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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 03-17-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
The German foreign minister said Berlin plans to introduce changes to its constitution to boost security, which would also bring additional funding for Kyiv.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin is set to allocate an additional €3 billion ($3.3 billion) by making changes to its constitution to massively boost defense spending on Tuesday.
Baerbock, speaking before the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday, March 17, said Berlin would “integrate our security into the Basic Law through an amendment to the Constitution” on Tuesday.
Though the exact terms of the ceasefire proposal have yet to be finalized, here are the conditions and positions as things stand.
Kyiv agreed to a US-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal on March 11 after an eight-hour discussion between high-ranking US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Before the meeting, Kyiv said it was open to an air-and-sky ceasefire but, at least initially, ruled out the cessation of ground combat.
On Monday, the Lithuanian prosecutor general’s office attributed the arson attack in Vilnius in May 2024 to Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU.
Lithuanian prosecutors on Monday blamed the Russian military intelligence service for being behind the arson attack on an Ikea store in Vilnius last year, calling it “an act of terrorism.”
Lithuania, a Baltic state and NATO member, has been a staunch ally of Kyiv since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and frequently warned against sabotage attempts inspired by Russia.
A new NBC News poll shows Trump has his highest approval rating since taking office at 47%, but still a majority of Americans disapprove of the president, including on foreign policy and the economy.
As US President Donald Trump has advanced his domestic and foreign policy agenda since taking office in January, a new NBC News poll has revealed that while his approval rating has climbed to its highest level since taking office, Americans remain deeply divided – particularly on his approach to Ukraine, Russia, and relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the poll, 47% of American voters approve of Trump’s job performance, equaling his highest-ever mark as president. However, 51% disapprove, reflecting persistent national divisions even as Republicans remain largely united behind him.
The problem for Zelensky is how much Trump’s personal feelings dictate overall US policy
For Volodymyr Zelensky, his Oval Office clash with Donald Trump was a stark demonstration of how important personal ties with Donald Trump will be to his chances of ending the war with Russia on acceptable terms.
Zelensky has scrambled to contain the damage in the two weeks since – apologizing to Trump, thanking him and the American people for their aid, and bending to his call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
Ukrainian commanders, robbed of the big picture, fought with one hand tied, their men dying for every misstep forced on them by Washington
The Trump administration’s “Intelligence Pause” didn’t just dim the lights on Ukraine – it plunged them into a black abyss, and the Kursk salient became the killing ground where that betrayal drew blood.
For months, Ukrainian forces clung to this jagged shard of Russian turf, a defiant middle finger to Moscow’s imperial delusions. They held it with guts, guile, and a trickle of US-provided intel – until Washington yanked the plug.
Andrii Hnatov is one of the Ukrainian army’s most battle-tested officers and is popular with the troops, but Kyiv politics may have had something to do with his latest promotion.
Major General Andrii Hnatov, a high-profile member of a new generation of combat leaders now reaching the uppermost echelons of the Ukrainian military, was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Sunday, a Defense Ministry statement said.
Hnatov, 45, is a marine officer with over 27 years of continuous military service. In 2014 he was one of a few hundred Ukrainian marines stationed in Crimea that stayed loyal to Kyiv after Russia invaded and annexed the peninsula.
Russian propagandists hail Trump’s decision to shut down Radio Liberty and Voice of America, mocking their journalists and wishing them death.
Russian propagandists Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Solovyov enthusiastically praised the US decision to halt funding for Radio Liberty and Voice of America during a broadcast on Russian television.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order dismantling the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia.
This is the third tranche of funds from the EU’s Ukraine Facility program which is authorized to provide up to €50 for Ukraine.
The European Council approved €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) in grants and loans for Ukraine’s macro-financial stability, reconstruction, and modernization.
The money comes via the Ukraine Facility program – the EU’s financial assistance program for Ukraine started in 2024. This is the third tranche of funds to go to Kyiv, a press release from the EU Council says.
Regional governor Igor Babushkin said staff of a “fuel and energy” complex were evacuated before the attack, which sparked a large blaze.
Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on southern Russia overnight, sparking a blaze at an oil refinery, local authorities said Monday, as Moscow launched a barrage of nearly 200 drones against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian attack on the oil refinery in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region was the latest in a series of aerial strikes by both sides targeting energy facilities.
With peace talks on the table, Lord Ashcroft meets a shadowy Ukrainian special forces operative whose men have undertaken some of the most risky and successful operations behind Russian lines.
