Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost the upper hand on the frontline of the Ukraine war, ex-CIA director David Petraeus has said.
“I think what’s remarkable is that Russia no longer has the upper hand,” Petraeus said in an interview with CBS News.
“Russia heavily outnumbers Ukraine. It outguns Ukraine. It has an economy 10 or 12 times the size of Ukraine’s. And yet the Ukrainian forces right now are stopping the Russians cold on the front lines,” he said.
It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky extended a new offer to Russia of a temporary ceasefire on strikes against energy infrastructure for the upcoming Orthodox Easter. A previous proposal for a halt on fighting over the Easter weekend just gone was rejected by Russia.
Earlier, analysts said Ukraine was continuing its attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, despite calls from the West seeking to end such strikes.
Russia said Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Black Sea terminal, which handles 1.5 per cent of global oil supply, causing some damage.
Read MoreInside Ukraine’s conscription crisis as two million dodge the draft
As Iran absorbs the world’s attention, we cannot forget about Ukraine
Putin’s top military commander killed in Russian plane crash in annexed Crimea
Stress from Russian bombardment causing premature births in Ukraine, UN warns
Key Points
- Putin's forces no longer have the upper hand in Ukraine war, says ex-CIA chief
- Zelensky says he stands by ceasefire proposal to Russia
- Russia outnumbered by Ukraine in drone warfare in a first since Putin’s invasion – report
- Russia says Ukraine damaged CPC terminal on the Black Sea with drones
- Miners escape from attacked coal mine in Russian-controlled Ukraine
- Ukraine missile maker targets 'game changer' air defence system by 2027
Asia shows interest in Ukraine's maritime defence expertise, Zelensky says
21:20 , Tara CobhamThe Ukrainian military is participating in consultations on the Strait of Hormuz, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine's maritime defence expertise is also of interest in Asia.
Kyiv sent several hundred specialists to the Middle East in the wake of the war in Iran, aiming to share its battle-tested approach in downing Iranian drones, which Russia used in the early years of its full-scale invasion.
"Ukrainian military personnel are taking part in consultations on the further operation of the Strait of Hormuz. Safe navigation is a global value; we know this from our experience defending the Black Sea," Zelensky said in his evening address.
Throughout the war, Ukraine foiled Russian attempts to fully block its access to the Black Sea, critical for the country's economy and military.
Having no powerful fleet of its own but relying on innovations, such as naval drones, it forced Russia's Black Sea fleet out of its home base in Moscow-occupied Crimea.
Zelensky added that interest in Ukraine's military technology - at times more advanced and way cheaper than traditional weapons - now goes beyond Europe.
"Our diplomats have received a corresponding request from Asian countries, and I have instructed them to work through all this promptly," he added.
Zelensky did not mention any country specifically.
Watch: British drones help Ukrainian forces destroy Russian-held bridge over Dnipro in landmark operation
21:00 , Bryony GoochUkraine lawmakers inch forward with IMF-linked bill for strained budget
20:00 , Bryony GoochUkraine's parliament on Tuesday passed one of a handful of tax laws as part of reforms required by the International Monetary Fund, lawmakers said, but votes on other laws had to be postponed due to a lack of support.
In late 2025 and early 2026 Ukraine missed deadlines to unlock billions of dollars' worth of support from its key lenders, economists said. Now, with a 90 billion-euro package of finance being blocked by Hungary, Kyiv critically needs to meet demands for funding through alternative programmes.
But parliament is at odds with the government, as some lawmakers accuse Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of poor communication and implementing populist measures that place an additional strain on the budget.
On Tuesday, the bill extending the military tax, introduced following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to three post-war years passed by 257 votes with 226 needed, the opposition Holos party lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on the Telegram app.
"Funds from the military tax should be spent exclusively on the security and defence sectors, not on the government's populist whims," Iryna Geraschenko, a lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity party, said on Telegram.
With Ukraine in need of $52 billion of external financing this year, the IMF is pressing it to expand its tax base.
However, other bills in line with the IMF demands, like a contentious one introducing a tax for online platforms, are now expected to be reviewed on Wednesday, Zhelezniak said.
The head of the ruling Servant of the People faction and Svyrydenko, as well as the finance minister, held several meetings with MPs ahead of the session, aiming to secure their backing, the lawmakers said.
