Free Republic

To get Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to end his block on a 50 billion euro ($54.3 billion) aid package for Ukraine, other European Union leaders teamed up ahead of a crunch summit to deliver a stark message: You're on your own this time. The veteran Hungarian leader, who maintains close ties to Moscow despite its invasion of Ukraine, has been adept in the past at finding enough support among his peers to drive a hard bargain in EU negotiations. But in the days and hours before Thursday's special summit in Brussels, leaders - individually and in groups - told...

VLADIMIR Putin appeared confused and out of breath as he wheezed his way through his latest speech, threatening the West with nuclear weapons. The Russian president seemed to struggle to catch his breath and paused several times during the address to politicians, stumbling over his words and looking exhausted. At one stage, he appears breathless and stuttering, while on two other occasions, he seems to take quick gasps for air.

Once-bustling highways on the outskirts of Kyiv have now become a graveyard for scores of Vladimir Putin's tanks as the Ukrainians continue their successful counterattacks around the capital. Columns of Russian armoured vehicles have been reduced to rubble as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops continue to repel Russian forces, and in some instances recapture roads and settlements near to Kyiv. As Ukrainian units advance, they're met with burned-out tanks and heavily-armoured personnel transport vehicles that line the roads once populated by commuters that would have been heading in or out of the capital. But far more grisly finds are being discovered...

The European Parliament voted on Thursday morning in favor of imposing sanctions on Hungary and Poland, its two member states that have received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees following the invasion by Russia on Feb. 24. (snip) In January 2021, the EU introduced the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism which provided a tool whereby the Commission could refuse to release EU funds to national governments who they considered to be in breach of the common rule of law.In essence, it means that if conservative countries dissent against the liberal European mainstream on how to govern — for example, Hungary’s...

Since Putin's devastating invasion of Ukraine began, 300 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia in protest.Nevertheless, some western companies have continued to operate in Russia undeterred; we identify several dozen companies with particularly significant exposure to Russian markets. In the days since we initially published our list, many of the "remain" companies have responded to public backlash and decided to withdraw, and we are continuously revising our list to reflect these decisions as they are made. The full, current list of companies that have curtailed operations in Russia as well as those that remain, as of March 8, can...