Exclusives
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Russia's Black Sea Fleet ran to Novorossiysk. Ukraine's drones are hammering it from the sky.. Hundreds of Ukrainian drones keep Russia's Black Sea Fleet bottled up in its last safe port, Novorossiysk in southern Russia. |
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EU may pay Ukraine to fix pipeline Russia keeps bombing—as Fico refuses to meet Zelenskyy first. Fico says he "wouldn't believe Zelenskyy if he told him the sky was blue"—so he's asking Brussels to check first. |
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Ukraine kept the F-16 missile shortage secret for months — sources say pilots were flying with rotary cannons as Russia ramped up winter strikes. The nearly month-long AIM-9 drought forced dangerous daytime-only sorties. |
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She left politics alone so long as it left her alone. Then the occupation came. Shevchenko Prize-winning novelist's story of a woman caught between occupied Donbas and her home village in western Ukraine—published in English for the first time. |
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UK government knew Anna Netrebko was sanctioned by Ukraine. FOI documents show what happened next.. Four years into a full-scale war, no UK body has built a process to check whether taxpayers fund performers sanctioned by an allied nation. |
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Russian soldier proudly shows off his tank's drone defense: tubes of decorative plant clay. Not all Russian anti-drone improvisations actually work. For instance, tubes full of clay. They're 'useless,' one expert claimed. |
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What does a Russian air raid alarm cost Ukraine's economy? Researchers just found out. The missiles get the headlines. The sirens do the quiet damage. Now there's data to prove it. |
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Russia's winter campaign was supposed to freeze Ukraine, split its grid, and stop its factories. None of it worked, ISW says. With the campaign now over, Russia is preparing strikes on Ukraine's water supply — a shift ISW calls an implicit acknowledgement of failure, while warning that lessons from the energy campaign could be applied to water infrastructure, which shares similar Soviet-era vulnerabilities. |
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Russia cut small business support by a third—then sent the tax collector. The Kremlin chose to abandon its civilian economy. Now the VAT bill arrives. |
Military
Waves of explosions light up Black Sea: Ukrainian Naval Forces hit Russian drilling platform at Sivash. Russian export revenue bleeds, as every platform lost slams Moscow's war chest.
Russia's frigate Admiral Essen can no longer fire Kalibr missiles after Ukrainian strike, SBU sources confirm. The ship launched the Kalibrs that destroyed Mykolaiv's regional council building in 2022. Ukraine's latest drone assault on Novorossiysk port damaged at least five ships.
Russian forces massing reserves near Pokrovsk — Ukraine's East grouping is tracking the pre-offensive buildup. The task force has flagged intensifying airstrikes and fresh troop concentrations as indicators of an imminent Russian escalation.
Russia is flying Shaheds into Ukraine's FPV kill zone to crack bunkers smaller drones can't destroy, ISW says. ISW's 4 March assessment identified Russian forces pushing Shahed drones into the 0–20 km frontline strip normally dominated by tactical FPVs, citing their heavier payloads as the reason.
A Ukrainian drone operator explains Russia's spring advantage — and the two things that can neutralize it. Russian infantry gets a reliable seasonal advantage on the Donetsk front every spring, when foliage strips quadcopters of their battlefield effectiveness.
Intelligence and technology
Ukraine's Ptashka smashes strike quadcopter records, flying on glass thread that Russia can't see. Ukraine's Ptashka rewrites the drone rulebook with a record 50 km range.
This new Ukrainian robot sneaks through ruins carrying drones in its belly, waits for Russian column, and strikes from bush. Ukraine's Hnom-ND is a patient predator, as it crawls behind enemy lines.
Belgian F-16s can carry JDAMs and AIM-120Ds — but Ukraine cannot use them yet. Belgium stalls F-16 transfers to Ukraine while Netherlands and Denmark already delivered theirs.
International
Slovakia formally terminates emergency electricity contract with Ukraine — Kyiv had already been refused when it asked. Slovakia's state grid operator confirmed Ukraine last received emergency power in January and was turned away when it requested more.
Humanitarian and social impact
Ukraine brings home 200 POWs, including Mariupol defenders held four years in Russian captivity — in only real result of Geneva talks. Zelenskyy thanks the US and Donald Trump for supporting prisoner exchange.
Read our earlier daily review here.
