Free Republic

ABOARD THE MOSKVA MISSILE CRUISER (Reuters) - This Russian warship left the shipyard 25 years ago and it shows: the electronics consoles look like museum exhibits and its hull carries a thick crust of paint from years of running repairs. Its shortcomings reflect the Russian navy’s many problems, highlighted again this month by an accident on a nuclear submarine that killed 20 people. But looks can deceive. Hidden beneath the decks of the Moskva cruiser are 16 “Bazalt” guided missiles, which travel faster than the speed of sound and can strike an enemy aircraft carrier group 500 km away. The...

The United States has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelins, the anti-tank missiles that have become the iconic weapon of the war, but the U.S. inventory is dwindling. The United States has probably given about one-third of its stock to Ukraine. Thus, the United States is approaching the point where it must reduce transfers to maintain sufficient stockpiles for its own war plans. Production of new missiles is slow, and it will take years to replenish stocks. The Russians have numerous armored vehicles, but their supply of trained crews and level of morale are declining. Will Ukrainian anti-tank weapons inflict...

Listen to this article 0:00 / 2:50 1X BeyondWords Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson aims to bring her country into NATO in June this year as Finland also signals intent to join the Western alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Andersson told Swedish outlet SvD that her party, the Swedish Social Democrats, had made a decision on "the NATO issue," with party informants telling the outlet that the plan is to submit its application at the June 29 NATO meeting in Madrid. Any application would require 75% support in the legislature. "This is an important time in history," said Andersson,...

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday appealed to China to take action to help end Russia's war in Ukraine, warning in a landmark speech that Beijing's standing in the world would suffer if it fails to do so.In remarks prepared for delivery at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Yellen said she "fervently" hoped that China would make something positive out of its "special relationship" with Russia and help end the war.

Russia has demanded Ukrainian forces still fighting to defend the besieged city of Mariupol lay down their weapons. The apparent ultimatum comes as Russia continues its relentless and devastating attack on the southeastern city. Russian state media Ria reported that "without exception" all "Ukrainian armed units and foreign mercenaries" must exit from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Moscow time (same as local time) "without any weapons and ammunition," citing the Russian Defense Ministry. An estimated 100,000 people remain in Mariupol and its immediate surroundings, which are reported to be largely under Russian control, with Ukrainian troops confined to pockets of...

As the Czech Republic continues to arm Ukraine, Russia has told the country that it cannot transfer Soviet-made weapons without its consent. hrough a diplomatic letter, Russia has warned the Czech Republic against supplying other countries with weapons of Soviet origin without its consent, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský told journalists this afternoon. Lipavský called the Russian demand "nonsense," and said the Czech Foreign Ministry would not react to it. There is no clause banning re-export of weapons from the former Soviet Union, he added. Earlier this week, Russia officially warned the United States and other countries that supporting Ukraine...

The relatives of the doomed crew of Russia's Black Sea flagship Moskva defied Russian censors to hold an unofficial memorial today, as Ukraine claimed that all 510 servicemen onboard died - including the ship's captain. -snip- As a result 'all the crew of the cruiser Moskva died'. This included the ship's captain, Anton Kuprin, Gerashchenko said. The battleship had a usual crew number of 510 sailors. He claimed: 'The leadership of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation have deliberately hidden the truth from relatives and friends of the crew members.' His account contradicts other earlier versions, including that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching, potentially decisive, battle for Ukraine’s contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express. The U.S. numbers alone are mounting: more than 12,000 weapons designed to defeat armored vehicles, some 1,400 shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to shoot down aircraft and more than 50 million rounds of ammunition, among many other things. Dozens of other nations are adding to the totals. The Biden administration is preparing yet...

Russian heavy weapons including missile systems have been seen moving towards the border with Finland, hours after Russia warned its northern neighbour against joining NATO. An unconfirmed video uploaded last night appears to show two Russian coastal defence missile systems moving along a road on the Russian side of the border that leads to Helsinki. The missile systems are thought to be the K-300P Bastion-P mobile coastal defence system, designed to take out surface ships up to and including aircraft carrier battle groups. The Russian deployment comes as Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she expects her government 'will end...

The man who 'invented Putinism' has been detained in Russia and is under house arrest, say reports in Moscow. If confirmed, the move against Vladislav Surkov appears to show Vladimir Putin is turning on his inner circle, and also deep splits among his closest henchmen. Unconfirmed accounts say Putin's 'ideologist' is being held in a wide-ranging criminal probe that has also seen the arrest of 150 FSB agents. The case evidently involves the alleged embezzlement of $5 billion (£3.85billion) by the secret services to create an undercover and intelligence network in Ukraine. The shadowy Surkov, seen as crucial to Putin's...

