Ukraine’s frontline position is “the strongest” it has been in a year, owing to superiority in drones and enhanced air defence, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has said. Analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) by Agence France-Presse showed Russian troops made almost no territorial gains across the frontline in March for the first time in two and a half years.
“We have minimised the Russians’ advantage in manpower through the use of drones,” Sybiha said. “We can shoot down up to 90% of the targets that strike our cities … Ukraine’s position on the battlefield is indeed the strongest, or the most solid, it has been over the past year.”
Meanwhile, a Russian strike killed two people and wounded eight in the city of Dnipro, regional authorities said on Thursday. Two children aged nine and 14 were among those taken to hospital after an apartment building, a shop and a car were hit.
Turkey is trying to revive negotiations between Russia and Ukraine at Kyiv’s request, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s office said on Wednesday. Sybiha confirmed Ukraine is pushing for face-to-face talks between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, and would consider any venue outside Russia or Belarus. The Kremlin said Putin would only meet Zelenskyy “for the purpose of finalising agreements”.
On the EU front, member states reached agreement on unblocking a €90bn (£78bn) loan for Kyiv and a new sanctions package against Moscow after Ukraine resumed pumping Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, prompting Budapest to lift its veto.
