Free Republic

The outspoken founder of the Wagner mercenary group complained that Vladimir Putin has cut off all contact with him following his constant demands for more ammunition for his fighters in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering mogul and Putin’s long-time ally, said in a message on his Telegram channel Thursday that he has been unable to get through to anyone at the Kremlin. The apparent silent treatment came after Prigozhin publicly called on the Russian Ministry of Defense to supply ammunition to his mercenaries fighting to capture the key city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has seen some of the...

A Russian officer fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine released a defiant video saying that he and whatever was left of his decimated platoon were refusing to follow orders after being forced to attack settlements without any training. The recording, which spread on Telegram channels this week, shed light on the purported chaos within the ranks of Vladimir Putin’s draftees mobilized in Ukraine. In the brief video, a man in a baseball cap who introduces himself as a senior lieutenant stands in front of a group of about 10 soldiers assembled in a bare room with a single light...

Graphic drone footage appears to show dozens of Russian armored vehicles getting ambushed and destroyed during a single botched attack near the coal-mining town of Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow’s forces have been trying to capture for months. Vuhledar, a Ukrainian stronghold at the strategic intersection between the eastern and southern front lines, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the war as the Kremlin is gearing up for a decisive offensive on the eastern front. Based on the newly released video evidence, a column of dozens of tanks and armored vehicles was lost or damaged last week,...