Update: Number of injured in Russia's March 25 attack on Odesa rises to 10
The Southern Defense Forces reported the day before that four people had been injured by a Russian ballistic missile attack on the city.
Team
Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Southern Defense Forces reported the day before that four people had been injured by a Russian ballistic missile attack on the city.
The Prosecutor General's Office added that the two suspects were Ukrainian citizens.
The disbursal was the third such tranche of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), bringing the total distributed so far to $5.4 billion.
Poland was forced to scramble its fighter jets to protect its airspace during Russia's drone and missile attack against Ukraine on March 24, when a Russian cruise missile entered Poland's airspace for 39 seconds.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims of Russian authorities, and Ukraine does not usually comment on alleged attacks on Russian soil.
The proposal, which was put forth by Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of Georgian Dream's faction in parliament, is the latest in a series of government measures that aim to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia.
Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), added that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the SBU and other security agencies have been responsible for destroying over 800 Russian tanks, as well as other armored vehicles.
Photos and videos of the alleged torture of the suspects have been widely circulated on Russian social media.
At the same time, the EU moved closer on March 21 to finalizing a plan to use 90% of the profits generated from the frozen funds to purchase weapons for Kyiv and allocate the remaining 10% to the EU budget to support Ukraine's defense industry.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later clarified his words, saying that "de jure" it remained a "military operation," but "de facto" had become a war.
"I am confident that we can act very quickly," said European Council President Charles Michel.
The sources told the Financial Times that the U.S. is concerned Russia could potentially retaliate by striking energy infrastructure used by the West, which could result in higher energy prices globally.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces downed eight projectiles launched from the RM-70 Vampire rocket launcher against Belgorod Oblast at around 7:30 a.m. local time.
While some leaders, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo backed the idea, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer publicly voiced opposition to the proposal.
"We want to have peace, but we want to have sustainable peace and peace on Russia's terms is not sustainable," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.
In total, at least 45 people were killed in the capital, and more than 130 were wounded by Russian attacks over the winter of 2023-2024.
A two-week Easter recess is scheduled to begin on March 23 and extend until April 8, likely adding further delays to any potential votes on the issue.
"We can't let Ukraine go through this, if it comes through the spring and we haven't helped Ukraine, God help us," Senator Joe Manchin said onstage during Axios' annual What's Next Summit.
"This is an important step for the implementation of reforms and financial stability on Ukraine's path to the EU," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on X.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that all Russians who fight for Ukraine must be tracked down and "punished...without any statute of limitations, wherever they may be located."
"Today we also made the first payment of 4.5 billion euros under the Ukraine Facility, our 50 billion euro ($54 billion) package to support the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine," said Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat.
Denys Kostev, a teenage orphan, was taken from Kherson to occupied Crimea by Russian authorities in fall 2022.
Russia's Defense Ministry also claimed that four drones had been shot down over Saratov Oblast and one in Belgorod Oblast.
The $300 million was the first tranche of U.S. aid since December 2023 and was only something that the Pentagon was "able to find" based on savings from already completed contracts, General Pat Ryder said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin easily cruised to victory in an election ruled neither free nor fair, solidifying his grip on power for another six years. Russia's Central Election Commission awarded Putin with 87.2% of the vote in an election that was widely seen as tightly controlled and without the
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that he and his Luxembourgish counterpart Luc Frieden would discuss Luxembourg's support for Ukraine and the potential future confiscation of Russian assets.
Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said, "With its actions, the Russian Embassy has interfered in the internal matters of Estonia in an unacceptable way."
Representatives from the partially Russian-state owned bank VTB told RBC that most banks in Armenia, barring VTB, would stop accepting cards that worked through the Mir payment system by March 30.
Bloomberg reported earlier in March that the EU was readying a new package targeting around 30 individuals in response to Alexei Navalny's death in February.
While India has also remained a critical market for Russian oil, payment issues, in part related to Western sanctions, have caused delays in the trade of oil between the two countries.
"(I) look forward to working together to further strengthen the time-tested Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia in the years to come," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
At the same time, Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence said that mobilization has continued in Russia throughout the campaign and election.