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War in Ukraine

Zelenskyy Warns of Imminent Oreshnik Strike

  • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing to strike Ukraine with a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, citing intelligence shared by Ukraine, the United States, and Europe (Reuters)

Russian Attacks Across Ukraine

  • Russia has launched more than 1,560 drones and 56 missiles across Ukraine since yesterday morning and killed at least eleven people, Ukrainian officials said today; Russia’s barrage reached as far west as Ukraine’s border with Slovakia, prompting Slovakia to close its land border crossing (Reuters)
  • Russia said Ukraine attacked three of its industrial facilities (BBC)
  • The fighting followed the end of a three-day ceasefire over the past weekend (Guardian)

Draft U.S.-Ukraine Defense Deal

  • The countries are in talks about a potential defense deal under which Kyiv would export military technology to the United States and partner with U.S. firms to manufacture drones (CBS News)
  • Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram this week that twenty countries were working on potential drone agreements with Kyiv (Ukrainian President)

Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Agency Issues Charges Against Andriy Yermak

  • The former presidential chief of staff was implicated in a money laundering scheme involving more than $10 million (WSJ)
  • Yermak resigned from his position in November after anti-corruption officials searched his home; he told journalists in Kyiv that he would comment once the investigation was complete (Politico)

Three-Day Ceasefire Only Partially Holds

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine refrained from long-range strikes due to the absence of large-scale Russian attacks, but that fighting continued on the front lines (AP)

Ukrainian Envoys in Miami

  • Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov met with U.S. officials in Miami to discuss the status of peace talks with Russia, both sides said; Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations have stalled in the wake of the Iran war (Reuters)
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the talks “substantive” in a social media post and said Kyiv aimed to “reinvigorate diplomacy” (Ukrainian President)

Russia Rejects Ukraine’s Ceasefire

  • Russia fired dozens of drone strikes at Ukraine overnight despite Kyiv announcing a ceasefire that was set to begin at midnight, Ukrainian officials said; both countries announced ceasefires for different dates this week, with neither accepting the dates proposed by the other (AP)

Russia Announces Ceasefire to Mark World War II

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would observe a two-day ceasefire in Ukraine on Friday and Saturday, threatening a major attack if Kyiv disrupted its planned events to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II (Reuters)
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media that Kyiv had not received a formal proposal about those dates and planned to observe a truce beginning at midnight tonight (Ukrainian President)
  • Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced almost $200 million in new aid to Ukraine through a NATO-led program at the European Political Community summit (CBC)
  • Per reports from the Financial Times and Russian investigative outlet Important Stories, Putin has limited his movements and increased personal security measures since early March amid fears of an assassination attempt; Putin and his family have reportedly stopped visiting their Moscow residences, staffers are no longer permitted cell phones, and he is spending more time in bunkers (FT; Important Stories)

Trump-Putin Call

  • Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for a brief ceasefire in Ukraine during a call, Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said; the temporary halt in fighting could occur around the time of a May 9 Russian holiday commemorating the end of World War II (NYT)
  • Trump confirmed his support for the idea to reporters (NPR)
  • Russia normally stages large military parades, but is paring back this year because Ukraine has demonstrated increased cross-border strike capability (WSJ)

Hungary Greenlights Ukraine Aid

  • The EU gave preliminary approval for a $106 billion loan to Ukraine after Hungary lifted its veto; Hungary’s shift followed outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent election loss and the restoration of fuel deliveries to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine and had been damaged in the war (Bloomberg)

Ukraine Pipeline Repair

  • Repairs are being tested today on the Druzhba pipeline after damage to it sparked a dispute between Ukraine and Hungary; the pipeline was damaged by Russian airstrikes in January, and Hungary subsequently claimed Ukraine was delaying repairs (Bloomberg)
  • Budapest has signaled it will lift its veto on European Union (EU) aid to Kyiv once the pipeline is repaired (Politico)

Mass Shooting in Kyiv

  • A mass shooting and hostage incident in Kyiv is being investigated as terrorism, Ukraine’s attorney general said; the shooter opened fire on the street before entering a supermarket and taking hostages (CNN)
  • At least seven people were killed and more than a dozen others wounded; the shooter e was killed at the scene (Reuters)

Russian Missile and Drone Attacks Across Ukraine Kill at Least Seventeen People

  • It was one of the largest such attacks this year (Reuters)
  • The strikes hit sites including an office building and an apartment (NYT)

