Free Republic

Ukrainians are hunting down Russian drones armed with nothing more than shotguns and rifles while dangling out of prop lanes as part of a low-tech solution to Moscow’s high-tech aerial assassins. Although Kyiv has some of the West’s most advanced air-defense systems, including US-made Patriot missiles and F-16 jets, the nation has been forced to deploy such unconventional tactics to counter Russia’s ever-escalating drone bombardments because of the sheer number of devices being deployed. Pilots and gunners in Ukraine’s 11th Army Aviation Brigade have been tapped to take the Soviet-era Yak-52 prop planes to the skies, with the two-person aircraft...

Donald Trump has staked much of his political brand on being the consummate dealmaker. He is not a theorist, nor a philosopher-king, nor a bureaucrat buried in details. His appeal rests in his posture as the man who cuts through nonsense, breaks impasses, and brings adversaries to the table. In the past, Trump’s instincts on foreign affairs have proven unconventional but effective: cooling tensions with North Korea, brokering normalization between Israel and Arab states, restraining NATO adventurism, and articulating—against Washington orthodoxy—that endless wars in the Middle East were bleeding America dry. He relishes the image of the peacemaker, a strongman...

Donald Trump’s message – or rather, the message he transmitted from Vladimir Putin – to Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Monday was stark: accept the deal Russia is offering, because otherwise you’ll lose the war. But if Moscow appears strong now, Ukraine and its European allies believe, it’s partly because Trump’s choices have made it stronger – namely, his decisions to curtail US military aid, interrupt intelligence sharing and, above all, accept Putin’s insistence on a peace deal before a ceasefire. And in fact, Russia is far from battlefield supremacy. Just hours before the Oval Office discussions, the British Ministry...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted Sunday that a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin remained "the most effective way forward" as the two sides exchange prisoners and the country celebrated Independence Day.Kyiv's general said that Ukrainian troops had recaptured three villages in its Donetsk region that had fallen under Russian control. And Ukraine launched drone strikes on Russia, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant.After a push by US President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia on Friday ruled out any immediate Putin-Zelensky meeting.But Zelensky said Sunday that the "format of talks...

Earlier this month, rumors spread that Russian troops had pierced Ukrainian defensive lines along a critical section of the eastern front. Soldiers spoke of night infiltrations, gunfire rattling in the distance and skirmishes near villages once considered secure. The rumors quickly reached Ruslan Mykula and Roman Pohorilyi, the Ukrainian co-founders of DeepState, the group behind what has become the definitive online map charting battlefield movements. After a day of digging, the two men confirmed that the breach was real, and worse than initially thought, with Russian troops pushing nearly 10 miles forward. “There was a very big problem,” Mr. Pohorilyi...

The Wagner group mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin looked “doomed” in the days before his death after an aborted rebellion against Russia’s military leadership, his mother has said. In the first interview with a close family member since the warlord’s death in August 2023, Violetta Prigozhina, 85, said that she had tried to dissuade her son from marching on Moscow and revealed that the authorities have still not told her what caused his death. Prigozhina told the Russian outlet Fontanka that she had warned her son: “Zhenya, only people on the internet will support you. No one will go with you....

On Aug 11, Russian soldiers breached Ukraine’s front-line defences and penetrated at least six miles behind enemy lines. Battlefield maps, kept studiously up to date by open-source intelligence groups, showed a red tendril reaching north into Ukraine’s territory through several villages in the contested eastern Donetsk region coveted by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. The advance set off alarm bells among Kyiv’s supporters, who feared it marked the start of an offensive aimed at the stronghold city of Kostiantynivka or the logistical hub of Pokrovsk, both of which could provide Russia with a foothold in Ukraine’s fortress belt. What Russian...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his "heartfelt congratulations" on the country's independence day, as Washington presses on with its efforts to broker a deal to end three and a half years of war in Ukraine.

A fire at Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery was burning for the fourth day on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone strike, the acting governor of the region said. A fire was reported at in Novoshakhtinsk on Thursday. The refinery there sells fuel mainly for export, and has annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day. Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, said he had a meeting in Novoshakhtinsk. "The fire area at the Novoshakhtinsk oil products plant has now been reduced," he said on Telegram. "Since August 21, firefighters have been fighting...

Vice President JD Vance remains confident the U.S. can broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine despite potential hang-ups that have emerged since President Donald Trump’s meeting this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We believe we’ve already seen some significant concessions from both sides, just in the last few weeks,” Vance said in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” Vance also weighed in on a Russian missile strike in western Ukraine overnight Thursday that hit an electronics factory owned by a U.S.-based company. Asked by moderator Kristen Welker if he was “enraged” by...