About 100 modernized T-72 tanks disappeared from the warehouses of the city of Lublin (Poland). This was reported by the Polish news resource Visegrad 24 on Twitter today, April 12. According to the statement, they have recently been upgraded to the T-72M1R standard (thermal imager and other improvements). “…Successful hunting, Ukraine," the newspaper writes. At the same time, the publication emphasized: "The Poles say that the sudden appearance in the Donbas of a large number of T-72 of the Ukrainian army cannot be associated with the disappearance of 100 Polish tanks from Lublin. They say you can buy T-72 in...

Pro-Kremlin lawmaker, Putin's crony Medvedchuk captured. Zelensky announced that Viktor Medvedchuk, a lawmaker with the pro-Kremlin party Opposition Platform was captured by the Security Service. Medvedchuk is accused of treason. He escaped house arrest in February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered on Wednesday to swap pro-Kremlin oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who was arrested by Kyiv after escaping house arrest, for Ukrainians captured by Russia. 'I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this guy of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity,' Zelensky said in a video address posted on Telegram in the early hours of Wednesday. 'And may Medvedchuk be an example for you. Even the former oligarch did not escape. What can we say about much simpler criminals from the Russian hinterland? We will get everyone.' Ukrainian authorities on...

On Monday, Russia's foreign minister put a new spin on his country's reasoning for invading Ukraine by claiming the "special military action" is meant to put an end to the United States' quest for "world domination" and the expansion of NATO. Speaking to the Russian state-owned television news channel Rossiya 24, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the U.S. and other Western nations of violating international law and attempting to impose a "rules-based" global order. "Our special military operation is meant to put an end to the unabashed expansion [of NATO] and the unabashed drive towards full domination by the U.S....

Russia and Ukraine appear to be in the final stages of preparation to fight the Battle of Donbas, in what is shaping up to be the biggest tank battle in Europe since the decisive Battle of Kursk in World War II. The stakes for both Moscow and Kyiv couldn’t be higher. The course of the entire war could hinge on the outcome in the Donbas.

On April 8, more than 34 tons of humanitarian aid — primarily medicines, first aid kits, and food — arrived in western Ukraine’s Zakarpatska region, also referred to as Transcarpathia, from Uzbekistan. The aid from Uzbekistan joins a flow of assistance funneled into Ukraine from a number of humanitarian aid hubs established by the European Union in countries on Ukraine’s western frontier. The head of the Zakarpatska region, Viktor Mikita, thanked the Uzbek government and the Ukrainian ambassador in Tashkent, Mykola Doroshenko, for making the aid possible. Doroshenko became ambassador in Uzbekistan in 2020, after serving as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan....

Russia's Vladimir Putin may yet be humiliated in his scramble to declare a victory in Ukraine by the symbolically important 9 May - even as he prepares to double or even treble his number of forces in the eastern Donbas region. Following his troops' failure to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other parts of the country's north after more than six weeks' of fighting, the Russian president has withdrawn some of his forces. Mr Putin is now beginning to redeploy some of those troops towards the Donbas, parts of which are already controlled by Russian-backed separatist groups. He is said...

Russia has appointed a new commander to oversee the war in Ukraine as it shifts its strategy following an initial setback, the United States said. The Kremlin has tapped Army General Aleksandr Dvornikov, who commands Russia’s forces in the southern military district, to lead the war in Ukraine, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with CNN on April 10.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is in the middle of a “fundamental transformation” and planning a massive military buildup along Russian borders. The Telegraph reported, “Nato is drawing up plans to deploy a permanent full-scale military force on its border in an effort to combat future Russian aggression following the invasion of Ukraine, the alliance’s secretary general has revealed.” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will undergo a major “reset” and plans to put enough troops in states that border Russia to repel an invasion. The alliance currently has 40,000 troops in eastern member states. NATO considers its forces in Eastern...

The latest of the commission’s reports, released Monday, alleges that an intentional detonation of planted explosives caused the April 10, 2010 crash of Soviet-made Tu-154M plane that killed Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other government and armed forces figures as well as many prominent Poles. Their deaths were the result of an “act of unlawful interference by the Russian side,” the commission's head Antoni Macierewicz told a news conference. "The main and indisputable proof of the interference was an explosion in the left wing ... followed by an explosion in the plane's center," said Macierewicz, who in 2015-2018 served...