Weekend Briefing

Here's what you need to know to start your week

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Morning Headlines

Reuters: Russia launched its third consecutive overnight air attack on Kyiv, wounding one person and damaging several houses in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, a Kyiv's regional governor said on Monday.

ISW: Unconfirmed reports suggest that there is tension between Russian Central Bank Chairperson Elvira Nabiullina and the Kremlin over Russia's high interest rate and wartime monetary policies.

Reuters: Firefighters continued for the fifth day to fight a fire at an oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar region, sparked last week by a drone attack that authorities blamed on Ukraine, the regional administration said.

The Kyiv Independent: Russia is increasing financial incentives for military recruits due to a severe shortage of new volunteers, Ukraine’s Military Intelligence reported on March 23.

23.03.2025

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine’s Air Force struck and destroyed a concentration of Russian troops in Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast on March 21, the Armed Forces General Staff reported on March 23.

Bloomberg: The US is still hoping a broad ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine can be reached within weeks, even as the Moscow increases strikes on Ukrainian cities and gives off signals that it’s in no hurry to reach a deal. The White House aims for a truce agreement by April 20 (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces liberated the village of Nadiya in Luhansk Oblast, reclaiming three square kilometers from Russian occupation, the Third Assault Brigade reported on March 23.

Reuters: Ukrainian and U.S. delegations discussed on Sunday proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukraine's defence minister said, part of a diplomatic push by U.S. President Donald Trump to end three years of war.

The Kyiv Independent: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he faced pressure from Washington to criticize President Volodymyr Zelensky after a showdown in the Oval Office last month led to the Ukrainian president walking out of the White House early.

AP News: Russia launched a barrage of drones across Ukraine overnight Sunday that killed at least seven people, according to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services.

ISW: US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's statements undermine Trump's stated desired end state for the war in Ukraine that achieves an enduring peace and is in the best interests of the United States, Ukraine, and Europe.

Politico: China is considering joining the potential peacekeeping mission for Ukraine being spearheaded by European leaders, German newspaper Welt reported on Saturday.

22.03.2025

Reuters: Moldovan authorities have issued an international wanted notice for a missing pro-Russian member of parliament, who disappeared the day he was handed a 12-year jail sentence on corruption charges. A second pro-Russian lawmaker, due to be sentenced next week, has also disappeared, officials said.

RBC-Ukraine: Manuela Schwesig, the German Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, ruled out the restoration of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The facility was never put into operation due to Russia's war against Ukraine and the subsequent sabotage, informs n-tv.

Ukrainska Pravda: Czech President Petr Pavel has stated that Prague is ready to participate in a foreign mission to send troops to Ukraine when a potential peace agreement is struck.

Reuters: Russian shelling killed three people on Saturday in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, the regional governor said, one of the focal points of the advance westward of Russian troops.

The Kyiv Independent: In an interview on March 21 with Tucker Carlson, White House envoy Steve Witkoff openly parroted Russian propaganda and agreed with most of the Kremlin's talking points.

Ukrainska Pravda: Ukraine's General Staff has reported that the Ukrainian Air Force struck a command post of a Russian border guard outpost in the settlement of Glotovo, located in Russia's Belgorod Oblast, on 21 March.

Ukrinform: The Dutch government has committed EUR 65 million to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund to assist in critical infrastructure repairs and preparation for the upcoming heating season.

Reuters: South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said on Saturday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia must stop, and North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in the course of bringing about the end of the war in Ukraine.

ISW: The Kremlin is weaponizing ongoing ceasefire negotiations and deliberately misrepresenting the status and terms of a future ceasefire agreement in order to delay and undermine negotiations for a settlement to the war.

21.03.2025

Reuters: Russian attacks killed a family of three late on Friday in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and four more people in the country's north and east, officials said.

The Kyiv Independent: A car with two Russian officers exploded on March 20 in the Russian-occupied town of Skadovsk in Kherson Oblast, Ukrainian military intelligence said on March 21.

The Moscow Times: The United States has reduced its participation in several working groups with European allies that focus on punishing Russia’s evasion of Western sanctions that were imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Friday.

AFP: Germany on Friday approved three billion euros in new military aid for Ukraine, just days before planned US-brokered talks with Moscow and Kyiv on a limited truce.

The Guardian: The UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of its military planning to be ready to support Ukraine, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible.

Reuters: European Union leaders are now in agreement that the EU must be fully capable of defending itself against a Russian attack by 2030, despite earlier resistance to the deadline from some countries, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.

Bloomberg: Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the Baltic nation is prepared to deploy troops as part of a post-ceasefire mission to Ukraine as European allies grapple with how to maintain support for Kyiv (archive).

AFP: A Russian energy facility near the border with Ukraine that used to pump gas to Europe was set ablaze overnight in an attack both Moscow and Kyiv blamed on each other.

The AP documented 59 incidents in which European governments, prosecutors, intelligence services or other Western officials blamed Russia, groups linked to Russia or its ally Belarus for cyberattacks, spreading propaganda, plotting killings or committing acts of vandalism, arson, sabotage or espionage since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion.

Reuters: Russia inflicted unimaginable suffering on millions of Ukrainian children and violated their rights since its full scale invasion of Ukraine begun in 2022, a new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office said on Friday.

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