The vote underscores the political infighting and mounting challenges for the ruling party to gather enough votes even for critical legislation. By law, Ukraine cannot hold an election until after the war ends
Why Vance is helping Orbán’s failing election campaign in Hungary
19:00 , Bryony Gooch Why JD Vance is helping Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s failing election campaign
Ukraine says it struck Russia's Ust-Luga oil terminal
18:00 , Bryony GoochThe Ukrainian military said it had struck Russia's Ust-Luga oil terminal in the Leningrad region on Tuesday. The general staff said on the Telegram app that it had preliminarily confirmed damage to three storage tanks belonging to the Transneft-Baltika company.
Watch: JD Vance hails Viktor Orbán as 'one of the only true statesmen in Europe'
17:00 , Bryony GoochZelensky offers an Easter pause on energy strikes
16:30 , Bryony GoochUkraine is proposing to Russia a pause in attacks on each other's energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday, which will be observed this coming weekend, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The offer was made through the United States, which has been mediating talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, Zelensky said, as Russia's invasion stretches into a fifth year.
"If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will be ready to respond in kind," the Ukrainian leader said in a public address late Monday. "This proposal, conveyed through the Americans, has already been presented to the Russian side."
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the proposal.
Previous attempts to secure ceasefires have had little or no impact. Russian president Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire last Easter, but each side accused the other of breaking it.
Russia effectively rejected a 30-day unconditional truce proposed last year by the US and Ukraine as a step toward peace, insisting instead on a comprehensive settlement, but Moscow has announced several short, unilateral ceasefires.
Zelensky said he doubted the Kremlin would take up his offer for the 12 April holiday pause as Russia is currently benefiting from higher oil prices driven by the Iran war.
Inside Ukraine’s conscription crisis as two million dodge the draft
16:00 , Bryony Gooch Inside Ukraine’s conscription crisis as two million dodge the draft
In pictures: Rescue workers move an injured woman into ambulance from a bus attacked by a Russian drone in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region
15:30 , Bryony Gooch Putin’s top military commander killed in Russian plane crash
15:00 , Bryony Gooch Putin’s top military commander killed in Russian plane crash
Russian attacks on Ukraine's southeast kill seven, hit city bus
14:30 , Bryony GoochRussian attacks on two cities in Ukraine's southeast on Tuesday killed seven people and injured more than two dozen others, officials said, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of escalating strikes instead of agreeing to an Easter ceasefire.
A small FPV (first-person-view) Russian drone smashed into a bus approaching a bus stop in Nikopol's city centre, Oleksandr Ganzha, the governor of the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, said on the Telegram app.
Four people were killed, and at least 16 were injured, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"When such terror against people and lives occurs daily, blocking new sanctions against Russia, attempting to weaken existing ones, and trading with Russia all look bizarre," he said on X.
The images from the site he shared showed the burnt bus with smashed windows. Three bodies lay on the pavement nearby as rescuers were helping the injured.
In the southern city of Kherson, less than 5 kilometres (3.11 miles) from the frontline, a non-stop half-hour Russian attack on a residential area killed three elderly people and injured seven more, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.
Ukrainian officials and human rights organisations have accused Moscow's troops of deliberate and systemic FPV drone attacks on civilians, in particular in Kherson.
"In Kherson, civilians are effectively subjected to constant so-called 'safaris', with casualties every day," Zelensky said, commenting on the Tuesday attack.
Russia denies targeting civilians, but hundreds of thousands have been killed and injured in its strikes since Moscow launched the full-scale aggression against its neighbour in early 2022.
Watch: Video captures moment building collapses in Russia as brutal flash floods sweep nation
14:00 , Bryony GoochOrban calls US stance on supporting Ukraine 'valuable'
13:39 , Bryony GoochHungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has said that he thinks the US stance for supporting Ukraine is “very valuable” for Hungary as vice president JD Vance visited.
Mr Orban, who is up for re-election, said he’d discussed the Ukraine war with the US vice president.
Hungary, which has broken with most European Union countries by refusing to assist Ukraine with financial assistance or weapons to ward off Russia's full-scale invasion, has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy despite EU efforts to wean off such supplies.
In November, Hungary received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas after a White House meeting between Mr Orban and Mr Trump.
