Free Republic

Moscow for the first time openly recognizes a defeat since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, informs the Institute for the Study of War. The Kremlin never admitted that Russia was defeated around Kyiv or, later, at Snake Island, framing the retreat from Kyiv as a decision to prioritize the «liberation» of Donbas and the withdrawal from Snake Island as a «gesture of goodwill». The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) originally offered a similar explanation for the Russian...

Moscow’s forces began evacuating a major city in southern Ukraine and Kyiv’s shot down an Iranian-made Russian drone Tuesday, as Ukraine’s lightning counter-offensive continued. Russian troops were seen fleeing from Melitopol, a city in the southern portion of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, exiled mayor Ivan Federov said on social media. “The occupiers ran from Melitopol towards the temporarily occupied Crimea,” Federov said on the messaging app Telegram. He added that “columns of military equipment” from Melitopol were seen passing through Chonhar, some 70 miles to the southwest and bordering Crimea. “This was expected — the rapid Ukrainian offensive leaves them no...