Free Republic

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals have an artful knack for keeping the Russian military bear off-balance. On Sunday, they renewed their offensive in the Russian Kursk Oblast, once again catching the Russian high command, Kremlin, and many pundits by surprise. Reports of a demoralized Ukrainian army fighting to retain terrain captured during the August Kursk offensive — of which at least 40 percent has been lost — have circulated among western media and Russian milbloggers since November. So too reports that Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade — trained and equipped by France — was under-resourced in “first person view...

A top Iranian general has accused Russia of lying to Tehran by saying its jets were attacking Syrian rebels while they were instead bombing the open desert. In a rare break from Iran's diplomatic line on Syria, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar Assad's government during a speech at a mosque in Tehran. An audio recording of the speech was published on Tuesday by Abdullah Abdi, a journalist in Geneva who reports on Iran. "We were defeated, and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow, and it's been very difficult," Esbati said...

Donald Trump can’t see the “bigger picture” on Ukraine and Europe could step up to take over funding the fight against Europe, a top Eurocrat says, as Zelensky calls for Western troops to “force Russia into peace”. Ukraine’s Western backers are meeting in Germany at the major U.S.-NATO Ramstein airbase on Thursday through the Ukraine Defence Contract Group, President Volodymyr Zelensky having arrived at the base this morning. Per Ukrainian state media, he is due to have group meetings through the forum as well as individual talks with other leaders during the summit. Meetings had barely begun, however, when President...