Tag Archives: Featured

by Serhiy Andrushko Schemes / RFE-RL “They sat me down in a chair, chained me with handcuffs to the heating pipe, and began to torture me.” A Ukrainian man, Serhiy Mak, says he was locked in the cellar of an office building for 25 days in Kherson, southern Ukraine, where he …

Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who has both mocked and praised the Russian war effort against Ukraine, says he has sent fighters to bolster the front line forces there. About 300 fighters of the Special Purpose Mobile Unit (OMON) from Chechnya have been deployed to “the zone of the special military …

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour cease-fire in his war against Ukraine over the Orthodox Christmas holiday. He ordered Russian troops to stop attacks for a day and a half on its neighboring country starting at noon on Friday, the Kremlin said. Many Orthodox Christians, including those …

Forty thousand BMP-1s were built worldwide, with Ukraine and Russia having big stocks dating back to 1966, when the USSR meant they were part of the same army. Now it seems it is easier to adapt and update these vehicles than start from scratch. Now, the infantry vehicle still being …

Mystery fires that have broken out across Russia in recent months have been blamed on Ukrainian saboteurs and even Western intelligence operatives. But a new documentary by British filmmaker Jake Hanrahan suggests a “large-scale, active resistance inside Russia” is now being waged by Russia’s own citizens. “There’s this thing like, ‘Well, it must be …

by Reid Standish and Aleksei Aleksandrov / Current Time As the frontline Donbas city of Bakhmut has turned into the site of some of the fiercest fighting under way in Ukraine, tensions between the notorious Russian mercenary company, the Vagner Group, and the Russian military have spilled out into the open. …

by Mike Eckel and Borys Sachalko / RFE-RL KREMINNA, Ukraine — For the paratroopers of a Ukrainian airborne brigade, there’s only one way to describe the waves of Russian infantry who are relentlessly pressing the Ukrainian lines in and around this Donbas city: Meat. “First, they throw in the mobilized …

Russian forces in Donbas are using a unique and relatively new armored vehicle known as the “Terminator.” Moscow mentioned the BMPT vehicles on May 18, via the state-owned Ria Novosti news outlet, bolstering earlier informal reports from citizens and journalists downrange. Please leave this field emptySubscribe to the Soldier of …

by Mike Eckel, RFE/RL A man wearing military fatigues, a balaclava, and a special forces insignia showed up at Correctional Colony No. 29 in the Russian coal-mining region of Kemerovo on October 3. During that evening’s inspection, with several hundred inmates lined up in one of the prison’s outdoor yards, …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that the Patriot missile system is “the strongest element” of the new $1.8 billion U.S. military aid package headed to Kyiv. What can the missile do, and how can it help Ukraine fend off continued attacks from Russia? The Patriot missile system was …