Putin has ‘no interest in peace’, says EU foreign policy chief
Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has no interest in peace”, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday, after overnight strikes by Moscow’s troops killed at least 14 people in Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Kaja Kallas wrote on X:
Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.”
Key events
Moscow’s defence ministry on Saturday said its air defence systems destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the past night, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A Ukrainian drone attack also targeted Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery and falling debris caused damage to a reservoir, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region, Aleksandr Drozdenko, said.
A civilian was injured by a drone attack in Belgorod district near the Ukraine border, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Patrick Wintour
Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.
Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries.
By contrast in eastern Europe, where parts of the electorate view Russia sympathetically, support for Trump remains undimmed.
The populists may be right to be cautious about Trump. There are already tentative signs that governments in countries where leaders have taken a pro-Ukrainian line are enjoying a modest boost in support.
You can read the full analysis piece by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, here:
On board a Ukrainian patrol boat in the Black Sea
Luke Harding
Captain Oleksandr put his hand on the throttle and nudged it forward. His patrol boat roared into action and zipped through the waves. Behind him was the Ukrainian port of Odesa. In front – beyond a grey expanse of water, and 180km (112 miles) away, was occupied Crimea. “We’re here to stop the Russians from taking the Black Sea,” Oleksandr said, as his boat – travelling at a nippy 30 knots – rolled up and down.
In 2014, Ukraine lost three-quarters of its modest naval assets when Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula. Then, in 2022, Russia sank most of what was left. Its own fleet, by contrast, seemed invincible. It included a mighty flagship carrier, the Moskva, two modern frigates, several smaller warships and multiple missile boats and landing vessels, as well as four submarines carrying deadly Kalibr missiles.
The Moskva entered into legend when it told the Ukrainian garrison on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender, on day one of Putin’s invasion. The radio operator responded: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself”. The Russians stormed the island anyway and took the Ukrainian soldiers guarding it prisoner. Since then, though, Moscow has suffered a series of maritime setbacks.
You can read Luke Harding’s full report from Odesa here:
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk says there was “another tragic night in Ukraine” and “this is what happens when someone appeases barbarians” in a post on X.
Here are some of the latest images coming out from Dobropillia in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, via the newswires:
Russia launched more than 260 aerial attacks on Ukraine after the US decision to cut off intelligence and weapons to Kyiv, President Zelenskyy said.
In a press briefing, Donald Trump said he found it “easier” to deal with Russia than Ukraine. Senior US and Ukrainian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia next week.
You can see our latest video report on Trump’s comments below:
Putin has ‘no interest in peace’, says EU foreign policy chief
Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has no interest in peace”, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday, after overnight strikes by Moscow’s troops killed at least 14 people in Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Kaja Kallas wrote on X:
Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.”
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has welcomed Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese’s “commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine” in a phone call on Saturday, Downing Street has said.
According to the PA news agency, the statement reads:
The prime minister spoke to the prime minister of Australia Anthony Albanese this morning.
The prime minister began by expressing his support for all Australians effected by the cyclone and paid tribute to the strength of the partnership between the two countries.
He welcomed prime minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the chiefs of defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday.
The prime minister also reiterated the UK’s commitment to the Aukus programme. The leaders agreed to stay in touch.”
Sammy Gecsoyler
Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.
Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.
In the week since, the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv that had previously given advance warnings of attacks and Brussels agreed to a huge increase in defence spending.
On Friday, the day after intelligence sharing ceased, Russia carried out massive ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine. Soon after the aerial attacks, Trump said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do”.
Overnight strikes in eastern Ukraine on Saturday killed at least 11 people and wounded 30 others, including five children.
Wallace, who was the defence secretary when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said on Saturday that Trump was diminishing the hope of Ukraine with his actions.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:
Hope is the most important thing in this type of conflict and, at the moment, Donald Trump is suffocating the hope that Putin can be either fought to a standstill or indeed brought to the table.”
