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U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff sparked controversy after parroting Russian propaganda narratives on Ukraine in an interview with far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, released on March 21. We asked Ukrainian residents in Kyiv what they think about these statements.
The meeting, which came a day after talks between the U.S. and Ukraine, was expected to focus on Washington's push for a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea and a potential overall halt on military activity.
Moscow claimed earlier that Ukrainian drones struck the Kavkazskaya oil pumping station overnight on March 19, damaging infrastructure and igniting a fire. Firefighters continued battling a fire at the oil depot for the fifth day.
Russian forces launched the attack against residential areas and infrastructure facilities, including children's hospital, said acting Mayor Artem Kobzar.
"I believe Russia has managed to influence some people on the White House team through information," President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "Their signal to the Americans was that the Ukrainians do not want to end the war, and something should be done to force them."
President Volodymyr Zelensky once again invited U.S. Vice President JD Vance to visit Ukraine during a recent phone call, Zelensky said in an interview with Time magazine published on March 24.
"The matter of the Black Sea Initiative and everything related to the initiative's renewal are on the agenda today," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be immediately briefed on the results of the consultations.
Russian businesses have significantly scaled back their recruitment efforts in early 2025, with job openings falling 15% compared to the same period last year, pro-state Russian outlet Izvestia reported on March 24, citing data from employment service hh.ru.
"Speaking of Dvorichna, you can see on DeepState (a crowd-sourced monitoring website) that there are blue zones where part of the territory has been de-occupied. These were very important but small operations," Oles Malyarevych, deputy commander of the Achilles unmanned systems regiment, said.
Romania and Bulgaria are wary of a possible deal between the U.S. and Russia that could restore Moscow's influence in the Black Sea, the Financial Times reported on March 24, citing undisclosed officials from the region.
"The discussion concerned a mutual ceasefire: we won't attack their facilities at sea and rivers, and they won't attack our facilities, our Kherson and Mykolaiv ports, the Greater Odesa ports," Serhii Leshchenko, a Presidential Office advisor, said on national television.
"They were hit with batons, also had their RT signs ripped off, had their gas masks smashed, then tear gas was sprayed in their direction," the outlet's Telegram channel said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied claims in the media that it considers participating in a possible peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, China's state-run newspaper Global Times reported on March 24.