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Morning Headlines
BBC: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has accused Hungarian authorities of taking hostage seven employees of Ukraine's state savings bank, Oschadbank. The employees were in two cars carrying $80m worth of cash between Austria and Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: After months of pressuring India to stop buying Russian oil, the United States has granted New Delhi a temporary waiver allowing it to purchase fuel from Moscow, as the war in the Middle East limits global oil supplies.
Reuters: The city of Moscow, Russia's wealthiest federal unit, will cut its large investment programme for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, a sign of deteriorating regional finances in the fifth year of the conflict in Ukraine.
BBC: Finland plans to lift its long-standing ban on having nuclear weapons on its territory, in a move the government says would align the country more closely with Nato's deterrence policy.
More News
Reuters: The U.S. and Qatar are in discussions with Kyiv about acquiring Ukrainian interceptor drones as a cheap alternative to down Iranian Shahed UAVs amid the war in the Gulf.
The Kyiv Independent: In just three days of fighting in the Middle East, more than 800 Patriot missiles were used — more than Ukraine has received throughout the entire Russian full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press briefing on March 5.
Reuters: Indian refiners are buying millions of barrels of prompt Russian crude oil cargoes as the South Asian nation seeks to navigate an oil supply crunch triggered by the Middle East conflict.
IStories: The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation plans to recruit 78,800 personnel into its newly established Unmanned Systems Forces by the end of 2026.
Reuters: The United States joined Russia, China, and Niger on Thursday in opposing a resolution adopted by the U.N. nuclear watchdog's board denouncing attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as a threat to nuclear safety, diplomats said.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's Navy said on March 5 that it destroyed a Russian Ka-27 helicopter over the Black Sea, without clarifying when it had happened.
Reuters: The Druzhba oil pipeline damaged by a Russian strike in January may be technically ready for operation in a month and a half, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
Ukrainska Pravda: The European Union is considering providing Ukraine with financial support to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline as Hungary and Slovakia block aid for Kyiv and sanctions against Russia until supplies through the pipeline resume.
The Kyiv Independent: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 5 that Moscow had neither seen nor accepted any Western security guarantees for Kyiv, contradicting an earlier claim by a top Ukrainian official.
Reuters: Hungary will force neighbouring Ukraine with "political and financial tools" to reopen the key Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungarian refineries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
The Kyiv Independent: A nationwide law enforcement operation in Poland, "primarily aimed at verifying the legality of foreigners' stay," has resulted in the initiation of return proceedings against 91 Ukrainians, Ukraine's Embassy in Poland confirmed on March 5.
Reuters: NATO allies will keep supporting Ukraine despite the situation in Iran, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday.
Reuters: A Romanian man was convicted of spying for Ukraine and sentenced by a Russian court on Thursday to 15 years in prison, the court in the southern region of Krasnodar said.
Reuters: A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant has diverted from the Mediterranean Sea to sail around Africa following an attack that sank a similar Russian vessel off Libya this week.
NV: Ukrainian forces struck several Russian logistics facilities and troop concentrations, including targets in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on March 5.
Reuters: Ukraine spoke to the United States about the possibility of postponing the next round of trilateral talks with Russia "for a while" and changing the location due to the spiraling Iran conflict, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
NORAD: The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected and tracked two Russian TU-142 military aircraft operating in the Alaskan and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones on March 4, 2026.
worth mentioning
Drinking buddies: Dmitry Medvedev’s “wallet” profits from Oreshnik missile production while making wine in Italy
Russia’s ex-deputy defense minister Ruslan Tsalikov arrested on corruption charges
Finland delivers oil spill response equipment to Ukraine
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