Here is the roundup of key events as of Thursday, March 20.
Fighting
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Russia launched a barrage of drones at Ukraine overnight, wounding at least 10 people, including four children, and damaging residential houses in the city of Kropyvnytskyi, Ukrainian officials said.
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Russia imposed a state of emergency in the Engels district on Thursday, local officials said, after a military airfield near a strategic bomber base was on fire following a Ukrainian drone attack in southern Russia.
- Regional authorities in northeast Ukraine’s Sumy region said Russian drone attacks damaged two hospitals there, while a 29-year-old man was killed and three others were injured in a separate attack on a residential building.
- Kyiv region’s Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said Kremlin drones damaged several houses near the Ukrainian capital, resulting in a 60-year-old man being injured.
- Ukraine’s state railway network Ukrzaliznytsia said Moscow’s forces attacked its power system twice in the city of Dnipro, with the first strike hitting just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin committed to a 30-day pause on attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The second attack injured four people.
- “Russia is attacking civilian infrastructure and people – right now,” said Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
- The Kremlin has claimed its defence units called off a drone attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and shot down seven of its own drones following a call between United States President Donald Trump and President Putin, in which a limited ceasefire was agreed.
- Kyiv’s military said their air defence units downed 72 of the 171 Russian drones launched at Ukraine overnight. A further 63 drones were reported “lost” due to electronic warfare.
- President Zelenskyy said 40 of those drones were launched at Ukraine just hours after the call between President Trump and President Putin. Zelenskyy also said Moscow has launched more than 1,300 guided bombs, eight missiles, and about 66 long-range strike drones on Kyiv since the first round of ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia earlier this month.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its units destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones overnight, 35 of which were over the Kursk region. One of the attacks in the southern Krasnodar region ignited a small fire at an oil depot in the village of Kavkazskaya, authorities said.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to “derail” the limited ceasefire agreement, accusing it of a “deliberate” attack on the oil depot.
- At least one Russian soldier was killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district of the Belgorod region, said Belgorod’s Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, while four others were injured.
- Five Ukrainian soldiers were sentenced to up to 17 years in prison by a Moscow court over “terrorism” charges for their involvement in Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Ceasefire
- President Trump said he and President Zelenskyy spoke at length on a call about his earlier discussions with President Putin. The White House said Zelenskyy agreed to the partial ceasefire and asked for additional air defence support, which Trump then promised to help locate from Europe.
- The White House also said Washington has moved beyond the previously negotiated rare minerals deal with Kyiv and is now entirely focused on securing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
- Trump also suggested the US take over Ukraine’s power plants to ensure security for the critical facilities, Washington said.
- President Zelenskyy accused President Putin of rejecting the US proposal for a full ceasefire, despite public pronouncements to the contrary, and urged the global community to stop Moscow’s attempt to extend its war on Kyiv.
- Zelenskyy also expressed confidence in Ukraine’s European allies after phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We are in constant communication. I am confident that there will be no betrayal from our partners,” Zelenskyy said.
- Trump’s Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News a US delegation – led by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio – is scheduled to meet with a Russian delegation in Saudi Arabia over the weekend to continue talks over Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Witkoff said peace talks would cover “energy and infrastructure in general”.
Military
- The German government plans to release $3.3bn in military aid for Ukraine after Berlin’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz previously blocked the additional aid, the Reuters news agency reports.
- Russia and Ukraine exchanged 372 soldiers in a prisoner swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Russia’s Defence Ministry said. Moscow returned 175 prisoners of war, as well as an additional 22 seriously injured personnel, while Kyiv handed over 175 soldiers.
