Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 03-22-2025

Russia preparing for ‘‘peace’ talks in Saudi Arabia in a ‘combative’ mood and not signaling any readiness to make concessions.

Moscow is hoping to achieve “some progress” at talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a Russian negotiator told state media some 48 hours before the United States meets delegations from both Ukraine and Russia in a bid to halt the three-year conflict.

Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukraine proposal of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead suggesting just to halt aerial strikes on energy facilities.Despite that offer, both sides have continued to launch aerial attacks in the run-up to the negotiations.

The change in US leadership has sparked diplomatic activity, with Ukraine and Russia discussing a partial or full ceasefire under US mediation.

The change in U.S. leadership has sparked diplomatic activity, with Ukraine and Russia discussing a partial or full ceasefire under U.S. mediation. However, data suggests that despite the noticeably more favourable rhetoric from Russian officials toward Trump, Russian bloggers and military correspondents remain consistently opposed to the idea of ending the war through negotiations, with negative sentiments toward peace talks appearing 10 times more frequently than support. In fact, positive assessments of negotiations often serve as yet another tool to amplify anti-Ukrainian and pro-war rhetoric.

Russia’s Growing Optimism Toward Trump and the U.S.

Russia’s official rhetoric toward the United States and its president has undergone a noticeable shift, evident across various sources of information. While Russian politicians were initially cautious in their remarks about the new administration – aware of Trump’s reputation for frequently shifting positions—the tone began to change in late January. To examine this transformation, we analyzed statements from high-ranking Russian officials such as Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov, Maria Zakharova, or Vasily Nebenzya from the beginning of the year to mid-March (136 unique statements).

Czech President Pavel visited Kyiv’s Ohmatdyt hospital with Ukraine’s health minister, pledging support to rebuild medical sites damaged by Russian attacks.

Czech President Petr Pavel, accompanied by Ukraine’s Minister of Health Viktor Liashko, visited the Ohmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv on Saturday.

Liashko shared details of the visit on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

The commander of HUR’s “Kraken” unit speaks publicly for the first time about war, tactics, losses – and victory – in an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kraken unit has become known as one of the most effective and enigmatic military units of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR).

Established in Kharkiv, the special unit has distinguished itself by liberating occupied territories, executing high-risk operations, and eliminating key Russian targets.

As ceasefire talks unfold, Washington appears to be leveraging cybersecurity and intelligence-sharing as diplomatic tools – potentially exposing Ukraine and NATO to Russian hybrid warfare.

As the US scales back its efforts to counter Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare, a new concern has emerged: the role of cybersecurity and intelligence-sharing in US-Russia diplomacy. 

With NATO allies already alarmed by the rollback of counter-sabotage operations intelligence officials now warn that US disengagement from cyber defense could have even more severe consequences. 

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• On 20 March 2025 Russian President Putin signed a decree that mandated Ukrainian nationals living in Russia, or in sovereign Ukrainian territory illegally occupied by Russia, to ‘settle their legal status’ by 10 September 2025, or leave the territory.
• Putin’s decree is almost certainly intended to force the departure from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Ukrainian nationals who refuse to accept Russian passports and citizenship. Putin and the Russian senior leadership continue to prosecute a Russification policy in illegally occupied Ukrainian territory, as part of longstanding efforts to extirpate Ukrainian culture, identity and statehood.
• Russia erroneously and illegally defines both occupied and unoccupied Ukrainian territory in the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, as well as Crimea, as being part of the Russian Federation. This is in direct contradiction with Russia’s own stated recognition of Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty following the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as broader international recognition of Ukraine.

Russia hopes for “some progress” at Saudi talks with US and Ukraine, though Moscow rejected a full ceasefire and continues strikes

Moscow is hoping to achieve “some progress” at talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday, a Russian negotiator told state media some 48 hours before the United States meets delegations from both Ukraine and Russia in a bid to halt the three-year conflict.

Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukraine proposal of a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, instead suggesting just to halt aerial strikes on energy facilities.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kraken unit has become known as one of the most effective and enigmatic military structures of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR).

Kyiv Post reviewed recent findings by Gallup, NBC, Fox News, CNN and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Bottom line, the US public likes Ukraine more than Trump team likes Ukraine.

A public argument between US President Donald J. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a high pressure White House campaign for Kyiv to make concessions to Russia has done little to dent solid US public support for Ukraine, and by some metrics actually may have increased it, results of national US public opinion polls made public in mid-March showed.

“Three years into the [full-scale invasion phase of the] Russo-Ukrainian War, 46 percent of Americans believe the US is not doing enough to help Ukraine in the conflict, marking a 16-percentage-point increase since December to a new high,” the major US survey company Gallup said in a March 18 statement.

Zelensky visited troops near front-line Pokrovsk, a key eastern city under Russian attack for months, to assess defense efforts and the battlefield situation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he had visited troops near the front line defending the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Russia has been trying to capture for months.

