Ukraine-Russia war latest: Three killed after Putin’s forces launch drone attack on Zaporizhzhia

18 hours ago 5

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional head Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack. Photos showing emergency services scouring the rubble for survivors.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US president Donald Trump spoke with the countries' leaders, though it remains to be seen what possible targets would be off limits to attack.

The three sides appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said "energy and infrastructure" would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to "energy infrastructure." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

The dead in Zaporizhzhia included three members of one family. The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled out from under the rubble while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother's life for more than 10 hours, Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday. It said 100 were intercepted and another 63 lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

Zelensky visits Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region

President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Ukraine's Donetsk region on Saturday, where he met commanders of drone units near the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian troops have for months been fending off Russian assaults around the city, where Moscow's forces have been slowly advancing to try to eventually capture the entire region.

"I visited the command post of the Tactical Group Pokrovsk and met with the commanders of the Drone Line, which united the finest unmanned systems units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on X.

"I received a report on the defense of the Pokrovsk direction, the operational situation, and the progress of the missions. I honored our warriors with state awards."

Drones have transformed warfare since the start of Russia's February 2022 invasion, and Ukraine has sought to elevate drone units and boost domestic production.

This month, Kyiv's defence ministry said it would purchase around 4.5 million first-person view (FPV) drones in 2025, mostly from domestic producers, more than doubling last year's rate.

Tom Barnes22 March 2025 10:54

South Korean minister says North should not be rewarded for wrongdoings in Ukraine

South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said on Saturday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia must stop, and North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoings in the course of bringing about the end of the war in Ukraine.

Cho also said it is important for South Korea, Japan and China to faithfully carry out UN sanctions against North Korea, and to put efforts into stopping North Korean provocations and bring about its complete denuclearisation.

Cho was meeting his Chinese and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo on Saturday, in the first such trilateral talks since 2023.

North Korea has provided troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine

Tom Barnes22 March 2025 09:45

Three killed in Russian drone attack on Zaporizhzhia

Three people were killed and 12 wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said, in an attack that underlined Moscow's intention to continue aerial strikes despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire.

Regional head Ivan Fedorov said on Saturday that "residential buildings, private cars, and social infrastructure facilities were set on fire" in the attack on Friday night, and published photos showing emergency services scouring the rubble of damaged residential buildings for survivors.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired 179 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks overnight into Saturday.

It said 100 were intercepted and another 63 "lost," likely having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions also reported fires breaking out due to the falling debris from intercepted drones.

Russia's Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, said its air defence systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Tom Barnes22 March 2025 08:58

What happened on Friday?

Ukraine accused Russia of bombing its own gas infrastructure in an effort to undermine ceasefire talks.
Putin’s top security adviser met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and discussed Ukraine.
The US is said to be seeking new terms for US access to minerals in Ukraine to include control over Kyiv’s nuclear power plants, the Financial Times reported.
Britain is set to accelerate plans next week for a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine, including a discussion about how it can operate and the structure.
Zelensky announced the ‘coalition of the willing’, the countries willing to support Ukrainian peacekeeping efforts, will meet in Paris next week.
Donald Trump said a full ceasefire would come “very soon”, claiming that negotiators were “dividing up” Ukrainian land.

Alex Croft22 March 2025 07:00

Watch: Sam Kiley visits Kherson where Ukrainian civilians are being targeted by Russian drones in near-daily attacks

Sam Kiley visits Kherson where Ukrainian civilians are being targeted by Russian drones in near-daily attacks

Alex Croft22 March 2025 06:00

Starmer: Putin is trying to delay and add conditions to ceasefire

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Vladimir Putin of attempting to “delay and add conditions” to any ceasefire in Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday.

The prime minister spoke to EU chiefs along with the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland, the spokesperson said.

“The Prime Minister began by updating on his recent call with President Zelenskyy, and said it was clear President Putin was trying to delay and add conditions to any meaningful ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

“The Prime Minister also outlined the new military sub-planning groups, across land, sea, air, regeneration and reconstruction, which would continue discussions across three intensive planning days next week,” they added.

The leaders discussed the importance of keeping up investment in military equipment to outpace any European threats.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to the media

Alex Croft22 March 2025 05:01

Zelensky defies Trump, warning: Hands off my nuclear power stations

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that “all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine” after reports that his US counterpart Donald Trump said an American takeover of the country’s nuclear power would offer the “best protection” for it.

But Kyiv says the discussions referred only to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian occupation.

Jane Dalton reports:

Alex Croft22 March 2025 04:01

Trump story about ‘surrounded’ Ukraine troops contradicted by his own intelligence, report reveals

Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both insisted that Ukraine’s forces in Kursk are surrounded by Russian troops and are in imminent danger, but U.S. intelligence reports have contradicted those claims.

A trio of U.S. and European officials familiar with intelligence details of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine told Reuters that the situation on the ground does not reflect the comments made by Trump and Putin.

One of the U.S. officials also said that the White House was briefed on the actual situation in Ukraine, so it’a unclear why Trump has and continues to claim that Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region are surrounded.

Read the full report:

Alex Croft22 March 2025 03:00