'At your service': Hungary's Orban offered help to Putin, Bloomberg reports
13:30 , Bryony GoochHungarian prime minister Viktor Orban offered last year to help Russian President Vladimir Putin "in any way", such as by hosting a summit in Budapest to settle the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported, citing the transcript of a phone call.
A Hungarian government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and for the release of the transcript of an October 17 call between the two leaders reviewed by Bloomberg, but not verified by The Independent.
There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist in power since 2010, faces his toughest re-election bid of the past 16 years on 12 April.
Orban has fostered warm ties with Putin despite the Ukraine war, and maintained Hungary's heavy reliance on Russian oil and gas. Citing a dispute with Kyiv over a war-damaged oil pipeline, Orban has also blocked the implementation of a European Union loan to Ukraine agreed back in December.
The cordial conversation between Orban and Putin took place as US President Donald Trump agreed to a second summit on the war in Ukraine to be hosted in the Hungarian capital.
In the phone call, Orban calls Putin a friend, noting that their close ties date back to a 2009 meeting in St Petersburg.
"But yesterday our friendship rose to such a high level that I can help in any way — there is a story in our Hungarian picture books where a mouse helps a lion," he tells Putin according to the transcript. "I am ready to help immediately ... In any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service."
In pictures: Rescue workers put out a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike on Novhorod-Siverskyi, Chernihiv region
13:00 , Bryony Gooch World is lining up for Russian energy, the Kremlin says
12:30 , Bryony GoochThe Kremlin said on Tuesday there were a huge number of requests for Russian energy from a range of different places amid a grave global energy crisis that was shaking the foundations of the oil and gas markets.
The US and Israeli war against Iran has triggered an energy crisis for the global economy by trapping a large volume of oil in the Gulf due to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most vessels.
The crisis comes just as European consumers were trying to end their reliance on Russian energy to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine, and as Russia itself looks set to cut its output in the wake of Ukrainian attacks on its oil infrastructure. President Vladimir Putin has suggested switching supplies more swiftly away from European customers if they do not want Russian energy.
"Now that the world has confidently embarked on the path of a rather serious economic and energy crisis, which is growing day by day, the market and market conditions in the field of energy and energy resources have completely changed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"There are a huge number of requests for the purchase of our energy resources from alternative sources. We are negotiating, we are negotiating in such a way that this situation best suits our interests."
Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, produces around 10 million barrels of crude per day and about half are exported. Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves. Still, Russia may in fact have to reduce oil production because Ukrainian strikes on ports, pipelines and refineries have cut export capability by 1 million barrels per day, or a fifth of total capacity, Reuters reported last week.
Russia confirms deaths of 16 Cameroonians fighting in Ukraine war, Yaounde says
12:03 , Bryony GoochCameroon said Russian authorities have confirmed the deaths of 16 Cameroonians fighting against Ukraine, the first time the Central African country has spoken about the involvement of its nationals in the ongoing war.
In a statement broadcast on state media on Monday evening, the foreign ministry called on the families of the dead to make contact with ministry officials in the capital city of Yaounde.
A Cameroonian diplomatic note, also dated Monday and seen by Reuters, referred to the deceased as "military contractors of Cameroonian nationality" operating in a special military operation zone, a term Russia uses to describe the war in Ukraine.
Neither the statement nor the diplomatic note specified how the 16 men ended up fighting for Russia, nor did they provide details on the location, timing and circumstances of their deaths.
The Russian embassy in Yaounde did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Ukraine said in February that more than 1,700 Africans were fighting for Russia, though analysts say the true figure is likely higher.
Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in Ukraine.
In an internal memo issued in March 2025 and seen by Reuters, Cameroon's defense minister expressed concern that soldiers were leaving the country to join the war in Ukraine and instructed commanding officers to closely monitor their units.
Cameroon has said it does not officially deploy troops abroad outside of international or regional mandates and has warned citizens against taking part in foreign conflicts.
Watch: Video captures moment building collapses in Russia as brutal flash floods sweep nation
10:30 , Arpan RaiUkraine used British drones to destroy Russia-controlled bridge – report
10:15 , Arpan RaiUkrainian forces deployed British drones to bring down a Russia-controlled bridge in the Kherson part of the country in a massive operation, senior military officials said, the Telegraph has reported.
