U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled as Kyiv refuses to cede territory in the country’s east without a fight, a Kremlin demand that officials familiar with the matter say is not opposed by Washington. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky faces scrutiny after offering differing assessments of U.S. readiness to provide security guarantees. Kyiv has insisted that credible security guarantees are necessary to prevent Russia from launching another invasion. Y

The possible shift comes as Russia intensifies aerial strikes.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has pushed Ukrainian farmers to the brink of crisis as fertilizer supplies run dry, threatening to cut crop yields by up to 20% this year.

Throughout the occupation, Russia has sought international legitimacy alongside its physical control of the Crimean peninsula. Narratives such as "Russia has a historical right to Crimea" or "the peninsula's residents chose to join the Russian Federation" continue to circulate in the international information space. Their spread is the result of Russia's deliberate and systematic policy, which occupation authorities refine annually. While previously limited to rhetoric from local Russia-insta

Zaluzhnyi's hypothetical party would receive 21% of those who have decided to vote in a future parliamentary election and have made their choice.

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.

"Arrived in Saudi Arabia. Important meetings are scheduled," Zelensky said. "We appreciate the support and support those who are ready to work with us to ensure security."

A new investment fund launched on the London Stock Exchange could help bring more money to Ukrainian companies battered by Russia's four-year-old invasion.

The statement is an apparent attempt to deflect blame amid a domestic scandal in which Hungarian secret services were accused of targeting the opposition Tisza party.

During the operation, Ukrainian forces regained about 440 square kilometers (170 square miles) of territory, liberating seven settlements in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and two in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the report read.

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

Some 1.6 million remain under Russian occupation, according to Bring Kids Back UA.

Politiken, one of Denmark’s leading daily newspapers, has awarded the Kyiv Independent the Politiken Freedom Prize.

"We are building a team capable of... delivering results on the front lines," Mykhailo Fedorov said.

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.

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.

Key developments on March 25: * Ukraine's air defense downs 97% of Russian kamikaze drones in rare mass daytime strike * Russian military icebreaker damaged in unprecedented Baltic Sea drone strike, Ukraine claims * Latvia, Estonia say drones that strayed into their territory overnight were Ukrainian * Ukraine preparing 'key changes' to mobilization, AWOL policy, defense minister says after meeting infantrymen Ukrainian air defenses downed 97% of the drones launched by Russia in a rare mas

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.

A potential "big deal" between Belarus and the United States would effectively normalize relations between Washington and Minsk, U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale told the Kyiv Independent in a phone interview. The remarks follow growing outreach from Washington to Minsk and come days after Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko said that the U.S. had proposed a "big deal," claiming the initiative came from U.S. President Donald Trump. Coale confirmed that normalization is part of the b

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

Even as the world is understandably distracted by war in the Middle East, talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war have just resumed in the United States, albeit without Russian representatives. Since Ukraine has repeatedly signaled its resistance to even consider ceding territory, Putin’s negotiators have so far refused to join discussions. That said, my concern is that, with or without Russian participation, U.S. President Donald Trump and his highly inexperienced negotiators will continue to pre

Ukraine’s battered energy sector will get help from U.S. companies as Kyiv rapidly prepares for the next heating season, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry announced on March 25 amid a Ukrainian delegation visit to the U.S.

Ukraine and the U.S. have confirmed Ukrainian defense tech startup Sine Engineering as the recipient of the first investment from a joint U.S.-Ukraine reconstruction fund, born out of last year’s famed and contentious minerals deal.

The mother of Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, a 23-year-old Brazilian recruit whose death at a Kyiv military base in December 2025 is being investigated by police, is pleading for his body to be returned home to Brazil. Leal da Silva died overnight on Dec. 28-29, 2025, after a group of soldiers in positions of authority took him from the sleeping area to a small room and began beating him, former fellow fighters told the Kyiv Independent in a February investigation. They reported hearing him screa

Oleksii Kharchenko, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, said Russia is trying to "severely limit" communication between family members separated because of the war.

Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said his resignation was "absolutely not related" to an investigation by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). He declined to elaborate on his reasons for stepping down.

As war reshapes Ukraine’s economy, small businesses are turning to foreign markets to survive, grow, and build long-term resilience.