Free Republic

Public sentiment is turning against Zelensky amid corruption concerns and weariness with his rule. For most of his presidency and especially since Russia launched its full-scale war, Ukrainian voters have rallied around Volodymyr Zelensky as a pillar of national resilience and unity. That’s for good reason: But now, after more than seven years in office, four and a half years of war with Russia, and a series of scandals involving his leadership team and close friends, Zelensky appears to have lost the nation’s political support. Indeed, polling published in early August points to a major mood swing among Ukrainians, suggesting...

Hungary has blocked Ukraine’s EU accession process for a third time, with the government saying it will only lift its objection if Kyiv makes progress on the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority. The latest dispute emerged at the European Council’s Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession (COELA), which held its first meeting after the summer recess on Tuesday, 1 September. According to Ukrainska Pravda citing European Pravda’s sources in Brussels, Hungary refused to approve the screening results for Ukraine’s second and third negotiating clusters. Without unanimous support from all 27 EU member states, the Council cannot move...

The [Russian] Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense plan to launch a joint project in the coming weeks to identify future participants in the Special Military Operation [war in Ukraine] among high school seniors. “On this momentous day, September 1, I want to share some important and good news with you. We are beginning a search among high school seniors—students in their graduating classes—for reliable, patriotic, and conscientious young men and women who could strengthen our army and join the Special Military Operation shortly after graduating from high school. Over the course of the school year, we will...

Hunter Biden identified as a “little bit gay” in a recent podcast interview dominated by talk about his sexuality. The former first son, 56, who’s married to Melissa Cohen, made the revealing remarks on an Aug. 16 episode of the Luke Beasley Show podcast. Beasley asked Biden, “Are you gay?” early on in the interview. Former President Joe Biden’s son replied: “Only a little bit.” Beasley then asked if Hunter was “more or less than 50 percent” gay – and the ex-first son said, “48.6 percent.” The podcaster then wanted to know if he’d be Hunter’s “type.” “A little bit...

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged continued support for Iran on Tuesday as the United States launched a new round of strikes against Iranian targets, highlighting the increasingly close relationship between Moscow and Tehran as President Donald Trump intensifies military and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic. *** The Post reported that Pezeshkian thanked Putin for Russia's support and urged the two countries to work together to counter U.S. sanctions. Putin said Russia was providing Iran with assistance and essential goods, according to the Post's account of the meeting. The Kremlin's support for Tehran came as U.S. forces launched a new...

Hunter Biden acknowledged in a new interview that his lucrative board appointments, including one at Ukrainian energy company Burisma, helped finance his crack cocaine addiction. “I never went broke,” Biden boasted on the “Dopey” podcast, after describing a two-month-long bender at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Calif., where the former first son said he tried to “go out with a bang.” “Dopey” host Dave Manheim asked Biden how he was able to “scrape the money together” for the cocaine and prostitutes and private bungalows at the luxurious Chateau Marmont. “Well, I still had the residual. Like for instance, I still...

More than 113,000 Russians crossed into Georgia via the Upper Lars checkpoint last week amid growing fears the Kremlin is preparing to announce a new mobilization wave, Politico reported on Aug. 28. The spike in border crossings comes as the Kremlin undertakes increasingly aggressive recruitment measures, expands data collection on military reservists, and broadens the mandate for the National Guard, all of which have fueled speculation of an imminent call-up. Earlier, Ukraine's Presidential Office issued a warning on Aug. 27, saying that Russia plans to mobilize 600,000 recruits over 2026 and 2027, with 300,000 to be called up this year...

The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack. The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. In the...

Delaware Sen. Chris Coons is facing backlash after declaring that the United States is "no longer" the leader of the free world and pointing instead to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the national leader putting his country "on the line for freedom." "I would say we are no longer the leaders of the free world. In fact, if anything, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the primary national leader who is putting his country's men and women on the line for freedom," Coons said during a town hall earlier this month. "We need to earn our place back as leader in the free...

Ratcliffe declassified an intel report revealing Ukrainian officials viewed Biden family business deals 'as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power' Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would "strongly prefer" an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to "corrupt" business deals in the country "not be disseminated" — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly declassified email and records made public by the agency. CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of...

Former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg supports the idea of Ukraine extending general mobilization to include women, he said in an interview with Naspravdi MAX YouTube channel on Aug. 24. In the interview, Kellogg said he considers women’s military service an important part of civic duty.

In this episode of What the Ship, we break down the top five maritime stories as of late August 2026. From high-stakes salvage operations in the Pacific to escalating economic warfare in the Black Sea, global shipping is facing unprecedented challenges. We look at how these regional disruptions are redrawing trade maps, spiking freight rates, and ultimately impacting global inflation. What the Ship (Ep 146) | Starship 40 & SLNC York Hormuz, Black Sea & Chokepoint Chaos | Containers 30:26 | What's Going on With Shipping? 713K subscribers | 34,153 views | August 24, 2026

"Dana Bash speaks with former Vice President Mike Pence about the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the renewed threat of a trade war between the U.S. and Canada, and his reaction to his former CIA briefer - a trans woman - stating that he treated her with "great dignity." ...

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s son, Conor Kennedy, has been named on Russia’s international wanted list for fighting alongside the enemy in the Ukraine war, according to reports. The Basmanny District Court of Moscow authorized the younger Kennedy’s “arrest in absentia,” accusing him of acting as a mercenary for the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian state outlet TASS reported last week. He faces seven to 10 years in prison if captured, according to the outlet.

Every August, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Georgia is accompanied by familiar reflections about missed warning signs, intelligence failures, and a supposedly unexpected turning point in European security. The language has become so standardized that it obscures a far more uncomfortable reality. Georgia did not reveal a new Russia. It exposed a Russia that had been behaving consistently for nearly two decades while much of the West continued searching for evidence that Moscow had fundamentally changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Describing the failure to recognize this trajectory as a collection of mistakes understates what actually occurred....

State-owned VEB.RF (Vnesheconombank) has stated that Russia cannot win the economic confrontation with the West as long as Western countries continue to support Ukraine. According to him, the Russian economy is facing rising costs, falling investment, and technological lag, reports The Moscow Times. The bank's chief economist, Andrei Klepach, said during a session of the Nikitsky Club that sanctions and the Western blockade are increasing the costs of the Russian economy, and that Ukrainian strikes on ports, infrastructure, chemical plants, and oil refineries are causing ever-greater damage to Russia. Klepach stated that Russia is losing the technological and economic competition...

Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, the official Joe Biden publicly threatened and forced out of office in 2016, claims in his book Biden’s Corruption and War: The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor that hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars connected to Ukraine were recycled through political interests and “globalist networks.” According to a Blaze Media column citing Shokin’s first-person account, massive sums of U.S. aid intended for Ukraine were recycled through political and globalist networks. He alleges $350 billion in American taxpayer money was diverted into these opaque channels amid the chaos of war. Arms...

A glamorous Russian escort has been charged with the assassination of a high-ranking Ukrainian defector who was blown up by a bomb in a trash can, according to reports. Margarita Reut, 32, was arrested in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea after Thursday’s blast killed Robert Shageev — an officer in the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet who was wanted for high treason, according to the Telegraph. The blast, allegedly carried out on Kyiv’s orders, killed the 49-year-old commander on the spot. Reut was quickly arrested and confessed, according to reports. She was remanded on a charge of terrorism leading to death, according...

Starting at this point in the video a young ukie living abroad shows threat letter from Kiev regime demanding that he return and enter the meat grinder

They might be finding surrender manuals in some of those French tanks and armored vehicles... Interesting story. Nobody really wants to die for truly wretched causes...