The U.S. voted against a resolution condemning attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on March 5, joining Russia, China, and Niger in opposing the measure.

Ukraine has brought home 200 soldiers held in Russian captivity in the latest prisoners of war (POW) exchange on March 5, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed releasing 200 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for the same number of Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine, in a swap brokered by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. The released Russian POWs are currently in Belarus, receiving medical and psychological assistance, according to the ministry. "Every

Ukrenergo told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine resumed electricity exports on March 5 for the first time since November 2025.

Zelensky's statement comes after the Financial Times reported on March 5, citing Ukrainain industry figures, that the Pentagon and at least one Gulf state are holding talks to purchase Ukrainian-made interceptors to counter Iranian drones.

Kyiv said it was an attempt to worsen Ukraine's relations with Hungary as part of Russia's hybrid aggression against Europe.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 5 he hopes the blocking of a 90 billion euro ($107 billion) European Union loan for Ukraine by "one person" will end, warning that otherwise he could give that individual's address to Ukraine's military.

Two points remain high on Ukraine's agenda: surviving the Russian onslaught and joining the European Union. President Volodymyr Zelensky believes the two should be tied together, with his office proposing to engrave a set date for Ukraine's EU membership in a potential peace deal with Russia. Tom Berendsen, the new Dutch foreign minister, disagrees with this approach. "If you set a date, you need to make sure that you get (everything done before) the date. It needs to be a realistic date," Be

Dmytruk has been charged with assaulting a soldier and a law enforcement officer in separate altercations.

Caught between bellicose Russia and an unsteady U.S., Paris is expanding its nuclear arsenal and moving to strengthen European deterrence. The EU's only nuclear power announced on March 2 that it would increase the number of its warheads from roughly 290 to undisclosed levels — the first such move since 1992. France is also signalling its new nuclear "forward deterrence" could extend to European allies, while inviting them to joint nuclear exercises. Francois Heisbourg, a security expert at t

President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is ready to provide drone interceptors in exchange for missiles, though he did not specify which countries could be involved.

The latest report brings up the number of Russian helicopters Ukraine says it has destroyed to 349 since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed releasing 200 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for the same number of Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine, in a swap brokered by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates.

Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said on Feb. 28 that Russia would accept U.S.-backed security guarantees for Ukraine.

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

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on March 4 claimed he has satellite imagery proving that the Druzhba oil pipeline is not damaged.

The Ukrainian citizens are among the 147 foreigners wanted by Polish law enforcement who were detained during the raid carried out on March 2 and 3, "primarily aimed at verifying the legality of foreigners' stay."

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said one drone hit the terminal building at Nakhchivan International Airport, while another landed near a school in Shakarabad, a village near the airport, at around midday local time.

Russian forces launched 155 different types of drones against Ukraine overnight, of which roughly 100 were Shahed, the Air Force said on March 5. It reported downing 136 of them.

The number includes 900 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Trilateral peace talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. are on hold due to the war between Washington and Tehran, President Volodymyr Zelensky said March 4.

If anyone was worried that Russia was going to intervene on behalf of its ally Iran in the new Middle East conflict, they need not be. Vladimir Putin's response to the massive U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran — and even the Israeli strike that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's longtime Supreme Leader — was at best bland. He called the U.S. and Israeli strikes "cynical" and murderous, but issued neither threats, nor red lines, nor commitments to help Iran. To understand Putin's restraint,

Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, operates 21 entities that are directly involved in weapons production but face no EU sanctions, according to a report published March 4 by the Kyiv-based think tank DiXi Group.

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.

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's