Free Republic

At first glance, Yelets in winter looks like something from a Russian fairy tale. From the embankment I spy the golden domes of Orthodox churches and, down below, ice fishermen dotted along the frozen river. But in this town, 350km (217 miles) south of Moscow, the fairy tale feeling is transient. On the riverbank I spot an army recruitment billboard. It promises a one-off sum equivalent to £15,000 ($20k) to anyone who'll sign up to fight in Ukraine. Close by there's a poster of a Russian soldier taking aim with a Kalashnikov. "We're there where we need to be," the...

Ukraine is outmatched by Russian forces and requires significantly more infantry and weapons if it hopes to win the war, according to military intelligence and independent battlefield monitors. Although Moscow is paying an extraordinary price for comparatively minimal gains, western officials believe the country can sustain at least another year of war at the current rate of attrition. On Tuesday it will be four years since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After months of incremental advances, it appears to be on the verge of capturing a series of strategic locations in Ukraine’s so-called “fortress belt” and is expanding...

When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine surpassed 1,418 days last month, it officially exceeded a historic milestone — the same span of time it took Moscow to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. And unlike the Red Army that pushed all the way to Berlin eight decades ago in what it called the Great Patriotic War, Russia’s 4-year-old, all-out invasion of its neighbor is still struggling to fully capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland. After Moscow failed to seize the capital of Kyiv and install a puppet government in February 2022, the conflict turned into trench warfare with tremendous cost....

PARIS (AP) — France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.

Gen. Keane said, " i would be stunned if one of Trump's principle advisors like Rubio., talking to Lavrof, hasn't said, " if your boss doesn't make serious concessions and agree to a peace agreement., I can tell you for a fact that Donald Trump is going to crush your economy. That's the path that you're on end. You're going to have to make a decision.." Keane added, " I'm confident that we have said that."

The United States is tonight poised to lift its ban on military aid and intelligence support for Ukraine after a plea by Sir Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister spoke to US President Donald Trump for 20 minutes ahead of peace talks in Saudi Arabia to end the three-year conflict. Downing Street sources said the PM raised the US’s suspension of intelligence-sharing and military aid in their call today. UK officials have also been convincing Ukrainian officials of the need to meet US requirements for its military backing to resume. Following his discussion with President Trump, a spokesman for the Prime...

The conscripts and contract soldiers in Russia are not paid promised salaries, allowances and social benefits. According to the calculations of the news outlet, since the beginning of March 2023, the salaries of the servicemen have been delayed or not paid at all in 52 regions of Russia and in occupied Crimea. ...According to Dmytro Loboyko, the Head of the Regional Studies Centre, people from the Russian hinterland associated "the hope of qualitatively changing their lives, but they had to face reality" with payment for participation in hostilities.