Free Republic

The Russian military lacks the manpower necessary to hold of a further Ukrainian advance into the Luhansk region, a correspondent embedded with the Russian military in the occupied city of Svatove said on Tuesday evening. “The Russian troops do not have enough manpower to stop the enemy attacks,” Alexander Kots, for Russian pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda said in a video posted to Telegram. “The recent Russian losses are directly connected to that. It’s a very difficult period of time on the front line at the moment.” He said that “we expect a serious fighting here very soon,” and that “it...

Russian torture chamber with bucket of pulled-out teeth and gold fillings where people were 'BURIED ALIVE' is uncovered in newly-liberated Ukrainian town Ukrainians claim to have uncovered Russian torture chamber in liberated town Found a bucket of teeth and gold fillings that were yanked from torture victims People were also forced to wear a gas mask that had a burning rag stuffed into it while others were buried alive, according to Ukrainian officials Comes after Ukraine made rapid advances in the south and north of the country

Russia plans to supervise operations of the Zaporizh .. (Cannot extract more from the article easily)

BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union countries agreed Wednesday to impose a price cap on Russian oil and other new sanctions after Moscow illegally annexed four regions in Ukraine amid its monthslong war, EU officials said. Diplomats struck the deal in Brussels that also includes curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to Russia and limits on steel imports from the country, according to an official statement from the Czech rotating EU presidency.

TEHRAN, October 5. /TASS/. Cooperation between Iran, Russia and China will help create a new power that will oppose the unipolar world order, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in an interview with China’s CGTN broadcaster on Wednesday. "People around the world have bad memories of the era which has come to an end. It was a time of hegemony, unipolar world order and violations of the legitimate rights of many nations," the Iranian president pointed out. According to him, "a new era will be marked by the establishment of a multipolar world order." Cooperation between Iran, Russia, China, the Shanghai...

“Stockpiling in Taiwan is a very active point of discussion,” said Jacob Stokes, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security who advised Mr. Biden on Asia policy when he was vice president. “And if you have it, how do you harden it and how do you disperse it so Chinese missiles can’t destroy it?”“The view is we need to lengthen the amount of time Taiwan can hold out on its own,” he added. “That’s how you avoid China picking the low-hanging fruit of its ‘fait accompli’ strategy — that they’ve won the day before we’ve gotten there,...

The United States’ fight to maintain its global hegemony has reached its third stage.After the expansion of Nato to the East in violation of Western commitments not to station US weapons in Central Europe, Russia, which cannot defend its huge borders, is under direct threat.In violation of its World War II commitments, Washington has put “hardcore nationalists” (“Nazis” in Kremlin terminology) in power in Kiev. They banned their Russian-speaking compatriots from speaking their native language, deprived them of public services, and ultimately bombed those in the Donbass. Russia had no choice but to intervene militarily to put an end to...

Ukrainian forces have counted more gains on the battlefield, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailing more “good news from the front lines” in his nightly address Tuesday. Rapid and significant gains have been counted in Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south in particular, with advances in the Kherson region. Now, dozens of settlements have been liberated this week across four regions that Russia “annexed” last week, Zelenskyy said. Moscow’s hold on “annexed” territories (Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk) looks increasingly tenuous, with none of the regions fully occupied by Russian forces, and as Ukraine’s counteroffensives in the east and south maintain their...

Paywalled.

Former CIA Director and retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus said in a new interview that Russia can still inflict destruction upon Ukraine, but Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot reverse Ukrainian gains in the four regions Moscow recently annexed. “I think he’s literally out of moves,” Petraeus told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.

Explosions and a natural gas leak last week at the sister pipelines of Nord Stream I and Nord Stream II, connecting Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, may remain a mystery like the “magic bullets” that killed John F. Kennedy The Russians say it was not sabotage on their end. It was the Americans. The Pentagon denies it. NATO says it was the Russians that ruined it, calling it an attack on European infrastructure. ... But for Europe, its current energy strategy is crippling its manufacturers. Steel mills have shut down. No steel, no cars (including electric ones). No...

