Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 03-20-2025

Trump’s tone on Wednesday was positive after the Zelensky call, during which he “discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said he could not legally negotiate ownership of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which President Donald Trump suggested Washington could take over.

Trump said the United States could own and run Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, the latest in a series of proposals he has made to the war-torn country, reliant on Washington’s support to fend off the Russian invasion.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, in effect from July 2022 to July 2023, was a UN- and Turkey-brokered deal for Ukrainian grain exports. Russia withdrew from the agreement in July 2023.

Russia and the United States will hold talks on March 24 in Riyadh on the possible resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, focusing on the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.

“Let me remind you that in July 2022, the relevant package agreements were concluded with the assistance and participation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, but these agreements never fully took effect,” Ushakov was quoted as saying by Meduza, a Russian media outlet.

Kyivstar aims to build an integrated digital ecosystem. Uklon, as an industry leader is expected to strengthen Kyivstar’s position and become a key element.

Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecom operator, announced it’s buying Ukrainian taxi and delivery service Uklon for about $150 million.

This is the largest deal in Ukraine’s IT sector since Russia’s full-scale invasion against Ukraine in February, 2022. 

The Russian President says all Ukrainians living in Russia have until Sept. 10 to legalize their status and is expanding forced passportization and deportations in Ukraine’s occupied territories.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree requiring Ukrainian citizens residing in Russia without formal legal status to either legalize their standing or leave the country by Sept. 10.

The document states that Ukrainians who have undergone fingerprint registration and photographing will be exempt from administrative liability for violating Russia’s residency rules, provided they apply to the police for legalization.

US intelligence agencies have shared their assessment with the White House over the past week, Trump has continued to assert that Ukrainian forces are “completely surrounded” however.

Ukrainian troops in Kursk have lost ground in recent days but are not surrounded by Russian forces despite recent claims made by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Reuters citing three US and European officials, intelligence reports confirm that Ukrainian troops are facing heavy pressure, they are not encircled, the officials said.

Will a ceasefire hold, or is Russia buying time? With shifting US diplomacy, economic deals, and new defense strategies, the stakes are high.

Ceasefire–shmeasefire. While Kremlin and White House officials tell Kyiv it cannot hold out against its giant northern neighbor, Ukraine has kicked drone bombardment of Russia into high gear.

Hundreds of long-range Ukrainian drones – along with a few surprise missiles – have pounded targets deep inside the Russian Federation continually during a recent high-pressure White House push to get a ceasefire between the two countries.

By many measures, the Kremlin is struggling to stop waves of Ukrainian robot aircraft from blowing things up inside Russia, in some cases repeatedly. Kyiv strike planners argue they are winning.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• The Russian Armed Forces have likely sustained approximately 900,000 casualties (killed and wounded) since invading Ukraine in 2022. Of these, it is likely 200,000 - 250,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, Russia’s largest losses since the Second World War.
• Russian President Putin and the Russian military leadership highly likely prioritise their conflict objectives over the lives of Russian soldiers. They are almost certainly prepared to tolerate continuously high casualty rates so long as this does not negatively affect public or elite support for the war, and those losses can be replaced.
• Putin and the Russian leadership highly likely place significantly less value on the lives of ethnic minority Russian citizens from impoverished regions, with Russian recruitment efforts consequently focussed disproportionately on these areas. Slavic Russians from urban centres such as Moscow and St. Petersburg have contributed disproportionately fewer service personnel than their poorer, ethnic minority compatriots.

Sergei Beseda the former head of Russia’s FSB Fifth Service, which briefed the Kremlin ahead of the 2022 full-scale invasion, is part of the team for negotiations with the US on March 24 in Riyadh.

Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov announced on Thursday the two main negotiators for the meeting with the US on March 24 in Saudi Arabia on Telegram. He named them as Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, and Sergei Beseda, Advisor to the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Ushakov said the main focus of Monday’s Russia-US meeting would focus on the implementation of a new initiative to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea which may be based on the July 2022 UN facilitated agreements that he said, “never fully took effect.”

General Ben Hodges responds to reports that Trump’s decision to terminate US intelligence support to Ukraine could have cost the Ukrainians hundreds of casualties in Kursk region

Valery Semenov, a nuclear engineer, fought for three years after the liberation of the plant as part of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade. He had been interviewed by Kyiv Post before his death.

Valery Semenov, a former engineer who had been instrumental in keeping the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant safe at the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, was killed in combat against Russian forces.

He had worked at Chornobyl NPP for years before the full-scale invasion began.

The US has halted efforts to counter Russian sabotage and cyberattacks, alarming NATO allies and raising fears that Washington is stepping back from countering Kremlin threats.

As US President Donald Trump pushes for closer ties with Moscow, the US has quietly halted coordinated efforts to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation, and cyberattacks. 

