NATO has found no evidence that the Russian Federation was involved in the damage to cables in the Baltic Sea, says The Wall Street Journal, in the meantime, flights to Poland with weapons for Kiev have resumed on a regular basis.
On March 31, representatives of parliaments from all over Europe arrived in Kiev: presidents and vice-presidents of the parliaments of Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, as well as representatives of the European Parliament. German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock visited Kiev, where she declared: “The destruction of Ukraine remains Putin’s ultimate goal”.
The European discussion on the peacekeeping mission for Ukraine has shifted toward a presence at sea and in the air, rather than on land, the Washington Post reports, citing a source. “Military commanders are stressing the limitations associated with deploying large troops, and other countries are offering their capabilities to patrol the skies over Ukraine or the Black Sea,” the publication said. The efforts by London and Paris have met with the reluctance of other European countries to send troops without the promise of American support in the event of a Russian attack.
Britain, France and Ukraine will hold a meeting in the coming days dedicated to security guarantees for Kiev, Reuters reports, citing a representative of British Prime Minister Starmer
Ukraine ended 2024 with GDP growth of 2.9% compared to 2023, the State Statistics Service said. However, the economy contracted by 0.1% in the most recent quarter, the first time in seven quarters. The economy grew by 5.5% in 2023 after contracting by 28.8% in 2022.
Zelenskyi’s office said the United States and Ukraine had their first long conversation on a new draft agreement on fossil fuels, the work of the teams continues. Kiev is reportedly not going to give the US carte blanche.
US President Donald Trump said he was ready to introduce tariffs against Russia if the Russian leadership does not agree to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. “I don’t want to impose secondary tariffs on his (Vladimir Putin’s) oil, but I think that’s something I might do if he doesn’t do the job,” Trump said. He expressed hope that the Russian president would agree to conclude agreements.
Trump made it clear that Ukraine asked for NATO membership in exchange for signing a “tough” agreement on subsoil. “I see that Zelensky tried to change the terms of the agreement on rare earth metals. We have already prepared this agreement. Everything is done. And now I heard from journalists that he is ready for an agreement on joining NATO or something like that. This has never been discussed, firstly. Secondly, Putin has been saying for a long time that Ukraine should not join NATO. That is why the war started,” the US president said.
From Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported: “No documents have been signed on joint projects between the Russian Federation and the United States for the extraction of rare earth metals.” Instead, Putin signed: the decree on spring conscription into the army was signed. It will take place from April 1 to July 15. 160 thousand people will be called up for military service. The upcoming spring conscription into the army is not connected with the special operation in Ukraine. “Conscription events will be held as planned, within the time limits established by the legislation of the Russian Federation,” the military department said.
According to its information, the spring conscription will take place in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, “with the exception of 54 separate regions of the Far North and some localities equivalent to them, where citizens will be called up for military service only in the autumn conscription campaign.” Electronic summons for the spring conscription campaign will be sent to Russian citizens in their personal account on the portal of State Services, Muscovites will receive summons on mos.ru – Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma Andrei Kartapolov reiterated that conscripts will not be sent to the military special operations zone.
Working meeting of the Supreme Commander with Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov, appointed on February 6. “For Russia, space is not just an industry, it is a pride, and there is a great demand in society to always maintain a leading position on the world stage. Among the priority tasks I see is the fine-tuning of the national project according to your instructions regarding its complexity and the interconnection of all elements. In addition, on behalf of Mishustin and Manturov, I will solve the problem of commercialization of space and attracting private investors.”
“The national project will necessarily include the orbital constellation of the Russian Federation, on the basis of which basic communications services, remote sensing of the Earth and navigation will be provided, as well as the launch program – the entire family of our rockets and the development of cosmodromes, scientific space, manned cosmonautics and the nuclear [energy] space program.”
And now a look at the front line as of 16:00 on April 1. At the Bryansk border section, Ukrainian arrivals continue to Russian positions and border villages. For example, local residents point to periodic arrivals in Khoromny, Rakovka, Kirilovka, Sushany (Klimovsky district), Azarovka (Klimovsky district), Starodubsky). At the same time, such information is not mentioned in official sources, which causes misunderstanding among the local population.
In the direction of Sumy, fighting continues in the area where Russian troops entered near Basivka and Zhuravka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces took countermeasures, but were unsuccessful and lost 2 armored combat vehicles. In the Kursk region, in the Guevo area, the Russian Armed Forces concentrated their efforts on the elimination of Ukrainian personnel in the surrounding forest areas.
In the Belgorod border area, the impending battles continue at Demidovka and Popovka. Three groups of Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed near the border, while trying to break through to reinforce their own on our territory. GRV “Nord” writes that Kiev continues to strengthen its grouping in this direction, transferring to the Krasnopil’s’kyi district personnel of professional officers of the armed forces trained abroad and who were in the reserves or served in the rear. Complex destruction of fire is systematically inflicted on concentrations of Ukrainian manpower, Russian accounts report.
In the direction of Liman, Russian armed forces are advancing towards Nove and Katerynivka.
In the direction of Oleksandro-Kalynove Russian troops are expanding the control zone near Panteleimonivka and are moving towards Valentynivka.
In the direction of southern Donetsk units of the Vostok group took the village of Rozlyv, Warrior DV reports. “During the joint offensive actions of the military personnel of the 36th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 430th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 29th Army. Rozlyv came under the full control of the Russian Armed Forces. Control was established over a defense zone more than 3 km deep and along the front. Russian servicemen planted Russian flags in various parts of the village. The Far Eastern military are consolidating their positions. In 10 days of hostilities, 400 buildings were taken and up to two companies (more than 150 servicemen) of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed.
On the Zaporizhia front, the Russian Armed Forces are expanding the control zone to Stepove and towards the Lobkove settlement, the Ukrainians attempted a counterattack, but were destroyed. In the area of the village of Lobkovoe, Russian assault units entered the village from the southern part and actively moved towards north. The enemy uses FPV drones up to 50 km using repeater systems.
In the direction of Kherson, Russian aircraft launched a series of strikes on the Ukrainian coast, hitting concentrations of Ukrainian military personnel.
Graziella Giangiulio
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