The attack, carried out early last year using a Malloy T-150 heavy-lift drone, dealt a massive blow to Russia’s ability to carry out a military offensive across the river’s right bank in Kherson, the report added.
This is the first time a drone-led operation resulted in destroying a major bridge, according to the military officials.
“Bridges are relatively easy to destroy from underneath,” Colonel Oleksii Bulakhov, the regiment’s commander said, adding that their “engineering makes them extremely robust from the outside”.
Russia aiding Iran with cyber support and spy imagery to hone attacks, Ukraine says
10:00 , Arpan RaiRussian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike US forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.
The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the US launched their assault on 28 February.
Russian satellites, the undated assessment said, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from 21 March to 31 March, covering 46 "objects", including US and other military bases and sites including airports and oil fields.
Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment said, in what it described as a clear pattern.
A Western military source and a separate regional security source told Reuters that their intelligence also indicated intense Russian satellite activity in the region and said that imagery had been shared with Iran.
Nine surveys covered parts of Saudi Arabia, including five over the King Khalid Military City near Hafar Al-Batin, in what appeared to be an effort to locate elements of the US-made THAAD air defence system, the Ukrainian assessment said.
Areas of Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also came under satellite surveillance twice, while places in Israel, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia did once, it said. In an emerging trend, the assessment added, Russian satellites were actively surveying the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for a fifth of global oil and LNG flows where Iran has imposed a de facto blockade to all but "non-hostile vessels".
Russia says Ukraine damaged CPC terminal on the Black Sea with drones
09:40 , Arpan RaiRussia said Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Black Sea terminal, which handles 1.5 per cent of global oil supply, damaging the single point mooring (SPM), loading infrastructure and four vast storage tanks.
Separately, the Ukrainian military said it had struck oil loading facilities at the nearby Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk.
The strikes could be among the most significant on Russia's Black Sea export facilities during the more than four-year-old war with Ukraine, which in the past month has seen Ukraine step up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.
Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had attacked the CPC's loading facilities with air drones. The CPC's Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal exports oil from Kazakhstan and its shareholders include Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
Zelensky says he stands by ceasefire proposal to Russia
09:15 , Arpan RaiUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he stood by a proposal made to Russia for a ceasefire contingent on Moscow halting all attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelensky said in his nightly video address that the proposal had been conveyed to Moscow through the US. He also said work was continuing with US negotiators on security guarantees, which he called the key to lasting peace.
"If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will be ready to respond in kind," he said. "This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans."
Zelensky offered last week to observe a ceasefire under similar conditions for Easter – in the Orthodox faith dominant in both Russia and Ukraine Easter falls on this coming Sunday.
But following new Russian attacks, he then said Russia had responded to the proposal by deploying Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
Moscow reacted coolly to Zelensky's proposal last week, saying it favoured an overall peace deal instead.
In his remarks last night, after an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed three people, Zelensky said Russia appeared unwilling to agree to an Easter ceasefire.
"We have repeatedly proposed to Russia a ceasefire at least for Easter, a special time of the year," he said. "But for them, all times are the same. Nothing is sacred."
Russia outnumbered by Ukraine in drone warfare in a first since Putin’s invasion – report
08:55 , Arpan RaiRussia suffered more cross-border drone attacks from Ukraine in a one-month period than it has unleashed on the smaller nation since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched the war in February 2022, a new report has revealed.
According to the data by the Russian defence ministry, its forces downed 7,347 Ukrainian drones during March. This marks the highest monthly total ever reported by Moscow and an average of 237 craft each day, reported ABC news after analysing data from both the countries.
Russia typically only publishes the number of Ukrainian drones it claims were shot down and not how many were fired in total.
In sharp contrast, Ukraine’s air force confirmed that they faced an onslaught of 6,462 Russian drones and 138 missiles of various types across the course of the month.
Of these, at least 5,833 drones and 102 missiles – around 90 per cent of drones and just under 74 per cent of missiles – were intercepted or suppressed.
The daily average for Ukraine is a little over 208 drones and four missiles during March.
It is not immediately clear if Russia’s drone attacks have been impacted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East where Iran has been targeting US and Israeli bases in the region by using its Shahed drones.
In photos: Three killed as Russian drone hits city bus in Ukraine's Dnipro
08:47 , Arpan Rai Putin's forces no longer have the upper hand in Ukraine war, says ex-CIA chief
08:25 , Arpan RaiRussia no longer has the “upper hand” in the war against Ukraine, former CIA director David Petraeus said.
