Free Republic

A 2019 Rand Corporation study commissioned by the US Army laid out exactly what the plan to undermine and weaken Russia through military support would be. The study suggested arming Ukraine, imposing sanctions on Russia, ramping up economic warfare, and taking a more aggressive and militaristic posture toward the United States international rival - all while warning this could lead to a military invasion of Ukraine. ...

A four-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome has become the latest innocent victim of Putin's war in Ukraine after she was killed in her pram by a Russian cruise missile which also left her mother fighting for life. Liza Dmitrieva was accompanying mother Irina on a day out in the city of Vinnystya - in western Ukraine, hundreds of miles from the nearest frontline - when a Russian Kalibre missile launched from a submarine in the Black Sea crashed down on top of them around 10.50am local time. The pink pram that Liza had been filmed pushing an hour earlier was...

VLADIMIR Putin appeared confused and out of breath as he wheezed his way through his latest speech, threatening the West with nuclear weapons. The Russian president seemed to struggle to catch his breath and paused several times during the address to politicians, stumbling over his words and looking exhausted. At one stage, he appears breathless and stuttering, while on two other occasions, he seems to take quick gasps for air.

In revealing testimony before the Duma parliament, the head of CBR told she had to throw everything but the kitchen sink just to prevent a full-blown run on the banking system. “The sanctions imposed against Russia affected the situation in the financial sector, spurred the demand for foreign currencies, and caused fire sales of financial assets, a cash outflow from banks, and surging demand for goods,” said Elvira Nabiullina ... Presenting the CBR’s annual report to parliament, Nabiullina painted a picture to lawmakers of just how grim the situation was that confronted her. Depositors withdrew 2.4 trillion rubles in the...

Pavlyuk, 53, was a surviving resident of besieged Ukrainian town where gruesome evidence of killings and torture has come to light following withdrawal of Russian forces. He told when Russian troops came they killed all the men who were younger than 50, including two of Pavlyuk's friends. Pavlyuk was given 20 minutes to bury them. He showed shallow graves he hastily dug, each marked with a plank of wood topped with a religious icon. He wanted to give whatever dignity he could. "But it's too shallow," Pavlyuk said. "I just wanted to protect them from the dogs." Pavlyuk and other...

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said the situation in Borodianka was "significantly more dreadful" than nearby Bucha, where Russian forces' killing of civilians has been broadly condemned. In Borodianka, 60 km (37 miles) northwest of Kyiv, families looking for relatives watched diggers search through rubble of an apartment. The building was charred the middle section razed to the ground leaving a gaping hole. "My mother, my brother, brother’s wife, his mother and father-in-law, are still there, as well as other people who were in the basement," said resident Vadym Zagrebelnyi. "But there were other people on the upper floors with children. I...

Once-bustling highways on the outskirts of Kyiv have now become a graveyard for scores of Vladimir Putin's tanks as the Ukrainians continue their successful counterattacks around the capital. Columns of Russian armoured vehicles have been reduced to rubble as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops continue to repel Russian forces, and in some instances recapture roads and settlements near to Kyiv. As Ukrainian units advance, they're met with burned-out tanks and heavily-armoured personnel transport vehicles that line the roads once populated by commuters that would have been heading in or out of the capital. But far more grisly finds are being discovered...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday on FNC’s “Special Report” that he needed the United States to send more weapons to fight off Russia’s invasion. Via translator, Zelensky said, “Powerful weapons are needed. Heavy weapons will give us an opportunity to talk with them at the negotiation table.”

WHEN VLADIMIR PUTIN ordered Russian troops into Ukraine he was not alone in thinking victory would be swift. Many Western analysts also expected Kyiv, the capital, to fall within 72 hours. Ukrainian valour and ingenuity confounded those assumptions. As the war enters its sixth week, the side that is contemplating victory is not Russia but Ukraine—and it would be a victory that redraws the map of European security. Speaking to The Economist in Kyiv on March 25th, President Volodymyr Zelensky explained how people power is the secret to Ukraine’s resistance and why the war is shifting in his nation’s favour....

This brief summarizes a report that comprehensively examines nonviolent, cost-imposing options that the United States and its allies could pursue across economic, political, and military areas to stress—overextend and unbalance—Russia’s economy and armed forces and the regime's political standing at home and abroad. Some of the options examined are clearly more promising than others, but any would need to be evaluated in terms of the overall U.S. strategy for dealing with Russia, which neither the report nor this brief has attempted to do.The maxim that “Russia is never so strong nor so weak as it appears” remains as true in...

