Free Republic

Russia went to war in Ukraine two years ago with twice as many artillery pieces as Ukraine had. But it isn’t the advantage in howitzers that really matters – it’s the advantage in shells. The Czechs found, for Ukraine, nearly a million shells precisely when Ukraine needed those million shells the most: at the peak of Russia’s winter offensive. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Czech artillery initiative probably saved entire Ukrainian cities, by giving the Ukrainian army the firepower to resist a much bigger Russian army. It’s no secret how Ukraine got into an artillery bind late...

An Israeli missile attack that killed a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force in Syria last week has sparked criticism of the military partnership between Russia and Iran. On 25 December, Seyyed Reza Mousavi, a key figure in shaping Iran's military presence in Syria, was killed in a missile strike on his residence in the Zainabiyah neighbourhood of Damascus. Although it wasn't the first time that Israel had targeted Iranian forces in Syria, this incident has drawn attention to Russia's failure to deploy its advanced S-300 anti-missile defence system in support of Iran, its primary...

Turkey has vowed to block two British Royal Navy ships intended for Ukraine to pass through its waters. Last month, Britain said it would transfer the two minehunter ships to the Ukrainian navy to help bolster its sea operations in its war with Russia. However, the Turkish presidency's communications directorate has now said it will not let the vessels through its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. When Russia first waged war on Ukraine in 2022, Turkey sparked an international agreement that blocks the passage of military ships through the passages for those at war. Today (Tuesday, January 2), the NATO member...

Update from Ukraine | Ukraine Targeted VIP Ruzzain officers in Donetsk | Great start of 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KSqTdRPd9I The reveal of 152nd Mechanized Brigade: 152nd Mechanized Brigade joins 151st, 153rd, 154th Mechanized Brigades and makes a public appearance. The brigade received its official insignia, motto – There shouldn’t be fear in us, and military unit number – A4948. https://militaryland.net/news/the-reveal-of-152nd-mechanized-brigade/ [NOTE: two summaries per week, released on Wednesday and Sunday] *** Great interactive maps with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

For people who don’t know, Christmas in Russia/Ukraine is a more traditional advent thing, and it’s not commercialized like in the West. It’s also on the 7th of January, because the Eastern Church uses the Julian (solar) calendar. So, New Year’s is the bigger celebration day of the period. They’ve even started with the Western-style gifts, but they do it on New Year’s, not on Christmas.

Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk region, wrote on Telegram that the city of Donetsk was subjected to heavy strikes on New Year's Eve, while a statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the assault on the city a "terrorist act" and alleged Kyiv's forces had targeted civilian infrastructure. Meanwhile, Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko reported in a Telegram post that members of the Russian "elite" based in occupied Donetsk were attending a New Year's dinner with guests from Moscow at the time of the attack... Pro-Ukrainian X user (((Tendar))) wrote that "accurate readings on what the casualties...

It gives me no joy to declare Vladimir Putin the geopolitical winner of the year. His position looks immeasurably stronger than a year ago. Kyiv’s much-vaunted counteroffensive has stalled; Mr. Putin’s economy has withstood Western sanctions; European resolve is fading; American support is fracturing. He took a wholly innocent and honorable Wall Street Journal reporter prisoner and will doubtless be rewarded for this piracy with another villain-for-hostage swap.

A former TV journalist and Ukraine War critic has been disqualified from running against Russian President Vladimir Putin in next year’s presidential election. Yekaterina Duntsova, 40, an independent politician who wanted to run on a platform to end the war with Ukraine, had her candidacy application unanimously rejected by the country’s electoral commission on Saturday, which cited "numerous violations" in the papers she had submitted. Duntsova had submitted her application on Wednesday having secured the endorsement of 500 supporters as required by Russian election law. The commission found 100 errors in her nomination papers, including mistakes in the spelling of...