The Biden administration has pledged to provide $1.5Bln 'a month to Kiev' to keep the Ukrainian economy afloat and is pushing the EU to commit to a similar package, Bloomberg has reported. "How will politicians explain that huge funds can be made available to Ukraine but not to support the EU citizens?" the strategic analyst said. "The attempt to justify such a choice, recalling the famous 'EU values', is dangerous because the EU Treaties never speak of 'values'. The risk is to ignite a series of 'EU exits'." Meanwhile, the EU is facing a severe economic slowdown, the Organisation for...

I have been attempting for several days to collect my thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War and condense them into another analysis piece, but my efforts were consistently frustrated by the war’s stubborn refusal to sit still. After a slow, attritional grind for much of the summer, events have begun to accelerate, calling to mind a famous quip from Vladimir Lenin: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”This has been one of those weeks. It began with the commencement of referenda in four former Ukrainian oblasts to determine whether or not to join the Russian...

Boris Malagurski is a Serbian-Canadian film director, producer, writer, political commentator, television host and activist, his films include the documentary series The Weight of Chains.

Soldiers in Russia’s newly formed 3rd Army Corps fighting in Ukraine are often drunk, plagued by low morale and forced to use obsolete weapons on the battlefield, according to the Ukrainian military. The Kremlin cobbled together the formation in June to replace the tens of thousands of troops killed or injured since the start of the invasion in February. It is composed of several brigades totaling some 15,000 mostly volunteer soldiers equipped with hundreds of tanks, Newsweek reported. But according to an update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday, Russia’s five-month-old unit is facing...

Dimitri Simes On our pilot episode of «Against The Trend» we will focus on the conflict in Ukraine and the geopolitical implications that it poses. Our guest today is Douglas Macgregor, Colonel of U.S. Army (Ret.), Ph.D.

into humiliating retreat: and liberate dozens of occupied towns - as NATO 'warns Kremlin will test NUKES on the border to save face' Russia's frontline has collapsed in the south of Ukraine with dozens of towns liberated in a matter of hours Kyiv said its troops are 'confidently advancing to the sea' as city of Davydiv Brid is now under their control Pro-Russian military bloggers said their forces had retreated around 10 miles down the Dnipro River It comes just days after Putin declared the Kherson region - along with three others - to be part of Russia Russia's frontline...

Russia loses even more prominence in the sky. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency dedicated to studying the problems of the sector as well as promoting unique regulations and standards for world aeronautics, resolved yesterday to expel Russia from its governing body. The decision was made yesterday, during one of the days of its General Assembly that is being held in Montreal, Canada. The invasion of Ukraine and the collateral effects of this action have been the compelling arguments for a decision unprecedented since the founding of ICAO in 1944. Russia needed a minimum of 86 votes to...

A top-of-the-line Russian nuclear-powered submarine has gone missing from its harbor in the Arctic along with its rumored "doomsday weapon," according to multiple reports. NATO has reportedly warned members that Russia's Belgorod submarine no longer appeared to be operating out of its White Sea base, where it has been active since July. Officials warned that Russia may plan to test Belgorod's "Poseidon" weapons system, a drone equipped with a nuclear bomb that Russia has claimed is capable of creating a "radioactive tsunami," according to Italian media. The drone can be deployed from the submarine at any time and detonated at...

President Biden spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Tuesday as Ukrainian forces continued to drive back Russian invaders on two fronts. The call took place days after Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin claimed to annex four regions of Ukraine — some 18% of the country — and vowed to back up his claim with nuclear weapons if necessary. Biden signed a bill Friday authorizing another $12 billion in US aid for the Kyiv government while insisting the US will “never” accept Russia’s annexation attempt. Biden, joined on Tuesday’s call by Vice President Kamala Harris, “underscore[d] that the United States...