Institute for the Study of War: Russia’s stated objectives in Ukraine remain constant, despite military setbacks

The possible shift comes as Russia intensifies aerial strikes.

Russia launched 153 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said, reporting that Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 130.

The drone attack damaged the vessel's deck, bridge, and engine room, causing it to take on water. All 27 crew members on board were unharmed, the media reported.

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.

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.

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.

The number includes 1,210 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

"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.

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