Did you see what the Washington Post did to its banner on line? (They removed War in Ukraine link from their banner) This is just one more indicator that the Ukrainian fan-boy shop in Washington, DC is shutting down. Clicking on a current link filled with articles about the War in Ukraine is quite a downer if you are one of the Deep State gaggle infesting Washington, DC and who bought into the fantasy that Ukraine was winning the war. There is a torrent of new stories popping up all over the mainstream media and it is a symbolic tolling...

nato fops and neocon wankers have been aced, laced, re-aced, effaced, debased, disgraced, and erased... This is very much worse than Dunkirk; this is the biggest military debacle since the HMFIC of Tangut called Genghis Khan a limp wick. It's a terrible shame that the buffoons on our side responsible for this are not likely to be punished for it.

Ukraine is developing a “drowning not waving” problem. It is struggling to say clearly how badly the war is going. Giving a candid public assessment of how poorly a conflict is going can be an unwise move as it can result in morale and support draining. After Obama boosted troops in Afghanistan, public support declined over the years, in part because of a lack of realism about how the war was going.

• The global elite are trying to provoke a global conflict Alex Jones breaks down how 26 countries in the European Union decided to ignore Putin’s red-line warning about NATO expansion and start the process of bringing Ukraine into the alliance.

NATO’s newest member, Finland, has announced it will sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement next week with the United States. The deal will allow Washington to station troops and store weapons inside the Nordic country, which shares a sprawling border with Russia.

Russia and Iran will speed up work on a "major new interstate agreement", the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. -snip- Iran is the main backer of Israel's enemy Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with Putin on Sunday and voiced "robust disapproval" of Russia's "dangerous" cooperation with Iran. Iranian authorities have said military cooperation with Russia is expanding day by day. Iran said last month it had finalised arrangements for Russia to provide it with Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.

On the 10th of December 2023, today, we have a lot of very interesting updates. A significant number of very interesting updates all over the combat line. In this video, we're not going to start with Bagdanov, where the Russians managed to capture one of the most important strongholds. Not from OFD, where the Russians also managed to improve their positions on the southeastern part of this fortification area. And not from Kinky, where the Russians continue reducing the Crimean Army significantly. Today, we're going to start with my famous front line with South Dank Direction. According to the Minister...

'His War' is Andrey Zakharov's historical investigation into Vladimir Putin and the war he unleashed in Ukraine back in 2014. For ten years now, journalists from around the world have been gathering evidence on how exactly this war began. In this film, we have compiled all the evidence together. This includes wiretaps of conversations among Russian officials and separatists, email leaks, and most importantly, confessions from the participants of the 'Russian Spring.' Why did Putin specifically provoke the Euromaidan? How did the Kremlin prepare for the annexation of Crimea? And why did Russia's intervention in Ukraine's internal affairs become the...

Led by a respected former PM, and given a lot of resources by the Russian State, meet the Imperial Orthodox Palestine SocietyThe Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, a humanitarian NGO founded in Russia 140 years ago, now plays a key role in expanding Russian influence in the Middle East and beyond. As relations between Russia and the Western world plunge, Middle East and African countries engage in developing ties with Moscow. It is also quite remarkable that this rapprochement is based not so much on political foundations as on the common values and moral foundations. The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS)...

Live Stream 5:00 p.m. ✈ Denys Davydov Telegram Channel: https://t.me/pilotblog

Russia Matters Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs AUTHOR Alex Vershinin U.S. Lt. Col. Alex Vershinin retired after 20 years of service, including eight years as an armor officer with four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and 12 years working as a modeling and simulations officer in NATO and U.S. Army concept development and experimentation. This included a tour with the U.S. Army Sustainment Battle Lab, where he led the experimentation scenario team. The Ukrainian Strategy The Ukrainians’ terrain-focused war of maneuver is constrained by two factors: limited artillery ammunition and equipment production, and coalition...

Russia’s only aircraft carrier caught fire on Thursday, only a matter of months before it was meant to return to sea after lengthy repairs.The Admiral Kuznetsov was close to being released back to the Russian navy after years of repairs when it caught fire, Alexei Rakhmanov, head of the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.“There has been a little problem during repairs,” Mr Rakhmanov said. “The blaze has been put out. All fire alarms worked normally. There are no casualties or damage.”About 20 people were evacuated from the ship that caught fire at the drydock...