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Morning Headlines
Reuters: A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed into a cliff in Crimea, killing 29 people on board, due to a possible technical malfunction, Russia's defence ministry said early on Wednesday.
Meduza: Russia’s Higher Education and Science Ministry told the rectors of the country’s largest universities that at least 2 percent of students must sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, the independent Russian political newsletter Faridaily reported, citing a source acquainted with the rector of a Moscow university.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia attacked the city of Khmelnytskyi overnight on April 1, damaging a commercial site and a residential building was damaged by shelling in Lutsk, authorities and media reported.
ISW: Russian authorities are increasingly turning to forced covert mobilization efforts as Russian forces suffer unsustainably high losses on the battlefield and Russian recruitment rates decline.
More News
The Guardian: Polish and Irish leaders have called the Hungarian government’s actions “repulsive” and “sinister”, after leaked audio appeared to capture its foreign minister telling Moscow he would try to amend the EU sanctions list to its liking.
The Kyiv Independent: The European Union will provide an additional 80 million euros in profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas announced on March 31.
United24 Media: Russian military bloggers have reported the loss of another Su-34 fighter-bomber.
Ukrainska Pravda: Ukrainian drone strikes on key Russian ports on the Baltic Sea have pushed Russian oil exports down to their lowest level since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and caused losses of more than US$1 billion.
Reuters: Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft, said on Tuesday that its 2025 net income declined by 73% to 293 billion roubles ($3.60 billion) due to high interest rates, a high profit tax as well as one-off factors.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine has intelligence indicating that Russia deliberately redirected drones toward Baltic countries and Finland as part of an effort to stir tensions, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on March 31.
The Moscow Times: Authorities in Russia's Ryazan region have ordered businesses to nominate a minimum number of employees for contract military service, marking the latest iteration of government efforts to maintain a steady flow of troops to the front line in eastern Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: A Tokyo-listed drone firm is breaking with the trend of Japanese companies avoiding Ukraine's defense industry by partnering with interceptor drone producer Amazing Drones, the first Japanese company to invest in the sector.
The Moscow Times: Violent crimes committed by active-duty Russian servicemen has surged since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with murders, sexual assaults and robberies rising far faster than the military’s expansion.
The Kyiv Independent: The U.S. Treasury on March 31 removed three Russian-flagged cargo ships from its sanctions list, but denied that the step would be part of a broader policy shift.
Reuters: More than two dozen ships sanctioned for being part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet have passed through UK waters since Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week authorised the military to detain vessels used by Moscow to export oil. The figures based on ship tracking data show that oil tankers sanctioned by Britain are continuing to travel along England's southern coast in the same numbers as before the announcement.
The Kyiv Independent: Moscow is giving Kyiv two months to withdraw from the Donbas region or face fresh demands in peace talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 31. Russia is signaling to the U.S. that it could seize the region by force within that period, and would then demand "different conditions" in negotiations.
Reuters: The Russian economy will grow by 0.8% this year, down from a forecast of 1% a month ago, according to a Reuters poll of 16 analysts on Tuesday, echoing an earlier government announcement that the official forecast could be downgraded.
The Kyiv Independent: European Commission experts are denied access to the Druzhba oil pipeline due to the "security situation," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka told Dutch station BNR Nieuwsradio in an interview published on March 31.
Reuters: Russia is going to further clamp down Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which are used by millions of Russians to get around internet controls and censorship, Russia's digital minister said.
Reuters: Estonia and Latvia detected foreign drone activity near their borders with Russia overnight, their militaries said, while Finnish border guards said they found a drone near theirs early on Tuesday, in the latest incidents to unsettle NATO's eastern flank.
worth mentioning
Drone alerts to reach Finnish phones by 2027
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