These are the key developments on day 1,129 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Saturday, March 29, 2025:
Fighting
- Four people were killed in a Russian drone attack on Friday in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The regional governor said 19 people were injured and a large fire broke out in a hotel and restaurant complex that consumed a high-rise apartment building and 10 homes.
- Ukraine’s military said its air force had struck a border post in Russia’s Bryansk region, destroying infrastructure it said was used for drone launches. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement that the attack was in response to “dozens of daily strikes by attack drones”.
- Ukrainian troops have staged an incursion into Russia’s Belgorod region, according to Russian military bloggers. Kyiv and Moscow have not confirmed it but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that his military had taken “certain steps” in Russia outside the Kursk region in an effort to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops.
- The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Friday its forces had recaptured the village of Hoholivka, one of a handful of villages still held by Ukraine of about 100 seized last August. Ukraine’s General Staff said it had stopped 18 Russian assaults in Kursk over the past day.
- Ukraine’s military said it shot down 89 of 163 Russian drones launched overnight with 51 failing to reach their targets due to technical issues.
- The Russian Defence Ministry claimed to have shot down 19 Ukrainian drones that tried to strike an oil refinery in Saratov.
Ceasefire
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Volodymyr Kohut, governor of Ukraine’s Poltava region, has accused Russia of damaging warehouses owned by Ukraine’s state gas producer, Naftogaz, in the central region in violation of a United States-brokered ceasefire on energy infrastructure. The Russian Defence Ministry hit back with its own claims, accusing the Ukrainian military of striking a gas measuring station in the Kursk region’s Sudzha city with US-made HIMARS rockets and a second strike in Bryansk that caused a power outage.
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an end to the “horrific suffering” caused by attacks on civilians in Ukraine and said that a ceasefire in Ukraine “would be very welcome”. Turk said “limited ceasefires that protect shipping lanes and infrastructure are a welcome step forward” but a proper end to the war was needed.
- In a televised address on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Ukraine should be temporarily placed under external governance to allow for democratic elections to take place. Putin suggested that Zelenskyy did not have legitimacy as the Ukrainian president and suggested Ukraine could change any negotiated peace at any time.
- Responding to Putin’s statements during a briefing with journalists on Friday, Zelenskyy said the comments offer a “reason not to end the war”, adding that Putin is “afraid of negotiations with Ukraine” and that he is “afraid of negotiations with me personally”.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres immediately rejected Putin’s suggestion that Ukraine be placed into a form of administration, saying Ukraine’s government is legitimate and must be respected.
Politics and Diplomacy
- Putin’s comments on Ukraine follow the conclusion of a summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron that considered plans to deploy troops to Ukraine. Macron said “several” other nations are willing to join a peacekeeping force alongside France and Britain.
- Speaking to reporters on Friday, Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine had received the draft of a new minerals deal from the US, saying it was an “entirely different” document than what had been proposed previously. Neither he nor his vice president would discuss the draft, saying it would first need to be reviewed and discussed.
- The Ukrainian president confirmed Ukraine was formalising agreements on European military aid and intelligence sharing before the next summit at the US’s Ramstein airbase in Germany.
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