Russian state television has broadcast an extraordinary rant about the state of the war in Ukraine, warning Vladimir Putin’s regime faces “final and complete defeat”. Yakov Kedmi, an Israeli-Russian pundit and former diplomat, is usually a reliably pro-Kremlin voice. But in an appearance on the prime time show Tonight with Vladimir Soloviyev, he was remarkably negative about the situation in Ukraine. Mr Kedmi said Russia could not afford to compromise on the initial goal of its invasion, which was to take major Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, and overthrow the government. In his view, anything less than that –...

In Germany's Lower Saxony and Bavaria, citizens are now barred from publicly displaying the letter "Z," which has become a symbol used by the Russian army during the war. Anyone who displays the symbol at demonstrations or publicly showcases it on cars or buildings could now face a fine or up to three years in jail, according to the Moscow Times. "It is incomprehensible to me how this symbol 'Z' could be used in our country to condone this crime," Boris Pistorius, Lower Saxony's interior minister, said in a statement, according to the news outlet. Similarly, Bavaria's Justice Minister Georg...

The mayor of Irpin, near Kyiv, said on Monday Ukrainian forces had seized back full control of the town which has been one of the main hotspots of fighting with Russian troops near the capital. "We have good news today - Irpin has been liberated," Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said in a video post on Telegram. "We understand that there will be more attacks on our town and we will defend it courageously."

Do you like Nestle chocolate? A lot of us grew up with Nestle and Hershey as the go-to chocolates when we were kids. This article gives @Nestle and other companies being attacked by Ukraine through Anonymous an opportunity to reclaim lost revenue and seek justice against the people extorting them and damaging their country’s economies. A few days ago, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his disdain for the company by saying neutral Switzerland ISN’T a good European country. “‘Good food. Good life.’ This is the slogan of Nestlé. Your company that refuses to leave Russia,” Zelensky said Saturday during an address...

Vladimir Putin's troops only have enough food, fuel and ammunition for another three days of fighting in Ukraine, Kyiv's generals claimed today, as attacks on the besieged city of Mariupol were turned back and offensives elsewhere in the country remained stalled. Logistical failings by Russian forces including their inability to establish a fuel pipeline to supply troops at the front has left them facing the imminent prospect of running out, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed in their morning update. Meanwhile British intelligence said attempts by Moscow to capture the southern city of Mariupol - seen...

It is known that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu removed Lieutenant General Vladislav Yershov from his duties. He was the commander of the 6th Combined Arms Army of the country. According to preliminary data, 2,000 servicemen were missing from the 6th Army alone. Of these, about 180 people are conscript soldiers. It is known that now General Eroshov is under house arrest. [google translation]

Russian troops in Ukraine lack proper cold weather clothing and some have been taken out of the fight by frostbite, a senior U.S. defense official revealed on Tuesday. The official cited it as another example of how Moscow had failed to adequately prepare for the invasion of Ukraine, along with continuing fuel, ammunition and food shortages. Nearly a month into the war, Russian troops have failed to seize a single major city and their advance has been halted on nearly all fronts by staunch Ukrainian defense. Now Ukrainian forces are preparing to retake captured territory as Russian forces battle declining...

Russian troops are retreating after being repelled from a strategic Kyiv suburb, Ukraine has claimed, in a move which could stop Vladimir Putin's forces from surrounding the capital. Ukraine’s armed forces said Moscow has lost its 'offensive potential' and reinforcements were being called in from the 'depths' of Russia to help them capture Makariv, a city located 37 miles from Kyiv. Ukrainian forces have been fighting back in Makariv in order to prevent Russian forces from surrounding the capital. The armed forces claimed the 'heroic actions of our defenders' have forced Russian troops back while a counterattack in the south...

Russia is continuing to suffer high-profile military losses, with a GRU military intelligence spy the latest killed in Putin's stalling invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has so far seen the loss of 12 commanders including three key generals, and military experts have slammed their bizarre tactics. Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, is the latest major casualty after he was killed in the carnage in Mariupol, but the Russians have given no details of how he was killed. Russia said in a statement following Glushchak's death: 'Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of...

Pink Floyd are removing the later era of their catalog from digital music services in Russia and Belarus. "To stand with the world in strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the works of Pink Floyd, from 1987 onwards, and all of David Gilmour's solo recordings are being removed from all digital music providers in Russia and Belarus from today," the band tweeted Friday. The three affected Pink Floyd were released after the exit of co-founding bassist Roger Waters: 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, 1994’s The Division Bell and 2014’s The Endless River. Gilmour has released four solo records: 1978’s...