Here is the situation on Monday, March 3:
Fighting
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The Ukrainian military said that it shot down 46 of 83 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 31 drones were “lost” and did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the military added.
- A boy was killed and two others were injured in Russian attacks on the residential district of Ukraine’s city of Kramatorsk, said Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. A separate attack in Zaporizhia in southwestern Ukraine injured one civilian and sparked a large fire at a residential building, Ivan Fedorov, the region’s governor, said.
- Russia’s Interfax news agency, citing the Ministry of Defence, reported that Moscow’s forces carried out strikes on gas processing facilities used by Ukraine.
- A Russian drone struck a multistorey residential building in Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv, triggering a fire and injuring eight people, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
- Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported that a Russian oil refinery caught fire, though the cause of the fire was not immediately known. RIA cited Moscow’s emergency ministry as saying there was no threat to residents in nearby areas.
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Ukraine’s land forces commander Mykhailo Drapatyi said on Monday he would seek punishment for apparent negligence after a deadly Russian missile strike on a military training ground at the weekend that reportedly killed and injured dozens.
Politics and diplomacy
- A truce between Russia and Ukraine on air, sea and energy infrastructure, if accepted, could allow Ukraine and its allies to determine if Russian President Vladimir Putin was acting in good faith and would be willing to start negotiations in earnest on a longer-term peace deal, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
- Barrot also warned in an interview with France Inter radio that the Ukraine “front line keeps getting closer to us”, heightening the chance of a European war.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused Zelenskyy of not wanting peace, following a clash last week between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump. He described the angry public encounter as “quite an unprecedented event”, while questioning Zelenkyy’s diplomatic skills.
- The United Kingdom and France are set to draw up a peace deal with Ukraine and present it to United States President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
- The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said a withdrawal of military aid by the US could give Russia a greater advantage in winning its war against Ukraine.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned what he said was a “breach of territorial sovereignty” by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff who visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine via Russian-occupied territory.
- A UK-led summit on Ukraine took place in London with more than a dozen European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in attendance.
- At the summit, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, warned that Europe urgently needs to boost its defence and said the leaders had a “good and frank discussion” about negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, including the need for security guarantees.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said some European leaders had privately set out plans on defence spending, which he described as “very good news”.
- Zelenskyy said on X that Kyiv needs peace “backed by robust security guarantees”. His remarks came following bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
- Starmer announced a 1.6-billion-pound ($2bn) deal to allow Ukraine to buy 5,000 air defence missiles using export finance.
- Zelenskyy met the UK’s King Charles III at the Sandringham House Estate, Buckingham Palace announced. The meeting took place after he attended the security summit in London.
- French President Emmanuel Macron, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, said France and the UK agreed that there should be a monthlong truce in Ukraine. He also said European countries should increase their defence spending to between 3 and 3.5 percent of gross domestic product.
- Zelenskyy said he believed Kyiv’s relationship with Washington could still be salvaged despite his public bust-up with Trump on Friday. He said talks would need to continue in a different format and did not believe the US would stop aid to Ukraine. Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal with the US, he said, adding that he believed Washington was too.
