Free Republic

Eight months after Russia captured Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall when Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded in February, Moscow’s grip on the city appears to be slipping as many of those who have refused Russia’s calls to evacuate anxiously wait for their city to be liberated. “The city feels somewhat abandoned. Everyone who sympathised with Russia has fled, and the rest are stocking up on food,” said Anastasya, an elderly woman who evacuated her son at the beginning of the war but decided to stay in Kherson to take care of her three cats and two dogs. The...

Natalia Chorna had warned her more outspoken twin sister to be careful after Russian forces occupied their home town of Skadovsk near Kherson, southern Ukraine, in February. But Tetyana Mudryenko found it hard to keep her anger about the war to herself. Last month, Mudryenko paid the ultimate penalty for proclaiming Skadovsk Ukrainian territory. According to several witnesses, she was dragged into the street by the self-appointed pro-Moscow authorities and hanged in a public execution. “In occupied Skadovsk, you can’t have your own opinion,” said Chorna, 56. As Ukraine pursues its counteroffensive in Kherson and Russia forcibly relocates tens of...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday cast Russia's war in Ukraine as a sacred conflict with Satan, warning that Moscow could send all its enemies to the eternal fires of Gehenna. -snip- Medvedev, who once cast himself as a liberal moderniser as president from 2008 to 2012, said Moscow was fighting "crazy Nazi drug addicts" in Ukraine backed by Westerners who he said had "saliva running down their chins from degeneracy". -snip- In a message marking Russia's Day of National Unity, Medvedev said the task of the fatherland was to "stop the supreme ruler of Hell, whatever name he...

Xi Jinping issued rebuke of Putin's war in Ukraine during summit in Beijing Chinese leader warned Kremlin not to use nuclear weapons in the conflict Xi also urged Germany's Olaf Scholz to push for peace talks as pair met While Xi did not name Putin directly, call for Russia to withdraw, or blame Moscow for the war, it is none-the-less his strongest criticism so far Xi Jinping has issued a direct warning to Putin not to use nukes in Ukraine in China's bluntest rebuke yet to the Kremlin. In the early days of the war, China's foreign ministry repeated Russian...

Putin sacks ANOTHER top general, Western officials say Russia is in advanced stages of planning retreat from Kherson, officials believe 'Reinforcements' are actually conscripts designed to cover the retreat, they said If retreat happens, Russia will try to play it off as 'evacuation' to protect civilians Meanwhile Russian General Lapin has 'probably' been sacked, officials added Russia is planning to retreat from the city of Kherson and play it off as a civilian evacuation, Western officials said today. Putin's troops are in the advanced stages of preparing for the retreat, the officials said, having moved conscripts into the city to...

Vladimir Putin's conscripts have been filmed drunkenly battering each other in an alcohol-fuelled brawl at a training barracks ahead of their deployment to the battlefields of Ukraine. An extraordinary leaked video shows the 'drunk' soldiers punching each other, with some ending up unconscious on the floor during the fight at the barracks in Yurga, Siberia. The video shows Putin's army intelligence and military police dragging the unconscious troops, who are from the 74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, along the street and away from the bloody brawl. The footage tallies with reports of low morale and drunkenness among Russian recruits and...

Now Moscow claims that Britain's ROYAL NAVY blew up Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines as Ministry of Defence says 'invented' slur 'says more about arguments going on inside Russia's government' Russian defence ministry said UK's Navy helped plan and implement the 'attack' Also claimed the same troops were responsible for a drone attack this morning British Ministry of Defence said Moscow has 'resorted to peddling false claims' Nord Stream pipes exploded last month, leading to four gas leaks in Baltic Sea Russia's army has accused the British Navy of being 'involved' in explosions on the Nord Stream gas...

Warns we have entered the most dangerous decade since WW2 Putin laid out thoughts on foreign policy in a rambling speech in Moscow, accusing West of fanning flames of war in Ukraine He also accused the West of rejecting his peace plan and stoking tensions over Taiwan Blamed westerners for causing global food crisis, in what appeared to be an appeal to allies in China and Africa It is the latest in series of bitter speeches Putin has given since invading Ukraine on February 24 this year Russian leader, laying out his warped view of global politics, accused westerners of...

Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded the West on Thursday for playing what he cast as a "dangerous, bloody and dirty" geopolitical game, but said the United States and its allies would ultimately have to talk to Russia. "Power over the world is what the so-called West has put on the line in its game - but the game is dangerous, bloody and I would say dirty," Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club. "The sower of the wind, as they say, will reap the storm."

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has slammed Russia's 'weak' attacks on Ukraine in the latest show of high profile dissent from one of Vladimir Putin's biggest cheerleaders. The colonel general ordered Kremlin troops to 'wipe out Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth' in a chilling video message on Telegram. The head of the Chechen Republic said Russia should respond with fire and fury to the surge in counterattacks on its border regions. His dire threats come as Moscow doubled down on its warning that Kyiv is preparing to use a 'dirty bomb', amid fears the Kremlin could stage a...

Across Ukraine, Putin’s forces are in retreat. Except in the eastern town of Bakhmut - where Russian billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin is sacrificing thousands of his Wagner mercenaries in an attempt to retake the town. This suicidal advance is at first glance strategically insignificant – but as this video explains it could be part of Prigozhin’s attempt to grab more power. VIDEO at UK Daily Mail

A Russian state TV host recently said Ukrainian children should be drowned and burned in huts, leading to his suspension from the network. “Just drown those children,” said RT presenter Anton Krasovsky, adding with a smile, “Shove them right into those huts and burn them up.” He was interviewing science fiction author Sergey Lukyanenko, who said when he visited Ukraine in 1980, children told him the country was “occupied by” Russians and, if not for that, “they would live like France.” Krasovsky said “whoever says” Russians occupied them, “you throw them in the river with a strong undercurrent.”

'Progressive' Democrats have been slammed for penning an open letter to Joe Biden calling on him to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine with Vladimir Putin. Thirty left-wing politicians - among them Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar - wrote to Biden on Monday saying that 'direct talks with Russia' to 'seek a rapid end to the conflict' should be his 'top priority'.