Military: Situation on eastern front escalates

Russia is considering escorting its shadow fleet vessels with naval warships, a senior Kremlin aide said March 19, amid increased Western scrutiny of Moscow's clandestine network of ships used to bypass sanctions.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia may take further measures against Ukraine after a halt in Russian oil supplies, which he said has triggered a “state of emergency” in the country’s oil sector.

The unnamed project, lacking a defined team or political platform, seeks to offer an alternative to the Kremlin at a time when Russia's opposition operates largely from abroad and remains fractured, with its ability to influence domestic politics remaining low.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 19 that a Ukrainian negotiating team is heading to the United States for a meeting scheduled for Saturday, as efforts continue to revive stalled peace talks.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban continued to oppose a 90-billion-euro loan to Ukraine at a gathering of European leaders in Brussels today, according to two EU diplomats familiar with today's discussions.

Marchenko was charged in 2023 with receiving an $11,300 bribe for allegedly influencing regional officials to allow men eligible for military service to go abroad. She was expelled from Zelensky's Servant of the People party.

Hungary is heading into what could be its most consequential election in decades — and Ukraine has become a central issue in the campaign. The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek reports from Budapest, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after 16 years in power, is facing his strongest challenge yet from opposition leader Peter Magyar.

Ukraine's central bank kept its key rate unchanged at 15% on March 19, as an unexpected bump in inflation and war in the Middle East cause the bank to err on the side of caution.

Indian authorities detained six Ukrainians and one U.S. citizen on March 13 at airports in Delhi, Lucknow, and Kolkata.

"Sudden weather changes on March 17–18, including fog, were used by the enemy to resume assault actions," one commander said.

Ukrainian soldiers carrying an injured comrade, often moving slowly, become prime targets for Russian forces as they represent an opportunity to inflict multiple casualties at once.