Russian troops have crept miles through a major gas pipeline to launch a shock assault on Ukrainian forces within the Kursk area, in accordance with pro-Russian warfare bloggers.
As part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian area, a number of the Russian particular forces had spent a number of days within the pipe earlier than trying the shock close to the city of Sudzha, mentioned Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian navy blogger.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized about 1,300 sq. km of Russia‘s Kursk area in August final yr in what Kyiv mentioned was an try to achieve a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to drive Russia to shift forces from jap Ukraine.
In the meantime, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned Kyiv is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia subsequent week and hoped to agree the next steps.
“Ukraine has been in search of peace from the very first second of this warfare. Realistic proposals are on the table. The hot button is to maneuver shortly and successfully,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
Mr Zelensky mentioned he would go to Saudi Arabia subsequent week and after he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and navy representatives would keep for a gathering the next day with the US group.
US representatives have already held two units of talks with their Russian counterparts, the primary of which was in Saudi Arabia.
Watch: Zelensky sends condolences after lethal strikes kill a number of folks in Donetsk area

Zelensky sends condolences after strikes kill multiple people in Donetsk region
Russia fired two ballistic missiles on Dobropillya, a city in jap Ukraine’s Donetsk area, after which launched an additional strike whereas rescuers had been responding to the primary assaults, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Saturday, 8 March. Talking in his night deal with, Zelensky despatched his condolences to the households and family members of the victims. “Missiles, together with a ‘Shahed’ drone, focused the central a part of the town. 9 residential buildings had been hit. Additionally, the purchasing heart and shops had been struck. Tragically, 11 folks had been killed. My condolences to their households and family members,” mentioned the Ukrainian President.
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 15:30
EU stays dedicated to phase-out of Russian gasoline, von der Leyen says
The EU stays dedicated to completely phasing out the availability of Russian gasoline, EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned on Sunday.
“I commit very clearly to phasing out the Russian gasoline … that is an absolute should,” von der Leyen advised reporters in Brussels.
“We have been profitable, however we at all times see in fact that there are loopholes the place we’ve to watch out and we’ve to work on.”

Tara Cobham9 March 2025 15:01
Professional-Ukraine protesters dispute JD Vance’s account of confrontation he claims left his daughter, 3, ‘anxious and scared’
Vice President JD Vance claims he was confronted by pro-Ukraine protesters in Cincinnati on Saturday whereas out strolling along with his three-year-old daughter, who grew to become “more and more anxious and scared” by their shouts, he mentioned.
“Right now whereas strolling my 3 yr previous daughter a gaggle of ‘Slava Ukraini’ protesters adopted us round and shouted as my daughter grew more and more anxious and scared,” Vance wrote on X.
“I made a decision to talk with the protesters within the hopes that I might commerce a couple of minutes of dialog for them leaving my toddler alone. (Practically all of them agreed.),” he continued.
My colleagues Oliver O’Connell and Alex Woodward report:
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 14:30
Poland says it might want various to Musk’s Starlink in Ukraine
Poland, which pays for Ukraine’s Starlink web companies, might search an alternate if Elon Musk’s firm proves to be “unreliable”, the overseas minister mentioned on Sunday after the billionaire speculated about turning off entry to the system.
Starlink supplies essential web connectivity to Ukraine and its navy. US negotiators urgent Kyiv for entry to Ukraine’s crucial minerals have raised the potential for slicing the nation’s entry to the service, sources aware of the matter advised Reuters in February.
Musk, a high-profile determine within the administration of US President Donald Trump, mentioned in a publish on his X social media platform on Sunday, that Ukraine’s “total entrance line would collapse if I turned it (Starlink) off”.
He mentioned he was “sickened by … years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose”.
The US authorities has already revoked some entry to satellite tv for pc imagery for Ukraine and paused intelligence sharing, piling strain on Kyiv as Trump seeks a swift finish to the warfare, now in its fourth yr after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the price of about $50 million per yr,” Polish International Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X.
“The ethics of threatening the sufferer of aggression aside, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable supplier we shall be pressured to search for different suppliers.”
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 14:30
Contained in the Peaky Blinders unit in Ukraine launching devastating drone assaults on Putin’s forces
On the beginning of Russia’s invasion, the group of civilians turned out to defend their hometowns armed solely with shotguns just like the Shelby gang within the tv hit. However after three years of intense fighting, the unit – named ‘The Peaky Blinders’ – have developed to grow to be one in every of Kyiv’s deadliest drone squads.
They play out a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, launching low cost, mass-produced drones to drop bombs on tanks and enemy foxholes whereas dodging Russian retaliation within the forests in Donetsk in jap Ukraine. The area is the scene of a number of the fiercest preventing of the warfare.
My colleague Barney Davis reviews:
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 14:01
Political asylum seeker preventing to remain in US or face six years in jail if she returns dwelling to Russia
An anti-war campaigner who faces years in prison if she returns home to Russia is fighting to stay in the US.
Valeriia Razheva, 23, co-founded the US branch of the Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAWR) in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The movement has been labelled an “undesirable organisation”by Moscow, under a law that enables prosecutors to focus on overseas teams they deem “a risk to the inspiration of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, the protection functionality of the nation or the safety of the state.”
These affiliated can obtain prolonged jail sentences in the event that they fail to close them down.
My colleague Bryony Gooch reviews:
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 13:45
Germany’s Merz needs European nuclear weapons to spice up US protect
German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz on Sunday mentioned he would really like talks with France and Britain about sharing their nuclear weapons, however not as an alternative to US nuclear safety of Europe.
“Sharing nuclear weapons is a matter that we have to speak about…we’ve to grow to be stronger collectively in nuclear deterrence,” he mentioned in an interview on Deutschlandfunk radio, a day after agreeing cornerstones of a coalition deal between his conservative occasion and the Social Democratic SPD occasion.
“We should always discuss with each international locations (France and Britain), at all times additionally from the attitude of supplementing the American nuclear protect, which we in fact need to see maintained.”
Germany, resulting from its Second World Warfare previous, has sure itself to non-nuclear defence in quite a few worldwide treaties however participates in NATO weapons-sharing preparations.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders backed plans to spend extra on defence amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its warfare in Ukraine, might assault an EU nation subsequent and that Europe can now not depend on the US to come back to its assist.
Merz’s more durable stance on safety and migration displays a altering political panorama, the place the far-right Various for Germany (AfD) has surged to grow to be the nation’s second-largest occasion.

Tara Cobham9 March 2025 13:30
US Secretary of State Rubio set to satisfy Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia this week
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will go to Saudi Arabia over March 10-12 for talks with Ukrainian counterparts, an announcement from the US Division of State mentioned.
Rubio may even have a gathering with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the assertion from spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned.
Rubio will then journey to Canada over March 12-14 for the G7 overseas ministers’ assembly, the assertion added.

Tara Cobham9 March 2025 13:16
Russia’s Medvedev says Ukraine’s forces in Kursk are nearly surrounded
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned on Sunday that current advances by Russian forces in opposition to Ukraine within the Kursk area meant that Kyiv’s troopers had been nearly surrounded.
In a publish on Telegram concerning the preventing in Kursk, Medvedev wrote: “The lid of the smoking cauldron is nearly closed. The offensive continues.”

Tara Cobham9 March 2025 13:14
‘Not the tip of the world if US quits Nato,’ says former defence secretary
Britain and different European nations have to be able to take over Nato if Donald Trump carries out US threats to withdraw from the organisation.
That was the highly effective message delivered on Saturday by former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace.
Tara Cobham9 March 2025 13:00