He added:
Hope is always the key for both morale and a military campaign. When this started three years ago, I remember gathering the military officials in my then department, and saying on day one, we have to give the Ukrainians hope.
If a Russian truck has a puncture, we need to let people know. If the Russians have a small defeat, we need to let the Ukrainian people know.”
Higher European defence budgets and a ramp-up of production by military equipment industries are necessary to secure Europe, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said in a German newspaper interview, reports Reuters.
“We will need to spend more to keep ourselves safe,” Rutte told German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag (WamS). “But we also need to quickly ramp up our defence production on both sides of the Atlantic …for far too long, we have produced far too little.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) includes much of Europe and also the United States and Canada.
Ammunition, ships, tanks, jets, but also satellites and drones were needed, Rutte said.
European countries are hastening to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after US president Donald Trump froze US military aid to Kyiv and raised doubts about Washington’s commitment to European allies.
German lawmakers will debate sweeping changes to state borrowing rules to fund defence, alongside a €500bn ($541.60bn) infrastructure fund, from 13 March to get those measures passed in the outgoing parliament ahead of the formation of a new one on 25 March, sources have said, according to Reuters.
EU leaders on Thursday held meetings to back joint defence loans to member states and to allow defence spending beyond tight budgetary rules for other sectors. Rutte said he had met with many heads of defence manufacturing companies and urged them to respond to higher demand.
US and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet in Saudi Arabia next week with bilateral relations frayed, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Donald Trump publicly berated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a White House meeting and suspended US aid to Kyiv in a stated bid to encourage diplomacy.
“I’m finding it more difficult frankly to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards,” Trump said on Friday. “It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
The remarks followed Trump on Friday threatening new sanctions and tariffs on Russia over its bombardments of Ukraine. “To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” he added.
Zelenskyy is due to land in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The meeting is a day before Ukrainian officials are expected to hold fresh talks with their US counterparts on Tuesday there.
Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions as Russian strikes kill at least 14 people
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday called for more sanctions against Russia as overnight strikes killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, days ahead of talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators aimed at securing a truce, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A Russian assault hit the centre of Dobropillia in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region late on Friday, killing 11 people and injuring 30, according to the emergency services.
Separately, three people were killed and seven others injured in a drone attack early on Saturday in the city of Bogodukhiv, the military head of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said. Russia fired two missiles and 145 drones at Bogodukhiv, Ukraine’s air force said.
The overnight air raids came after US president Donald Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs on Russia but said it may be “easier” to work with Moscow than Kyiv on efforts to end the three-year-long war.
“Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged. Therefore, it is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defence, and increase sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram social media channel.
In Dobropillia, AFP saw charred residential buildings, flattened market stalls and evidence of cluster bomb damage.
Irina Kostenko, 59, spent the night cowering in her hallway with her husband. When she left the apartment building on Saturday, she saw a neighbour “lying dead on the ground, covered with a blanket”. “It was shocking, I don’t have the words to describe it,” Kostenko told AFP.
Zelenskyy said that Russia had struck Dobropillia, waited until rescuers arrived and then “deliberately” targeted them as well. “This is a despicable and inhumane tactic of intimidation that the Russians often use,” he said.
Russia says it retook three villages from Ukraine in Kursk
The Russian defence ministry has announced the recapture of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters.
According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha which is under Kyiv’s control.
“One of our units left its positions. After that the enemy reinforced its troops and systematically launched assault operations … and here’s the result,” said DeepState, which is followed by more than 800,000 subscribers on the Telegram website, reports AFP.
An army source interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said that the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to “stabilise the situation” but the Russian troops had “completely cut off the supply lines”.
Serhiy Sternenko, a prominent Ukrainian activist, wrote on Thursday:
The logistics situation in the Kursk region is rapidly deteriorating and is already critical.”
“Logistics routes to Sudzha are under full enemy fire control,” he said in a post on X, citing information from army units in the area.
