Exclusives
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How fabricated crises in Transcarpathia win Hungarian elections-and block Ukraine's path to Europe. From a 2018 firebombing to 2026 troops, Budapest has run the same playbook against Ukraine's west—with Russian fingerprints at every turn. |
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Oil swings $30 in a day as Iran turns Hormuz into a diplomatic weapon. From $120 to $90 in 24 hours: Iran named its price for reopening the world's most critical energy chokepoint. |
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Before Russia's all-out war, Ukraine imported almost no weapons. Four years later, it buys more than any country on Earth. Even as Washington reduced military aid to Ukraine in 2025, European states, Australia, and Canada stepped up deliveries, with 25 countries buying US-made weapons under the PURL mechanism specifically for transfer to Kyiv, SIPRI reported. |
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How you rob a bank convoy in the EU: Be Hungary, bring an APC and machine guns, deport bank couriers, keep cash and gold as "evidence". Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says Hungary returned the seven couriers and kept $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kg of gold — held as "evidence" in a criminal case with no named suspect. |
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"I was prepared for the reprimand": Ukrainian Paralympian warned for "Stop War" earrings after winning gold. Oleksandra Kononova collected two individual medals at the 2026 Winter Paralympics — and a formal reprimand from the International Paralympic Committee for competing in earrings bearing the words "Stop War," which officials claimed the regulations did not permit. |
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Brent at $100, Urals at $91: the Iran war handed Moscow its best oil week in years. Washington is fighting Iran and bankrolling Moscow at the same time. |
Military
Russia is hitting Ukraine with "thousand cuts" tactic in 12 places in north, while Kyiv runs successful counteroffensives in south. Russia's northern campaign uses hit-and-run raids.
Ukraine decimates Russia's Bryansk microelectronics plant with Storm Shadows after its components killed children in Kharkiv. The missile that killed a 13-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy in Kharkiv was guided by chips made in Bryansk.
Moscow is flying in commission to replace Sevastopol commanders who lost S-400 in Ukrainian strikes, instead of ending war. Russian air defense lost S-400 radars, a helicopter, drones, and naval vessels in one month.
ISW: Ukraine advances near Kupiansk, counter Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
"Almost the entire territory liberated": Ukraine nears full clearance of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – reversing Russia's "buffer zone". Offensive on Oleksandrivsk axis recaptures more ground than Russia seized in February.
Intelligence and technology
Shahed program killing Ukrainians is recruiting teenagers through sponsored influencer video — Russia calls it promising career. The career is assembling the weapon that hits Ukrainian maternity wards.
Ukraine destroys Russia's Volna-3 drone jammer with its drone in Donetsk Oblast. Russia's electronic warfare station jammed Ukrainian drones for months.
Ukraine's new mysterious weapon looks like sphere on camera and shoots down drones with beam. The drone doesn't explode. It doesn't fall.
Germany secures 35 Patriot missiles from European allies for Ukraine. Ukraine consumes roughly 60 Patriot interceptors per month. Germany has now scraped together 35, pooled from Bundeswehr stocks and several unnamed European partners, buying the country about two weeks of ballistic missile defense.
International
Belarus uses prisoner release to charm West, not for democratization. Lukashenka stands with Russia anyway, says defense report. Belarus is simultaneously releasing US prisoners and hosting missiles aimed at US allies.
Ukraine needs pickup trucks more than tanks—so Norway's mayor drove one to Kyiv on International Women's Day. The volunteer pipeline keeping Ukraine's army mobile is stretched to breaking point. Norway's capital sent its mayor to help.
Cyprus arrests Hamas suspect wanted by Germany over alleged plot to attack targets in Europe. A man Germany suspects of sourcing weapons for Hamas-directed attacks on Jewish targets in Europe was stopped at a Cyprus airport last Thursday — carrying, according to prosecutors, 300 live rounds and a Berlin address.
Most Ukrainians view Americans favorably, but 66% disapprove of the Trump administration — KIIS poll. Fifty-five percent of Ukrainians still view the United States favorably — but only 23% say the same about the administration running it, according to a KIIS poll conducted in February 2026.
Trump confirms Putin call, administration weighs easing Russia oil sanctions amid Iran-driven price surge. In a phone call that lasted roughly an hour, Donald Trump told Vladimir Putin that ending the Ukraine war would be more "helpful" than proposals on Iran — then his administration announced it was weighing sanctions relief that would allow countries like India to buy Russian crude without US penalties.
EU approves $1.63bn for Ukraine — railways get the most, shelters the least. Railways get €132.5 million, roads €106 million, housing €123 million, and border crossings €68.5 million — that is how the Ukraine Investment Framework's Governing Board has divided the first €466.5 million of a newly approved €1.5 billion recovery package.
Humanitarian and social impact
Russia's Paralympic champion calls aggression against Ukraine "politics" after Moscow commits 190,000 war crimes. The Paralympic gold medalist says enjoys the Italian atmosphere.
Casualty count climbs to ten in Dnipro after Russian strike damages residential building. Ten people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured in Dnipro after a Russian strike set off a fire and sent a blast wave through an apartment block, Dnipropetrovsk regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha said.
Political and legal developments
"We did what we did not by accident": Hungary's minister defends cash seizure, threatens repeat. Seven Ukrainian cash collectors came home on 6 March. Their cargo didn't. Hungary's minister says the seized funds are collateral for the restoration of Russian oil transit — and that the operation was deliberate.
Read our earlier daily review here.