US President Donald Trump joined other world leaders in sending messages of support to Ukraine on Sunday as it celebrates Independence Day at a time when there is little hope for peace despite intense diplomatic efforts. Trump sent a letter to Ukraine on the country’s 34th Independence Day – which marks the anniversary of declaring itself free of Soviet rule – praising its courage and saying the United States believes in its future as an independent state. -snip- In the letter, Trump wrote: “The people of Ukraine have an unbreakable spirit, and your county’s courage inspires many. As you mark...

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg visited Kyiv on August 24 to take part in the celebrations marking Ukraine’s Independence Day. Kellogg attended the ceremony on Sophia Square in central Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address, Caliber.Az cites Ukrainian media. Alongside Kellogg, representatives and officials from other countries also joined the celebrations, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Foreign guests also included the defence ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Canada, as well as the UK’s Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day on August 24, marking the anniversary of the 1991 declaration...

One of Russia’s most highly decorated heroes in the war with Ukraine instructed his troops to intentionally shoot him to sit out of combat and collect a fat paycheck, according to investigators — who also found his alleged heroics were completely bogus. Lt. Col. Konstantin Frolov — nicknamed the “Executioner” for his reputation as a highly skilled sniper — was identified as the mastermind behind the massive military scam where he instructed 35 officers and soldiers in Russia’s elite sniper unit, the prestigious 83rd Air Assault Brigade, to deliberately fire at him and each other, the probe recently concluded, according...

Russia accused Ukraine Sunday of launching drone attacks that sparked a fire at a nuclear power plant in its western Kursk region overnight, as Ukraine celebrated 34 years since its independence. Russian officials said several power and energy facilities were targeted in the overnight strikes. The fire at the nuclear facility was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported, according to the plant’s press service on Telegram. While the attack damaged a transformer, radiation levels remained within normal ranges. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it was aware of media reports that a transformer at the plants had caught fire “due...

On the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Polish President Karol Nawrocki drew parallels between past and present-day aggression in a message posted on social media. In his statement, he referred to “unresolved injustices” and “sick dreams of an empire.” “Eighty-six years ago, Stalin and Hitler signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact—an agreement that paved the way for World War II and claimed the lives of millions around the world. Poland was the first victim of German, and later Soviet, aggression,” Nawrocki wrote on Saturday, August 23rd. He continued: “Germany has still not paid its historical debts, while imperialist sentiments have reawakened in...

GENIUS MOVE! Russian Revenues CUT IN HALF! | RFU News RFU News — Reporting from Ukraine 686K subscribers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXBmcrP_YMY Length 5:10 Aug 23, 2025 "Today, Russia has suffered a massive defeat on the economic stage. Here, Opec+ has cut Russia at the knees and offered India a cheap alternative to Russian oil to avoid further sanctions. With Russia desperately offering to sell its remaining oil at an even further discounted rate, revenues are dropping far lower than previously predicted, as Russia’s main economic crutch is being snapped in two. India has been under a 50% tariff from the US since...

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow's invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing U.S. officials.Reuters could not immediately verify the report.The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.The news came as U.S. President Donald Trump has grown more frustrated publicly over the three-year-old war and his inability to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.After...

March 14 (Reuters) - An online voting system that was criticised by some defeated candidates at parliamentary elections last year will be rolled out for use across Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed electronic voting procedures into law on Monday. A coalition of defeated parliamentary candidates in Moscow claimed they were cheated of victory in a parliamentary election last September by the system and sought to try to overturn the results via lawsuits and public pressure.

A very interesting response from President Trump against the U.S. President stepping back and awaiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to organize their teams and schedule a bilateral discussion. President Trump has said he expects the diplomatic teams of Zelenskyy and Putin to coordinate a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy in the next two weeks. As noted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sometimes it just takes putting the principals into the same room to break the logjam. However, both regimes have entrenched ideologues who are positioning for maximum leverage. President Trump is asked what...

Saturday marks the 86th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement concluded between Moscow and Berlin that would effectively lead to the carve up of Poland and condemn the world to six years of war. In hindsight, it is abundantly clear that a major global conflict had long been brewing, however, it was the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that is now viewed as the final treachery that would lead to war. While, in essence, the pact was billed as a non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, it contained a secret annex that divided...