Free Republic

The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, in collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other components of the Defense Forces, destroyed a train carrying 40 tanks of fuel and incurred damage to a railway line from temporarily occupied Crimea to Zaporizhzhia. “As a result of the special operation, the locomotive and 40 tank cars with fuel were destroyed, and an important railroad line that supplied Russian troops was put out of commission for a long time,” the sources said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday to shelve the planned hosting of the "Friendship Games", a big multi-sports event that the International Olympic Committee had condemned as a purely political project. Russia announced last year that it planned to relaunch the competition first staged in 1984 as a Soviet-led alternative to the Los Angeles Olympics, which the USSR had boycotted in retaliation for a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games. -snip- Putin's decree, published on an official website, left open the possibility of staging the games at some point in the future pending a "special decision...

Ukrainian officials expect a counteroffensive in western Russia to begin in the coming days as North Korea’s troops train with Russian forces. -snip- The Russian military has assembled a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, as it prepares to begin an assault aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. -snip- North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to fight with Russia in Kursk, American officials say. The troops are wearing Russian uniforms and have been equipped by Moscow, but they will probably fight in their...

President Vladimir Putin announced a compensation plan for citizens in the Russian region that came under attack by Ukraine. Russians "who need it" will be eligible for a one-time payout of 10,000 rubles, Putin said during a video call with Kursk's acting governor, Alexey Smirnov, per the Kyiv Post's translation. That shakes out at about $115. "Other damage will also need to be assessed," Putin said. Around 3,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk, the western Russian border region attacked by Ukrainian forces this week, officials have said. Speaking to Putin, Smirnov said that extra trains were scheduled to take...