“I received a report on the defence of the Pokrovsk direction, the operational situation, and the progress of the missions,” Zelensky said on social media, posting a video of him in a military command post and walking through underground tunnels.

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.

U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States, according to a Federal Register notice on Friday, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration. The move, effective April 24, cuts short a two-year “parole” granted to the migrants under former President Joe Biden that allowed them to enter the country by air if they had U.S. sponsors. Trump said on March 6 that he would decide “very soon” whether to strip the parole status from some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. during the conflict with Russia. Trump’s remarks came in response to a Reuters report that said his administration planned to revoke the status for Ukrainians as soon as April. The Trump administration’s decision to strip the legal status from half a million migrants could make many vulnerable to deportation if they choose to remain in the U.S. It remains unclear how many who entered the U.S. on parole now have another form of protection or legal status.

Heathrow Airport is “open and fully operational” after a fire at an off-site power substation caused major disruption on Friday, grounding over 1,300 flights and affecting around 200,000 passengers. A spokesperson for Heathrow said early this morning there were hundreds of extra staff on hand to help 10,000 extra passengers on Saturday. He said: “Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday’s outage at an off-airport power substation. “Passengers travelling today should check with their airline for the latest information regarding their flight.” After more than 1,300 flights were grounded on Friday around 100 more have been axed by airlines whose flight crew and aircraft are now out of position. British Airways has cancelled almost 80 flights on Saturday after almost its entire schedule was grounded on Friday. The Metropolitan Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and the London Fire Brigade’s investigation is focusing on the electrical distribution equipment - Independent

In a shockingly “pro-Russian” interview with Tucker Carlson US President Donald Trump’s special envoy spoke in “glowing terms” about his recent meeting with Russia’s president.

Interviewed by Tucker Carlson for his YouTube show, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, spoke in barely concealed admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meetings in Moscow. His positive view of the Kremlin’s leader was only matched by Carlson’s description of Witkoff as “the most effective American diplomat in a generation.”

Talking about his two meetings with Putin on Feb. 11 and March 13, Witkoff said “I liked him. I think he was honest with me.”

Russia is using non-stop aerial attacks, murder, propaganda, and pro-Russian politicians in an attempt to bring Odesa to its side

Despite ceasefire negotiations, Russia demonstrates that its claims to Ukrainian territories have not disappeared – and nor does it appear likely that Russia will stop its aggression against Ukraine. One example is Ukraine’s most important port city – Odesa.

The high-profile murder of one of Odesa’s leading public figures and the intensification of the shelling of Odesa mark the next stage of Russia’s efforts to expand into Ukrainian territory.

The West must not project its own logic onto any assessment of what Putin wants in Ukraine. Economic and geostrategic factors play only a part. Putin is obsessed with shaping history.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a 30-day energy and infrastructure ceasefire and an exchange of 175 prisoners, but also set a condition of a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Ukraine. Putin has stressed that any resolution to the conflict must be “comprehensive, sustainable and long term” and must include an end to Ukraine’s efforts to integrate more tightly into the democratic-led West.

His incomplete response to US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal, agreed to by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is likely to include additional demands which could make any meaningful progress unlikely. Ukrainian leaders will be hoping Putin’s unwillingness to accept the US-led ceasefire initiative will help convince their American partners that the Russian dictator is not truly interested in ending the war.

Russia says 47 Ukrainian drones intercepted overnight

Russia on Saturday said it had intercepted 47 Ukrainian drones overnight in attacks on several regions that injured six people.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes the Kremlin and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.

Russian strikes killed 3 and injured 13 in Zaporizhzhia, including a 14-year-old girl.

Updated at 11 a.m

Russia fired 179 drones at Ukraine in its latest overnight barrage, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.

The foundation represents independent efforts to assist the Armed Forces of Ukraine, acting faster than the state and getting donations from Ukrainians.

Come Back Alive Foundation, a non-governmental organization assisting Ukraine’s army since 2014, reported downing “more than” 1000 Russian reconnaissance and strike drones within its “Dronefall” project. 

“Dronefall” also caused damages worth Hr. 2.7 billion ($65 Million) to Russian forces, according to the foundation’s estimates. 

Russian propaganda spreads a fake video claiming RSF accused Ukraine of press freedom violations — RSF never made such a video or statement.

Russian Telegram channels and bots on social media platforms X and Instagram are circulating the video, which falsely states that the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) documented 8,440 cases of press freedom violations and obstruction of journalists’ work in Ukraine within a year. According to the fake video, RSF, together with 120 European media outlets -- including BBC, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, France 24, and others -- is allegedly planning to sue the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Ukraine hopes for at least a partial ceasefire at Saudi talks, as the US meets both sides and Russia continues strikes despite earlier promises to pause.

Ukraine hopes to secure at least a partial ceasefire at upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia, during which US officials will meet separately with Russian and Ukrainian delegations, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP on Friday.

Momentum has been building in recent weeks towards a ceasefire in the three-year war as US officials hold talks with both sides, though their efforts have so far failed to yield a breakthrough.