Russia has added new conditions for a ceasefire to the serials of existing ones, urging President Donald Trump to threaten new sanctions on Russian oil.
Visiting Russia’s latest nuclear submarine, Alkangersk, on March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a temporary regime should be set up in Ukraine to lead the country into elections.
Russian officials have been trying to discredit Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelenki since negotiations began in February in an apparent effort to undermine Ukraine’s position.
For example, the Kremlin continued to accuse Moscow of defeating Ukraine with energy infrastructure that Kiev had proposed on March 18th, which Kiev had not agreed to.
The Russian and Ukrainian technical teams have failed to identify what will be protected under the deal.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would give US counterparts a list of energy facilities that have been attacked by Ukraine “if the current Ukrainian authorities can be called authorities, they could provide specific evidence of what the current Ukrainian authorities say.”
A day later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that Ukraine had not actually agreed to the suspension.
The ceasefire talks were met with many other Russian objections.
Russian vice minister Sergei Riabakov told an interviewer on Tuesday that the US-led consultations “leave no room for the underlying cause of this conflict,” which Moscow officials defined as reversing treatment of the Russian minority in Ukraine.
Russia is also opposed to peacekeeping forces carrying out ceasefires.
Russian ambassador to Rodion Miloshnik at the Great At said at the Science Council in Armenia on Wednesday that Russia saw Ukrainian European troops as “a blatant occupation of Ukraine by Europe.”
The European Union proposed deploying peacekeeping forces after the peace agreement was signed.
Trump began showing first signs of impatientity in Russia’s position on Sunday, informing NBC that he was “angry and p****d off” with Putin and “may put 25-50 points of tariff on everything.” [Russian] The next month’s oil will be sanctioned and the companies that purchase it.
It was unclear what the relevance of such tariffs would be. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, banned the US from all imports of Russian oil in 2022.
Trump’s impatience came the day he played golf with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
“April 20th will be a good time for a complete ceasefire without conditions… because it’s Easter, because there’s a deadline, and President Donald Trump has been in office for three months,” Stubb later told reporters.
Trump didn’t adopt the stub’s proposal and told reporters on Monday the deadline was “psychological… if I think they’re tapping us, I wouldn’t be happy about it.”
He was asked if he thought Putin was stalling, and he said, “I don’t know. I don’t think so. He wants to make a deal.”
The Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) office suggested that Putin is unlikely to reach a rapid ceasefire.
ODNI’s 2025 annual threat assessment said on Thursday that Putin “appears to be prepared to pay a very high price to win what is considered a critical time in Russia’s strategic competition with the US, world history and his personal heritage.”
Russia’s attacks will attack without abatement
Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Russia increased attacks along the frontline, even if Russia negotiated a ceasefire.
He said that in March, a combat conflict of 4,270 people was numbered 4,270 compared to 3,274 in February.
Furthermore, Russia has not eased its use of glide bombs. Approximately 10,577 are used in the first three months of the year. 40,000 people were used last year, the ministry said.
Russian troops may have seized the village of Novolibibka near Lyman on Tuesday.
Their long-range air attacks continued unabated throughout the week.
Russia launched 172 drones against Ukraine on March 29, 94 of which used electronic clogs, causing 69 confusion. Several drones have stormed blocks of high-rise apartments in Dnipro, illuminating at least dozens of homes. Four people were reportedly killed and 21 injured.
Zelenskyy said at his evening address that the drone had attacked Harkiff’s home and hospital, causing 55 people to injure, including five children.
According to German magazine Bild, Russia will improve its tactics by grouping drones in a sophisticated lotering layer before sending them all to attack targets at once.
Russia sent 111 drones on Sunday morning to attack military hospitals and civilian infrastructure in Kharkov city. Ukraine defeated 65 and monitored 34. Six Shahed drones also collided with private property in the Kalkiv area, causing several injuries.
“The geography and atrocities of Russian strikes not only sometimes, but literally every day and night, shows that Putin doesn’t care much about diplomacy,” Zelensky said in a speech on Sunday evening.
“For weeks, there have been US proposals for an unconditional ceasefire. And almost every day, there have been Russian drones, bombs, artillery fires and ballistic strikes in response to this proposal. Russia deserves an increase in pressure.”
However, the Russian strike continued, hurting civilians.
On Wednesday, the Russian missiles injured 17 civilians, including a child with the Cliviy RI, who was part of an overnight attack of 74 Shahed drones.
The Air Force said it fired down more drones than it did the next night.
Only in the Black Sea seemed to show the true will for a ceasefire. Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said there was no official ceasefire, but in reality the Russian troops have not attacked Ukrainian ports. The Black Sea Fleet remained in the eastern part of the Black Sea.
Ukrainian talent and weapons
Ukraine said it has advanced recruitment and training over the past few months.
Commander Olexandr Silsky said the improved training showed results in March.
“We have increased the period [of training] Up to 1.5 months, a mandatory adaptation period has been introduced for newcomers to fight the brigade. This has resulted in positive results,” he wrote on social media on Monday.
Conscription is required for Ukrainian men over the age of 25. This year, Zelenskyy began voluntary drafting for people aged 18-24.
Last month, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense increased the number of brigades accepting such volunteers from six to sixteen, expanding recruitment from the Army to navy, air and unmanned units.
This week, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the 18-24 Volunteer Act was amended to allow recruits to the National Guard and state border departments in addition to the military.
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said 884 people volunteered to join the military in March.
Harpie, a volunteer unit that runs unmanned vehicles, targeted women and promoted last week as “an environment for protecting women, children, families and nations seeking revenge from the enemy.”
“While the unit also involves men, the pilot’s role in providing the final blow is played only by women.”
The prisoners also play a role.
Ukrainform, the Ukrainian military’s information service, said 8,000 former prisoners have joined the military and 900 applications are ongoing. Parole was approved in the May 2024 law, which reduced the age of forced conscription to 25.
Ukraine is designing its own weapons to increase autonomy, speed up construction, reduce costs and allow for unlimited use.
This week, the Ministry of Defense reported that it has approved 350 new weapons for use so far this year, compared to less than half of the 100 models approved last year.
European stance
Europe continued to provide generous weapons support to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy met German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Kyiv on Tuesday to thank the new 3bn-Euro ($3.3 billion) military aid package, bringing the total to 7 billion euros ($7.7 billion) of Germany’s 2025 people and the total of 43 billion euros ($474 million).
The Netherlands said on Monday it released a 500 million euro ($550 million) tranche to help drone operations better integrate with ground operations.
Sweden has announced a $1.6 billion aid package to improve Ukraine’s air defense, artillery, satellite communications and naval capabilities.
The UK and France said on Wednesday they will chair a national meeting of donations to the peacekeeping forces at NATO headquarters on April 10th.
Meanwhile, the UK and Germany are planning to chair a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Liaison Group, which will provide arms to Ukraine the following day. This is the second Ramstein conference that the US has adopted a neutral stance and has not attended.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov was asked if Europe was willing to participate in dialogue with Putin.
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