War

by Henry Ridgwell, VOA The war in Ukraine is likely entering a critical phase as Kyiv’s forces advance in the south and east of the country, forcing invading Russian troops to retreat. In recent days, Ukrainian troops have broken through Russian lines in the southern region of Kherson, liberating several …

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is sending his three teenage sons – aged 14, 15, and 16 – to war in Ukraine, the strongman wrote Monday on Telegram. “The grandsons of the first president of the Chechen Republic, the Hero of Russia Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, Akhmat, Eli and Adam are aged 16, …

Even after three months of captivity that included execution threats, physical torture, solitary confinement and food deprivation, it was the ride to freedom that nearly broke Alex Drueke, a U.S. military veteran released last week with nine other prisoners who went to help Ukraine fight off Russian invaders. His hands …

Heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces is under way in parts of eastern Ukraine and the northeast Kharkiv region as Moscow continues a crackdown on protests against a partial mobilization decreed by President Vladimir Putin last week. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the eastern Donetsk region remained Ukraine’s — and …

A Ukrainian counter-offensive has forced Russia out of key eastern positions they had taken months to occupy. Reportedly underpinned by Western intelligence, the push also featured wartime methods familiar to British and American forces. Former U.S. Army Major John Spencer, now Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Madison Policy …

At the Petergof cemetery in St. Petersburg, five fresh graves appeared this summer, away from the other graves: all of them the same, with wooden crosses, black plates with names in gold and the dates of birth and death, framed photographs behind glass with a black ribbon pulled over them. …

Russian citizens have taken to the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere to protest Vladimir Putin’s conscription order for the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday the partial mobilization of his country’s military reserves in a move that follows Ukrainian gains in a counteroffensive in northeastern …

Scores of Russian men seemingly bought all the available seats on flights out of the country on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin declared a partial military mobilization for the war in Ukraine. “This is an outrage,” one 27-year old Moscow resident told Soldier of Fortune via a secure messaging system. …

Targeted attacks against pro-Russian officials in Kherson and other occupied areas have gone up in recent weeks, according to sources inside Ukraine.  “This will come into play in occupied Kherson, where collaborators are well known,” said Max, a taxi driver who uses only his given name. “They should beware.” The …

by Susan Katz Keating Leo can’t stop watching the video. The former Russian fighter pilot takes an indoor break from the Reno Air Races – “the smoke is too much; the wildfires” – and offers Soldier of Fortune his theories on why the Russian Air Force is largely missing from …