Russia and Ukraine Trade Ceasefire Violation Accusations

  • Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of violating their thirty-two-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire, with each side reporting hundreds of drone and shelling attacks within hours of the truce taking effect on Saturday; Ukraine’s military tallied nearly 7,700 Russian violations over the course of the ceasefire—including over 6,000 drone strikes and more than 1,300 artillery attacks—while Russia reported nearly 2,000 Ukrainian violations overnight (Reuters)

Ukraine Acknowledges Role in Countering Iranian Drones in Middle East

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian military experts helped shoot down Iranian drones over several Middle Eastern countries, marking Kyiv’s first public acknowledgment of such involvement; Ukraine also deployed drone warfare advisors to Persian Gulf states to strengthen regional air defenses during the war (NYT)

Russia Hits Ukrainian Port, Ukraine Strikes Crimea Oil Terminal

  • A Russian drone attack damaged infrastructure and a civilian vessel at Ukraine’s largest Danube port of Izmail overnight (Reuters)
  • Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struck back by hitting the major oil terminal at Feodosia in Russian-occupied Crimea (Reuters)

Russian Attacks Kill Eight and Injure Dozens

  • A small first-person-view drone targeted a bus in Nikopol’s city center, and another bus was also attacked in a nearby town; the attacks killed eight people and injured more than two dozen more (Reuters)
  • Separately, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Reuters, Russian satellites conducted at least twenty-four surveys of military sites across eleven Middle Eastern countries in late March, with Iranian missile and drone strikes following within days of locations being surveyed; the assessment also found Russian and Iranian hackers collaborating on cyberattacks targeting Gulf infrastructure, while two Western and regional sources said their own intelligence corroborated the satellite activity findings (Reuters)

Ukraine Reclaims 480 Square Kilometers Amid Russian Push

  • Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced that Ukrainian forces recaptured 12 settlements and 480 square kilometers of territory across the eastern and southeastern fronts since late January; despite these gains, Syrskyi warned that Russian troops are regrouping and continuing their spring offensive to seize more land and establish a “buffer zone” (Reuters)
  • Separately, Kyiv’s drone forces commander said that the Ukrainian military struck a drilling rig near Crimea and a Russian warship in the port of Novorossiysk (Reuters)

Zelenskyy in Syria

  • Ukraine and Syria agreed to cooperate on security and economic issues during Zelenskyy’s trip to Damascus (President of Ukraine)
  • Turkey’s foreign minister also attended a portion of the talks (Reuters)
  • It was Zelenskyy’s first visit to Syria since the two countries restored diplomatic ties; Syria’s former Assad regime was a close ally of Russia (Al Jazeera)

Russia’s Battlefield Stagnation

  • Russia did not make any territorial gains in Ukraine in March, according to the Institute for the Study of War; its researchers said Ukrainian counteroffensives, Russia’s loss of access to Starlink’s satellite internet data, and Russia’s own ban on the use of Telegram in favor of a government-run alternative all limited Russian advances in recent months (Semafor)

Kremlin Presses Zelenskyy for Immediate Donbas Withdrawal

  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Zelenskyy should have already ordered Ukrainian forces out of the Donbas region, calling the withdrawal necessary to end the “hot phase” of the war; Peskov sidestepped questions about a reported two-month Russian deadline, insisting the timing was secondary to Ukraine making the decision to withdraw (Reuters)
  • Zelenskyy proposed an Easter ceasefire, which Russia rejected (Guardian)
  • Separately, Kyiv and Washington agreed to fortify an outline for U.S. postwar security guarantees for Ukraine at virtual talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said; NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also joined the call (Ukraine President)

Ukrainian Drones Strike Russian Port

  • Ukrainian drones struck the Russian Port of Ust-Luga, likely further complicating Russia’s efforts to export crude oil; it was the fifth strike on the port in the past ten days (Reuters)

Zelenskyy Says Middle East Visits Successful

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that his visits to Middle Eastern countries were successful, noting that “historic” security agreements were reached with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; he also said Ukraine was working with Jordan and Kuwait, and that Bahrain and Oman had expressed interest (Reuters)

Zelenskyy Visits United Arab Emirates and Qatar

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made unannounced visits to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, meeting with top leaders to discuss regional security amid the ongoing war with Iran; Ukraine has signed ten-year security agreements with both Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with a similar deal with the UAE expected to be finalized shortly (AP)
  • Notably, Ukraine has proposed exchanging its interceptors for air-defense missiles that Gulf countries are utilizing to shoot down Iranian drones (Times of Israel)

Ukraine Using Strikes on Energy Infrastructure to Pressure Russia

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine was using long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure to maintain pressure after international oil sanctions on Russia were eased in light of the Iran war; according to calculations conducted by Reuters, nearly forty percent of Russia’s oil export capacity has been halted by Ukrainian drone attacks (Reuters)