As the U.S.-Iran war disrupts global energy markets, the Russian president is brainstorming ways to strong-arm the EU into rethinking its ban on Russian LNG and pipeline gas.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has called the move a "cynical" PR stunt and summoned Hungary's charge d'affaires for more information on the released prisoners.

Key developments on March 4: * 3 Russian ships hit, 3 sailors killed in Ukrainian strike on Black Sea port, SBU source says * Russia continues to escalate drone attacks on passenger trains, railway infrastructure * Putin increases Russia's regular army personnel to nearly 2.4 million * Russian tanker on fire in Mediterranean Sea, Moscow accuses Ukraine of sea drone attack Ukrainian forces struck the Russian port of Novorossiysk, hitting the minesweeper Valentin Pikul and "severely" damagin

The Kyiv Independent’s Kateryna Hodunova speaks with Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Olympic Games for wearing a helmet honoring 24 Ukrainian athletes killed in Russia’s war.

"Ukraine purchases the electricity and does not receive it for free. So the Fico government will simply deprive Slovak companies of earnings, while Ukraine will receive this electricity from other sources," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi told the Kyiv Independent.

"Our military has the necessary capabilities. Ukrainian experts will work on site, and teams are already negotiating this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russia's regular army has grown to 2,391,770 personnel. Of these, 1,502,640 will serve as active-duty troops — 2,640 more than before, according to the March 4 decree.

For four years, Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom has remained a huge "elephant in the room" as no country, except Ukraine, has imposed a comprehensive package of sanctions against it. Rosatom continues to supply enriched uranium and fuel assemblies to Soviet-designed reactors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia under long-standing contracts. In Hungary, the company serves as a principal contractor in the country's nuclear expansion. In February, construction formall

"We reserve the right to respond to any hostile attitude towards our country," Turkey's Defense Ministry said.

"There are no 'protected areas' for Russian military facilities," a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent.

The Trump administration's move to launch a large-scale strike operation in Iran has seen state-on-state war return to the Middle East with a vengeance. Hours after the first U.S. and Israeli strikes began hitting the country on Feb. 28, Tehran — despite its leadership being decapitated on the first day of the fighting — retaliated with large scale missile and drone attacks across the region, with a focus on U.S. military bases and embassies. On top of its arsenal of ballistic missiles, Iran

A woman has been arrested in connection to a suspected terrorist attack that killed a police officer and injured 25 others in the Western city of Lviv in the early hours of Sunday morning, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russian drone hit two passenger trains in just one day.

A Russian-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker, the Arctic Metagaz, has reportedly caught fire in the Mediterranean Sea, multiple media outlets reported on March 3.

The number includes 980 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russia launched 149 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said, reporting that Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 129.

A feeling familiar to millions of Ukrainians was suddenly experienced across the Middle East over the weekend — the terror caused by Shahed drones flying overhead and smashing into buildings. Footage flooded social media as Iran launched drones and missiles in retaliatory strikes in response to the U.S.-Israeli bombardment that began on Feb. 28. "Welcome to the club, guys," Vladislav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president's representative on sanctions policy, told the Kyiv Independent when asked wha

The vessel will not be allowed to leave port until the bail is paid and a re-inspection confirms compliance with maritime regulations.

"Russia is playing for time here, and in doing so is also acting against the will of the American president. In today's talks, I called for increasing the pressure on Moscow," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on March 3 after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

No regime invokes international law more fervently than when it sees its power being challenged. The moment American and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets, officials in Moscow and Tehran rushed to rediscover the UN Charter, denouncing the operation as unlawful. Their sudden reverence for the "rule-book" is politically convenient — but it also forces a serious question: on what legal grounds can the use of force against Iran be justified? One of U.S. President Donald Trump's principal argum

* Ukrainian forces liberate 9 eastern settlements as Russian troops face Starlink disruptions, Ukraine's military says * As Ukrainian regions start preparing for next winter, Kyiv lags behind * Zelensky floats swapping Patriot missiles for interceptor drones amid increased Iranian Shahed threat * At least 337 Ukrainian POWs 'brutally' executed by Russia, Ukraine's ombudsman says Ukraine has liberated nine settlements in the Oleksandrivka sector along the southeastern front line, Ukraine's A

Former Head of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, Serhii Deineko, has been mobilized and will lead the Luhansk Border Guard Detachment, Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske reported on March 3. Serhiy Deineko, who headed the State Border Guard from 2019 to Jan. 4, 2026, was charged last month in relation to a 204,000 euro bribery scheme. He was dismissed from the military last month. In 2023 border guards received at least 204,000 euros for facilitating the smuggling of cigarettes through the b

Facing a real chance of defeat in the April parliamentary elections, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban can’t stop talking about President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine. Just in the past few weeks, the Hungarian strongman called the war-torn country an "enemy" and accused its leadership of blackmail, deception, and election interference. Orban even deployed troops to defend Hungary's energy infrastructure against a claimed Ukrainian threat. Hungary's leader is "desperately losing" his pre

A Ukrainian lawmaker has urged Donald Trump to recognise that Russia and Iran "represent the same evil," after the U.S. president once again criticized Ukraine whilst commenting on the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Kyiv was among the first to publicly back the U.S.-Israeli war, arguing that Iran is a key Kremlin ally that has supported Russia's war against Ukraine, including by supplying Shahed drones used in attacks on Ukrainian cities. But in a post on Truth Social on March 2, Trum

Russia lost more territory than it gained in February for the first time since Ukraine's failed counteroffensive in 2023, according to independent Finnish open-source intelligence collective Black Bird Group. Russia lost 37 km² on balance last month, causing the total area of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia to modestly drop to 118,917 km², according to the group’s analysis. The independent assessment comes after Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also claimed on March 2 that

Regional leaders and mayors met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on March 3 to approve plans for the upcoming winter. The National Security and Defense Council soon approved all plans, except the one meant for Kyiv. Each regional plan includes protections for energy infrastructure, additional cogeneration, and decentralized heating and water supply. Local officials were required to submit their plans by March 1. Kyiv's plan was not good enough, the government said "We still need to w

The Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) will convene technology innovators, defense experts, investors, policymakers, and scholars for a conference examining Ukraine’s emergence as a global driver of technological innovation under wartime conditions.

"If they give them to us, we will give them interceptors. It is an equal exchange," he said.

"Russia has turned torture into state policy and uses it as a weapon," Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said.

Orban held a phone call with Putin amid an escalating spat between Kyiv and Budapest.

The committee was created by order of Lidia Izovitova, head of the association. Izovitova has faced criticism for allegedly being a protégé of pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Izovitova's tenure as head of the association ended in 2022, and she has been accused of holding her position illegally.

"Three additional settlements in the area have been fully cleared of Russian troops, while fighting continues for several more," the statement read.