He is both sensitive and emotional when discussing his comrades who have been killed in battle. Yet he remains cold and dispassionate when talking about the numerous Russians he has “liquidated” during Special Forces operations deep behind enemy lines.
Welcome to the world of call-sign “Shaman” – a Ukrainian special forces operative who readily admits he regards those who serve with him, rather than his blood relations, as his closest “family”, such is his bond with his men.
Ukraine considers any easing of sanctions against Russia would be possible in exchange for a just peace but should remain in place until Moscow ends its aggression and engage in negotiations.
Ukraine is prepared to support the easing of sanctions against Russia in the event of that a verifiable peace agreement is reached but says that sanctions must remain in place as a tool to force Moscow to take real steps to end the war.
A senior Kyiv official responsible for sanctions policy told Politico that this issue is being discussed amid intensified bilateral negotiations, initiated by President Donald Trump between the US and Moscow, in an effort to end the war.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said there are three red lines for Ukraine in any peace deal – including the refusal to recognize the legitimacy of Russian-occupied territories.
Andriy Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister, named three red lines for Kyiv in future peace settlements.
Sybiha said Kyiv would not recognize Russian-occupied territories, compromise on its EU and NATO aspirations, or agree to a neutered military.
The US Secretary of State outlined the peace deal as a two-part plan – first a ceasefire, and secondly negotiations on the terms of an “enduring” peace “that respects everybody’s needs.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the current peace plan for Ukraine consists of two main phases – first a ceasefire, then actual negotiations – that he said are equally difficult to achieve.
“We’re not going to negotiate this in the public,” Rubio said in comments over the weekend when asked about the progress of the 30-day ceasefire proposal for Ukraine following his latest conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. But he maintained that his meeting with Lavrov was “promising.”
Russia proposes deploying an unarmed civilian mission in Ukraine as part of a peace deal to monitor its implementation and demands security guarantees, including Kyiv’s “neutrality.”
Russia doesn’t want potential peace agreement monitors in Ukraine to be armed.
Also, for a peace agreement, Ukraine should be “neutral” and the NATO defensive alliance should formally bar Kyiv’s entry, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said, according to Russian media.
The world in focus, as seen by Canadian leading global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw in a quick review of the biggest news in international media today.
US President Donald Trump announced to reporters that he will be speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, BBC reported. He said “a lot of work” has been done over the weekend, and they will see if they have “something to announce” on Tuesday. It comes one week after US and Ukraine delegates met in Saudi Arabia, where they announced the prospect of a 30-day ceasefire - the first step to ending the war. However, the US is still trying to convince Russia to agree. On the talks with Putin, Trump says: “I think we’ll be talking about land. It’s a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question. “But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that, dividing up certain assets and they’ve been working on that.” He adds: “We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.” Separately, in news that came as a shock in Ukraine and created headlines, Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, told CBS’ Face the Nation that, as part of a potential ceasefire deal with Russia, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, access to ports, and “the Black Sea potential agreement” would be on the table. Those items have not come up previously. The Zaporizhzhia NPP is Europe’s largest and has been occupied by Russia for quite some time, a period during which several emergency alarms were sounded due to shelling or other damage.
The Justice Department has quietly informed European officials that the United States is withdrawing from a multinational group created to investigate leaders responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to people familiar with the situation. The decision to withdraw from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which the Biden administration joined in 2023, is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s move away from President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s commitment to holding Mr. Putin personally accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians. The group was created to hold the leadership of Russia, along with its allies in Belarus, North Korea and Iran, accountable for a category of crimes — defined as aggression under international law and treaties that violates another country’s sovereignty and is not initiated in self-defense. The decision, the people familiar with the situation said, is expected to be announced on Monday in an email to the staff and membership of the group’s parent organization, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, better known as Eurojust - NYT
On Monday, Saakashvili was sentenced to “four years and six months in prison for illegally crossing Georgia’s border” when he covertly returned from exile in Ukraine.
A Georgian court on Monday sentenced ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili to four and a half years behind bars for illegally crossing the border, bringing the pro-Western politician’s total sentence to 12.5 years.
Saakashvili, 57, was sentenced in absentia in 2018 to six years in prison for abuse of office and, last week, he received a nine-year sentence for misspending public funds from the Caucasus country.
