News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe

Senior Iranian and Russian officials began secretly discussing deliveries of drones, medicine, and food shortly after the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated attacks against Iran at the end of February, two officials briefed on the intelligence report told the Financial Times.

A major oil refinery and natural gas port in Russia's Leningrad Oblast came under fire during an overnight drone attack on March 26, according to Russian officials and social media channels.

"That's why we're going after his shadow fleet even harder, not just keeping Britain safe but starving Putin's war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign in Ukraine," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 25.

The United States is proposing security guarantees to Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv withdrawing its troops from parts of Donbas still under Ukrainian control, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters published on March 25.

The Russian delegation is headed by Vyacheslav Nikonov, deputy chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the grandson of Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.

The two positions had remained vacant since Jan. 5, when Zelensky dismissed Andrii Tupikov and Oleksandr Dubrovin. The dismissals in January came amid a wider government reshuffle following a major corruption scandal last year.

About 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity has been halted amid Ukrainian drone strikes, pipeline damage, and tanker seizures, Reuters reported on March 25.

"We are continuing our systematic fight against gambling addiction," Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry said.

Ukraine’s battered energy sector will get help from U.S. companies as Kyiv rapidly prepares for the next heating season, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry announced on March 25 amid a Ukrainian delegation visit to the U.S.

Ukraine and the U.S. have confirmed Ukrainian defense tech startup Sine Engineering as the recipient of the first investment from a joint U.S.-Ukraine reconstruction fund, born out of last year’s famed and contentious minerals deal.

Oleksii Kharchenko, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, said Russia is trying to "severely limit" communication between family members separated because of the war.