why Dork Brandon pulled one of my favorites out of his Big Duffel Bag O’ Hack Cliches, the old “Your puny guns are no match against the awesome power of the US military which I will use to kill you for dissenting!” narrative. Okay, fine. Let’s go over this again for the knuckleheads who think that they prevail if they step outside the...

Mansur was 13 when Russian soldiers destroyed his village of Samashki during Chechnya's first war for independence against Russia. Wielding flamethrowers, the Russians burned Mansur's neighbors alive in their homes, threw grenades into basements and executed men. Four years later, a truce disintegrated, and Mansur was back at war. He says he was never the same after. "Russia ruined everything I had. I grew up with war, and the war shaped me in all respects," Mansur, 40, says matter-of-factly. Mansur is one of more than 200,000 Chechens who fled to Turkey and Europe throughout the 2000s during a second war...