Drone attacks ignite fires in the Odesa region; one injured, and nearly 500 without power in Odesa suburbs.
Russia launched 174 drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, striking from five different directions on Monday, March 17.
On the evening of March 16, the Ukrainian Air Force recorded the launch of Russian Shahed drones toward Ukraine. An alert was issued in several regions due to the threat of these strikes.
Russia continues to wage cyberwar on Ukraine’s state institutions and critical infrastructure, against which Kyiv is strengthening its defenses, the head of its State Special Communication says.
Russia is not only waging war on the battlefield but is also actively attacking Ukraine in cyberspace, attempting to destabilize the work of state institutions, critical infrastructure, and the financial sector, Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Potii, head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications and Information Protection Service, in an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post on the sidelines of Kyiv’s 2025 International Cyber Resilience Forum.
“If you look at the public reports of our partners, we see that, unfortunately, the intensity of cyberattacks that may be linked to the Russian Federation remains high and is increasing,” he said.
The US administration, led by Trump, froze funding for several state-backed media outlets over the weekend, putting journalists on leave at RFE/RL and Voice of America.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský will push for a European response to U.S. funding cuts for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) at Monday’s European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, warning that the decision threatens democracy in authoritarian states.
Lipavský called for a broader political discussion on the broadcaster’s future, emphasizing its historical and present-day role in providing independent news to countries under authoritarian rule.
According to sources, the Trump administration has not provided a specific reason, only citing a general need to redeploy resources.
The US Justice Department has quietly informed European officials that it will withdraw from an international group investigating those responsible for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir Putin.
According to The New York Times (NYT), citing sources, this decision signals a shift under the Trump administration away from President Joe Biden’s efforts to hold Putin accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister denies reports of encirclement in Kursk, vows active defense, and calls on Russia to accept the US peace proposal unconditionally.
Rustem Umerov denied the claims spread by Russian propaganda of the alleged encirclement of a large number of Ukrainian troops in Kursk region.
“Our Defense Forces continue to conduct defensive operations, and we are keeping a significant number of kilometers of enemy territory under control,” he said. “To preserve some availability of the forces and troops, we have conducted some planned redeployment to more favorable defense lines, but at this stage, no unit of our Defense Forces is encircled.”
“We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said, describing the “negotiations” as “dividing up certain assets.”
US President Donald Trump said he will speak with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as part of efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Flying from Florida to Washington on Air Force One, Trump told reporters, “We will see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I will be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.”
Russia had the opportunity to modernize for the good of its people, but it chose the path of tyranny. In the future, its people will pay the price.
For many of us, the justifications put forward by Putin for his war against Ukraine – NATO, “denazification,” the supposed decadence of the West, and other arguments – are mere pretexts. What truly worries the Russian leaders is the path Ukraine has taken toward democracy and the fight against corruption.
Imagine a Ukraine integrated into Europe and the world, thriving in a more free and prosperous societal model. This, Putin cannot accept, because sooner or later, the Russian people might demand the same thing by looking at their Ukrainian neighbors and saying: “We too want to follow this path.”
Kyiv Post sat down on Thursday with Jonas Rydin, a Swedish business developer working in Ukraine since 2007. He’s upbeat on investing in Ukrainian defense.
A former military officer, Rydin started out in Swedish-Ukrainian IT with a Kyiv-headquartered company called Sigma Software Group. His work expanded to defense sector development in Sweden and Ukraine. He said his main business, currently, is raising funds and managing some 20 companies with an annual turnover of more than $1 billion. Of those firms, he said, six manufacture or deliver military-related services or goods like military shelters, medical kit, generators and training for customers like the Swedish Defense Ministry, other NATO states, and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
In 2022 he founded the non-profit organization Quartermaster for Ukraine, which by 2025 had delivered $20 million to aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including medical bags, tourniquets, field rations, drones and vehicles.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Repeating Kremlin talking points, top US security adviser suggests that much of “Novorossiya” would go to Russians in any deal, while Zelensky says Putin is just “prolonging” the war.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on Sunday that, as part of preliminary peace talks with Russia, the White House will propose that Ukraine would receive unspecified security guarantees in exchange for unspecified territorial concessions.
In an interview with ABC News, the top security adviser to President Donald Trump said that because of the “reality of the situation on the ground” there would need to be territory ceded to Russia in negotiations, using language that closely resembled Kremlin talking points about the balance of power on the battlefield.
