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

A woman has been arrested in connection to a suspected terrorist attack that killed a police officer and injured 25 others in the Western city of Lviv in the early hours of Sunday morning, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russian drone hit two passenger trains in just one day.

A Russian-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker, the Arctic Metagaz, has reportedly caught fire in the Mediterranean Sea, multiple media outlets reported on March 3.

The number includes 980 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russia launched 149 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said, reporting that Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 129.

A feeling familiar to millions of Ukrainians was suddenly experienced across the Middle East over the weekend — the terror caused by Shahed drones flying overhead and smashing into buildings. Footage flooded social media as Iran launched drones and missiles in retaliatory strikes in response to the U.S.-Israeli bombardment that began on Feb. 28. "Welcome to the club, guys," Vladislav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president's representative on sanctions policy, told the Kyiv Independent when asked wha

The vessel will not be allowed to leave port until the bail is paid and a re-inspection confirms compliance with maritime regulations.

"Russia is playing for time here, and in doing so is also acting against the will of the American president. In today's talks, I called for increasing the pressure on Moscow," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on March 3 after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

No regime invokes international law more fervently than when it sees its power being challenged. The moment American and Israeli forces struck Iranian targets, officials in Moscow and Tehran rushed to rediscover the UN Charter, denouncing the operation as unlawful. Their sudden reverence for the "rule-book" is politically convenient — but it also forces a serious question: on what legal grounds can the use of force against Iran be justified? One of U.S. President Donald Trump's principal argum

* Ukrainian forces liberate 9 eastern settlements as Russian troops face Starlink disruptions, Ukraine's military says * As Ukrainian regions start preparing for next winter, Kyiv lags behind * Zelensky floats swapping Patriot missiles for interceptor drones amid increased Iranian Shahed threat * At least 337 Ukrainian POWs 'brutally' executed by Russia, Ukraine's ombudsman says Ukraine has liberated nine settlements in the Oleksandrivka sector along the southeastern front line, Ukraine's A