European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico, Brussels, Belgium, March 20, 2025 (Marco Tacca/Getty)

EA on TVP World: Trump on Ukraine — Serious Shift or Political Stunt?

Thursday’s Coverage: Zelensky — We Must Increase Domestic Production of Weapons

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1445 GMT:

The UK has sanctioned three Russian military intelligence units and 18 officers over a long-running campaign of cyber-attacks across Europe.

One of the sanctioned units conducted online reconnaissance that coordinated Russian missile strikes on the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine in spring 2022. The attacks included the March 16 bombing of the city’s Drama Theater killing between 300 and 900 civilians who were sheltering.

Cited officers include those who infected Yulia Skripal’s device with X-Agent malware years before assassination attempts on her and her father, former Russian intelligence agent Sergey Skripal, with Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England.

“GRU [military intelligence] spies are running a campaign to destabilize Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, and threaten the safety of British citizens,” said UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won’t tolerate it.”

UPDATE 1428 GMT:

At least seven civilians two civilians have been murdered and 11 injured by Russian attacks on the western part of the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

A 29-year-old woman is in serious condition.

Administrative buildings, houses, a school, a shop, and cars were damaged.

UPDATE 1046 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron have conferred by phone.

Zelensky summarized discussion about the situation on the frontline; air defense, particularly French supply of missiles for SAMP/T systems and funding for interceptor drones; and agreement on pilot training for France’s Mirage fighter jets.

Together with our American partners, we are working to ensure that Russia feels real global pressure. Every day this war is prolonged must result in truly painful consequences for Russia.

Macron noted that, with its latest sanctions on Moscow, the European Union is “intensifying pressure on Russia to achieve an unconditional ceasefire.”

“Russian attacks must stop immediately,” he said. “[France] is and will remain by Ukraine’s side.”

UPDATE 1040 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the European Union’s passage of its 18th sanctions package against Russia:

This decision is essential and timely, especially now, as a response to the fact that Russia has intensified the brutality of the strikes on our cities and villages.

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko posted:

By targeting the ships, the banks, and the networks that sustain Russia’s war, this package strengthens the pressure where it counts.

There is more to be done. But each measure taken with clarity and resolve helps bring Russia’s war closer to its end.

UPDATE 0822 GMT:

Rustem Umerov, replaced as Defense Minister this week by President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been named head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

UPDATE 0725 GMT:

Denmark, which holds the European Union’s rotating Presidency, has confirmed the adoption of the 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, “Now we tighten the knot on Russia by targeting energy revenues, exports, circumvention, and shadow fleet.

EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas wrote:

Kallas said there will be a “lower oil price cap” on Russia, whose exports have been restricted to $60 per barrel since December 2022, in addition to the ban on transactions with Nord Stream pipelines; sanctions on the banks of Russia and its allies; and blocking of technology exports used in drones.

The sanctions also target 105 vessels of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which is trying to circumvent the restriction on oil exports.

“We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow,” Kallas assured.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted:

And Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “It’s good that we in the EU have now agreed on the 18th sanctions package against Russia. It targets banks, energy, and the military industry. This weakens Russia’s ability to continue financing the war against Ukraine. We are keeping up the pressure on Russia.”

UPDATE 0637 GMT:

One civilian has been killed and at least five injured by Russian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine and on the Kharkiv region in the northeast.

A 64-year-old man was slain in the town of Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia, and a 79-year-old man was wounded in Zaporizhzhia city amid an assault by at least nine Iran-type drones.

In Kharkiv, a strike on a residential area in the city of Chuhuiv wounded four people.

In the Kherson region in the south, a drone reportedly struck the car of Chief Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wolff while he was driving with his family.

No one was injured.

UPDATE 0629 GMT:

Russia has shown its concern over the Trump Administration’s threat of sanctions and its intention to sell arms to Ukraine, including Patriot air defense systems, via NATO countries.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova declared Moscow will not accept the “blackmail” of Trump’s 50-day deadline for Vladimir Putin to agree a ceasefire.

Zakharova blustered, “It is obvious that the Kyiv regime consistently perceives such decisions by the collective west as a signal to continue the slaughter and abandon the peace process.”

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, said on Tuesday that he has been ordered to deliver the Patriot systems to Ukraine as quickly as possible: “We’re working very closely with the Germans.”

The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, told journalists:

We are all moving with haste to facilitate this and get this done, and, you know, I think things are actually moving very quickly. But I can’t verify a date that this will all be completed.

The European Union is nearing its 18th sanctions package on Russia over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday that he will lift its blockade, allowing EU ambassadors to recommend the sanctions today.

The package is aimed at Russia’s energy industry, banks, and military. It bans transactions with Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines to Germany, blacklists another 22 Russian banks, and cites the Russian Direct Investment Fund as well as its subsidiaries and wider network.

Slovakia had objected to the EU establishing its goal of ending all Russian gas and oil imports by 2028. Earlier this week, it allowed countries such as Slovakia to take supplies in emergency situations, an adjustment rejected as insufficient by Bratislava.

But Fico said on Thursday that Slovakia had achieved as much as it can at this point.

The EU will also need the acceptance of Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin, as all 27 members must approve the package.