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Morning Headlines
WaPo: Classified U.S. intelligence reports, including one earlier this month, cast doubt on Putin’s willingness to end the war against Ukraine, assessing that the Russian president has not veered from his maximalist goal of dominating his western neighbor (archive).
Reuters: Russian officials have communicated to their counterparts in the United States that they do not want Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg involved in top-level discussions aimed at ending the Ukraine war.
The Kyiv Independent: A large fire covering over 1,000 square meters engulfed the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on March 14, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.
Reuters: Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions.
ISW: Kremlin officials continue to use narratives similar to those that the Kremlin has used to justify its invasions of Ukraine to set informational conditions to justify future aggression against NATO member states.
More News
New York Post: Putin on Thursday rejected the terms of Trump’s proposed 30-day cease-fire in Ukraine, demanding that the West stop arming Kyiv before the Kremlin would consider such an arrangement.
Reuters: The U.S. is poised to resume shipments to Ukraine of long-range bombs known as Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs, after they were upgraded to better counter Russian jamming, Reuters reports. The munitions will arrive amid reports that Ukraine's supply of similarly-ranged Army Tactical Missile Systems has been depleted.
Bloomberg: The European Union is nearing an agreement to extend sanctions on individual Russians, including a number of billionaires, after Hungary dropped its opposition (archive).
Reuters: The administration of Trump said on Thursday that the wind-down of a license allowing energy transactions with Russian financial institutions expired this week, raising pressure on Putin to come to a peace agreement over Ukraine.
AFP: Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Thursday that he had summoned Russia's ambassador to Rome after the "umpteenth verbal attack" by Moscow's diplomatic corps against Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Bloomberg: Russian and European officials say the US is exploring ways to work with energy giant Gazprom on global projects, a step toward forging closer ties with the Kremlin while trying to broker a peace deal on Ukraine (archive).
Sweden will purchase Archer self-propelled artillery systems and Arthur counter-battery radars for Ukraine as part of its 18th military aid package worth US$295 million.
Reuters: Sweden will also give more than 1.4 billion Swedish crowns ($137.7 million) to Ukraine to help with reconstruction and development, as well as urgent humanitarian needs, Sweden's Minister for International Development Benjamin Dousa said on Thursday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine has received the first tranche of 2.5 billion Canadian dollars (about $1.7 billion) from Ottawa under the G7's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative. The ERA mechanism, totaling $50 billion, provides loans to Ukraine that will be repaid using future profits from frozen Russian assets.
AP News: Finland on Thursday announced a new arms package for Ukraine amounting to around 200 million euros and pledged more defense cooperation with Kyiv.
AFP: Five countries neighbouring Russia -- Poland, the three Baltic states and Finland -- are "close" to an agreement on withdrawing from the treaty on anti-personnel mines, Lithuania's defence minister said on Thursday.
Reuters: Russia is asking companies to propose which sanctions Moscow should seek to have lifted ahead of talks with Washington.
FT: Hungary has threatened to block the EU’s renewal of sanctions imposed on 2,000 Russians unless oligarch Mikhail Fridman is removed from the list. The sanctions will expire on Saturday unless all 27 EU capitals agree to extend them for another six months (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: Russia has sharply reduced diesel exports to Africa following repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on its oil refineries, Russian pro-state media outlet RBC reported on March 13.
France 24: French lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a resolution urging France and allies to provide more support for Ukraine, including by seizing tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets.
AFP: Kyiv on Thursday accused Russian forces of executing five more captured Ukrainian serviceman, the latest apparent war-crime allegation brought against the Kremlin's army.
Reuters: Poland's president has called on the U.S. to transfer nuclear weapons to its territory as a deterrent against future Russian aggression, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
worth mentioning
Americans worry Trump too closely aligned with Russia, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Destruction of Ukraine dam caused ‘toxic timebomb’ of heavy metals, study finds
German newspaper claims Russian national who worked for prominent CDU lawmaker has ties to the FSB
Tanks vs. banks: Russia faces a financial crisis
Human rights observer says Russia’s first monitoring mission in Ukraine documented the Kremlin’s evolving state terror system
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