While the world remains attentive to tomorrow's conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which the Kremlin confirmed today, the fighting continues. Russia says it has destroyed 72 Ukrainian drones, 36 of them over the Kursk region, where Moscow has regained portions of territory taken by Kiev last summer.
On the other hand, Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense units shot down 90 of the 174 drones launched by Russia in a nighttime attack, according to the Ukrainian air force.
The President of the US believes there is now "a very good opportunity" to end the war and says there have been advancements. According to him, Ukraine would have already accepted: the loss of certain territories and the future of power plants, specifically the Zaporiya nuclear plant, occupied by the Russians since 2022.
On the other hand, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister warns of consequences of sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine as announced by France and the United Kingdom to supervise any ceasefire. Spain has avoided sending troops.
The US is withdrawing from the multinational group created to investigate the leaders responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, including President Putin. This decision will be officially communicated today.
The Kremlin does not reveal its agenda for the telephone conversation between Putin and Trump
The Kremlin said on Monday that it was working to prepare the second phone call between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, but refused to reveal what will be on the agenda, while US officials continued to project optimism about a ceasefire agreement backed by the United States with Ukraine, reports The New York Times.
The highly anticipated phone call, scheduled for Tuesday, will be the first known conversation between the two leaders since Putin set numerous conditions for a ceasefire that could delay or derail any truce.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski has signed a law allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be deployed abroad during martial law, according to an official decree published on Monday, March 17.
The law aims to improve defense cooperation with partner countries, particularly by allowing Ukrainian forces to participate in training and receive military equipment, explained legislator Oleksii Honcharenko.
"This will allow us to attract international support to strengthen Ukraine's defense more quickly and effectively," Honcharenko posted on Telegram, as reported by Kyiv Independent.
The legislation allows the deployment of Ukrainian military units in other countries for national security purposes, including repelling armed aggression, protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, and exercising the right to legitimate defense under international law.
EU approves a third tranche of 3.5 billion euros for Ukraine
Ukraine will receive 3.5 billion euros (3.8 billion dollars) after the EU Council approved the third tranche of grants and non-repayable loans under the Ukraine Mechanism program, announced the Council today, as reported by Kyiv Independent.
With this disbursement, Ukraine will have received nearly 20 billion euros (21.7 billion dollars) under the Ukraine Mechanism since the program was launched in early 2024.
"The Council concluded today that Ukraine had met the necessary conditions set out in the Ukraine Plan to receive a third disbursement from the Ukraine Mechanism," the statement reads.
The Ukraine Plan outlines Kiev's strategy for recovery, reconstruction, modernization, and a schedule of reforms as part of Ukraine's accession process to the EU over the next four years.
Despite negotiations, Putin maintains a maximalist position
The ongoing Kremlin statements demanding that Ukraine cede unoccupied Ukrainian territory indicate that the Kremlin and Putin maintain maximalist territorial claims over all occupied Ukraine and significant parts of unoccupied Ukraine despite ongoing negotiations, according to the latest update on the state of the war in Ukraine from the ISW (Institute for the Study of War).
Senior Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly demanded that Ukraine hand over the entire provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporiyia, and Kherson, including areas not yet occupied by Russian forces, and have reiterated these claims in recent weeks. Russian state media have also recently amplified similar views from Kremlin-affiliated spokespeople.
Putin recently stated that New Russia (Novorossiya) is an integral part of Russia, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defined Novorossiya as the entire east and south of Ukraine, including the provinces of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and Mykolaiv. Russia currently occupies a small part of Kharkiv province and the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv province, and Russian forces are advancing towards the administrative border of Dnipropetrovsk province.
South Korea says it would accept all North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul requested cooperation from Kiev on North Korean prisoners of war during a phone call on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, said the South Korean Foreign Ministry, as reported by Reuters.
North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to support Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian, US, and South Korean assessments, in Pyongyang's first major participation in a war since the 1950s.
Cho reaffirmed Seoul's efforts to support the Ukrainian people and said Seoul would accept all North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine if they wished to go to South Korea, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kiev says more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in Russia in early January 2025. This year, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it suspected that Pyongyang was preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight against Ukrainian forces, despite suffering losses and the capture of some of its soldiers.
In January, President Volodymyr Zelenski said Ukraine had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk, the first revelation of such captives captured alive since entering the war last fall.
A Russian construction company run by a deputy's son will build housing in Mariupol
A construction company founded by the Russian United Russia deputy, Sergei Kolunov, and run by his son, will be responsible for building housing in the occupied city of Mariupol, reported the newspaper Kommersant today, as reported by Efe.
The company will initially invest more than 3.5 billion rubles (over 42 million dollars) and expects to double that in the construction of residential complexes in the port city, which was devastated and besieged by Russian troops after the start of the war in 2022.
They plan to first build a 19-story building by 2026 in the city center and later will build several more buildings in a plan that includes the delivery of over 72,000 homes.