This policy shift has sparked concerns that Washington is not only weakening its own defenses but also leaving Ukraine and NATO allies more exposed to Russian hybrid warfare tactics – potentially as part of a broader diplomatic maneuver involving a negotiated settlement to the war with Moscow.

Russia’s former Defense Minister and current Security Council Secretary said Ukraine’s Constitution prohibits negotiations on “changing territorial integrity.”

Ukraine’s Constitution will prevent Kyiv from initiating peace talks with Russia and ending the war, Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former Defense Minister and current Security Council Secretary, said on Thursday, March 20.

“The main difficulty is that their Constitution prohibits negotiations on changing territorial integrity,” Shoigu said, speaking to Russian state-run media TASS, appearing surprised that Ukraine wants to retain control of its borders. He called this the “main problem” in relation to peace talks.

Zelensky’s visit comes as some 30 military chiefs from countries keen to protect an eventual Russia-Ukraine ceasefire prepared for talks in Britain on a possible peacekeeping force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Oslo on Thursday for talks with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, the Norwegian government said.

Zelensky’s visit comes as some 30 military chiefs from countries keen to protect an eventual Russia-Ukraine ceasefire prepared for talks in Britain on a possible peacekeeping force.

The detention of the Turkish president’s main election rival, the mayor of Istanbul, has sparked protests.

Istanbul’s powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, remained in police custody Thursday over graft and terror allegations after being held the day before, as his party called for more protests in Turkey’s largest city.

Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival and his detention came just days before the party was expected to name him as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election.

Ukraine’s Air Force dismissed as fake claims by Russian propaganda that an F-16 was brought down after a social media video showed a low-level “bombed-up” Viper flying over Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Spokespersons for both Ukraine’s Air Force (UAF) and the Center for Countering Disinformation, via Facebook, have dismissed as fake claims that were made by pro-Kremlin milbloggers that a Ukrainian F-16 fighter aircraft was shot down over the Sumy region.

Yurii Ihnat, the head of the AFU communications department said that Ukrainian pilots continue to successfully carry out combat missions without confirming where the sorties were taking place.

A Europe united on security is a “nightmare” for Putin, Poland’s prime minister has said ahead of a key EU summit in Brussels that will address security and peace in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters before boarding a flight to Brussels, where he will join other EU leaders for the roundtable meeting, Donald Tusk said European leaders will take the first step of Europe’s “most important project” by committing to increase defense spending in a show of unity against Russian aggression.

“For Putin, a Europe united on the issue of security is a nightmare,” he added.

Zelensky also said that Putin has no interest in ending the war, despite not being in a strong position on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told US President Donald Trump in their recent head-of-state call that he opposes ending the war along the current front line.

During a Zoom briefing with journalists, Zelensky said that many cities and settlements are split by the contact line.

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.

As a ceasefire over negotiations in Ukraine continue, there’s a feeling of deja vu of demands wanting President Volodymyr Zelensky to avoid a ‘Minsk 3’ - the 2014 agreement that was hailed as a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. CNN’s Clare Sebastian reports

Despite the White House declaring after Donald Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that “we have never been closer to peace,” fighting resumed within hours. Early this morning, Russia targeted railway and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kirovohrad region. The Ukrainian Air Force reported downing 75 of 171 Russian drones, redirecting 63. Later, Russia claimed Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery and a strategic bomber base 700 km inside its territory. Despite the massive distrust on both sides, both leaders spoke positively about their one-hour call. Trump pledged to help Ukraine source more Patriot missiles, though availability remains limited - both in the U.S. and Europe. Zelensky agreed to a “partial ceasefire against energy,” a key Russian demand as Ukrainian strikes strain Moscow’s hydrocarbon revenue.

The Trump administration is hinting at resetting business relations with Russia as quickly as they can. Investors are watching closely.

Markets, or at least the media, seems to be awash with stories about investors desperate to put money back to work in Russian markets. See, for example, this article in the Financial Times.

The assumption herein is that with Trump pushing for an early peace in Russia’s war on Ukraine and a normalization with the Kremlin, Western sanctions on Russia will soon be lifted. Putin seems to have buoyed this optimism by partially lifting restrictions on some Western institutional money stuck in Russian debt and equity – he seemed here to be trying to encourage Trump into a quid pro quo of lifting market restrictions.

The US State Department has denied reports that data on thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia was deleted after task force shut down.

The US State Department has denied reports that data on Ukrainian children abducted by Russia was lost or deleted. During a press briefing, spokesperson Tammy Bruce responded to claims suggesting that the database created by the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) may have been lost.

“What I can tell you is that the conspiracy theory or fear about data being deleted is untrue. That is false. The data exists,” Bruce said, adding, “It was not in the State Department’s control. It was managed by the people running that framework, but we know who is responsible for the data and the website. We are fully aware that the data exists, has not been deleted, and is not missing.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks, even as US President Donald Trump urges both sides to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of war.

Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine killed two people overnight, local officials said Thursday, March 20, as Moscow launched a massive drone strike that injured 10 people and caused fires far from the front lines.

Both Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks, even as US President Donald Trump urges both sides to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of war.

The European Commission has unveiled a €150-billion plan to reshape the bloc’s defense policy as Europe scrambles to adjust its security architecture to counter the threat posed by Russia.

The European Commission has unveiled a €150-billion plan to reshape the bloc’s defense policy as Europe scrambles to adjust its security architecture to counter the threat posed by Russia and the possible dissolution of transatlantic ties by the Trump administration.

Kaja Kallas, the commission’s foreign policy chief, presented the ‘White Paper for European Defence and the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030’ on Wednesday.

Keir Starmer, co-leader of efforts to form the so-called coalition of the willing alongside President Macron, is expected to address the meeting of roughly 30 military officials.

Dozens of military chiefs from countries keen to help protect an eventual ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine will meet in Britain on Thursday to discuss planning for a peacekeeping force.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, co-leader of efforts to form the so-called coalition of the willing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to address the meeting of roughly 30 military officials.

Engels houses Tu-160 and Tu-95MS long-range strategic bombers, which have been involved in strikes on Ukraine. The airfield is situated 614 km from Ukraine’s border.

[UPDATES] As of 12:30 Kyiv time, Kyiv Post’s sources within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed that the attack on the Engels airfield was carried out by drones operated by Ukraine’s SBU and Special Operations Forces.

“The SBU and its partners continue to work with surgical accuracy on key military facilities of the Russian Federation, which are absolutely legitimate military targets. Such special operations reduce the enemy’s ability to terrorize Ukrainian cities with missile strikes,” the source in the SBU told Kyiv Post.

A partial ceasefire may well take hold. But no one should have any illusions. Only Moscow stands to gain by stopping attacks on its energy infrastructure – its lifeline.

The much-hyped Trump-Putin phone call on March 18 has been spun by Washington as a diplomatic breakthrough, a vital first step toward peace in Ukraine. The headline concession? Putin’s “willingness” to pause strikes on Ukrainian energy targets for 30 days. But let’s cut through the fog: this isn’t progress – it’s a Russian sleight of hand, and it’s Putin, not Ukraine, who stands to gain.

The pause on energy strikes sounds noble until you realize it’s a lifeline for Russia’s war machine. Ukraine’s long-range precision strikes – drones and missiles slamming into Russian oil refineries and energy infrastructure – have been Kyiv’s most effective weapon. And Putin knows it.

Ukrainian forces, including HUR, have ramped up precision strikes on military targets in Crimea, aiming to weaken Russia’s grip on the peninsula and disrupt its war efforts.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) stated that it struck multiple targets in Russian-occupied Crimea over the past few days including air defense systems, the tugboat “Fedor Uryupin,” and a Mi-8 helicopter.

“For several days, the occupiers in temporarily occupied Crimea trembled from an unprecedented roar – their expensive air defense systems proved powerless against the precise strikes of Ukraine’s HUR warriors,” HUR stated Wednesday, March 19 – publishing a corresponding video on social media.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russia and Ukraine have not formally announced the implementation of the temporary long-range strikes ceasefire.
• Official American, Ukrainian, and Russian statements indicate that the parties to the ceasefire have not yet finalized the details of the agreement.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is adding confusion about the timing and details of the ceasefire in an attempt to falsely blame Ukraine for violating the ceasefire before both countries have officially implemented the agreement.
• The Kremlin continues to contradict Trump’s report of his call with Putin on March 18.
• The Kremlin continues to demand that Ukraine cede Ukrainian territory that Russia does not currently occupy and to set conditions to make further territorial demands.
• The United States, Ukraine, and Europe continue to agree that Ukraine and Europe must be involved in peace negotiations to end the war, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to exclude Ukraine and Europe from such negotiations.
• Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner of war (POW) exchange on March 19.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) Main Military-Political Directorate Deputy Head and Akhmat Spetsnaz Commander, Major General Apti Alaudinov, described recent Russian deception tactics that may amount to acts of perfidy — a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Belgorod Oblast and near Pokrovsk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Velyka Novosilka.
• Russian milbloggers argued that the Russian government should give military awards and social benefits to military instructors and Russian defense industrial base (DIB) employees.

After Trump and Musk shut down Yale lab tracking the Kremlin’s crimes against children in Ukraine, the opposition in Washington demands answers about critical data that are feared erased.

In a letter sent to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democratic lawmakers in Washington demanded to know if crucial data tracking Russian war crimes against children in Ukraine have been deleted and warned of “devastating consequences” if this is the case.

Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and others from the Democratic party warned that the data may have been permanently erased following the Trump administration’s decision, as part of a “government efficiency” push headed by Elon Musk, to shut down a Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab program tracking kidnapped and deported Ukrainian children.