“I think what’s remarkable is that Russia no longer has the upper hand,” Petraeus said in an interview with CBS News.
“Russia heavily outnumbers Ukraine. It outguns Ukraine. It has an economy 10 or 12 times the size of Ukraine’s. And yet the Ukrainian forces right now are stopping the Russians cold on the front lines,” he said.
Petraeus also highlighted that on the morning of his interview, more than 400 drones and dozens of missiles were fired, and glide bombs are incoming every night.
Three killed as Russian drone hits city bus in Ukraine's Dnipro
08:05 , Arpan RaiA Russian drone strike on a city bus killed three people and injured 12 more on Tuesday in the city of Nikopol in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian officials said.
"It is a devastating blow at public transport. It happened during rush hour, just as people were heading to work," interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram app.
Ukraine used British drones to destroy Russia-controlled bridge – report
07:49 , Arpan RaiUkrainian forces deployed British drones to bring down a Russia-controlled bridge in the Kherson part of the country in a massive operation, senior military officials said, the Telegraph has reported.
The attack, carried out early last year using a Malloy T-150 heavy-lift drone, dealt a massive blow to Russia’s ability to carry out a military offensive across the river’s right bank in Kherson, the report added.
This is the first time a drone-led operation resulted in destroying a major bridge, according to the military officials.
“Bridges are relatively easy to destroy from underneath,” Colonel Oleksii Bulakhov, the regiment’s commander said, adding that their “engineering makes them extremely robust from the outside”.
Russia aiding Iran with cyber support and spy imagery to hone attacks, Ukraine says
07:14 , Arpan RaiRussian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike US forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.
The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the US launched their assault on 28 February.
Russian satellites, the undated assessment said, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from 21 March to 31 March, covering 46 "objects", including US and other military bases and sites including airports and oil fields.
Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment said, in what it described as a clear pattern.
A Western military source and a separate regional security source told Reuters that their intelligence also indicated intense Russian satellite activity in the region and said that imagery had been shared with Iran.
Nine surveys covered parts of Saudi Arabia, including five over the King Khalid Military City near Hafar Al-Batin, in what appeared to be an effort to locate elements of the US-made THAAD air defence system, the Ukrainian assessment said.
Areas of Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also came under satellite surveillance twice, while places in Israel, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia did once, it said. In an emerging trend, the assessment added, Russian satellites were actively surveying the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for a fifth of global oil and LNG flows where Iran has imposed a de facto blockade to all but "non-hostile vessels".
Death toll in Russian petrochemical plant accident reaches 12
06:34 , Arpan RaiRescue workers completed search operations five days after a large fire at a Russian petrochemical plant and the final death toll stood at 12, the company owning the plant said in the early hours today.
Sibur, which owns the sprawling Nizhnekamskneftekhim plant in central Russia's Tatarstan region, offered condolences and posted the names of the 12 dead, including a firefighter, on Telegram. Dozens of people were injured.
In the aftermath of the accident in the town of Nizhnekamsk, Sibur said a gas mixture had exploded following a loss of pressure at a facility producing synthetic rubber and plastics. It said it was not clear what had caused the gas to ignite.
Russia's emergencies ministry said an aircraft had been dispatched from Moscow to Nizhnekamsk, about 1,000km (620 miles) to the east to bring the injured to the capital for treatment.
Inside Ukraine’s conscription crisis as two million dodge the draft
06:25 , Arpan RaiUkraine is facing a major conscription crisis, just as Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that a protracted conflict in the Middle East will hamper its efforts to combat Russia’s invasion.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, admitted that Ukraine has 2 million draft-dodgers and hundreds of thousands more who are absent without leave (awol).
The Independent has spoken to Ukrainians on the ground about the reality of the situation, just as pressure mounts elsewhere for the war-torn country. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has shifted its focus from Ukraine to the conflict with Iran, while peace talks have stalled, and Vladimir Putin has launched his spring offensive.
Inside Ukraine’s conscription crisis as two million dodge the draft
Miners escape from attacked coal mine in Russian-controlled Ukraine, official says
05:58 , Arpan RaiAll 41 miners who were trapped underground after Ukraine struck the Bilorechenska coal mine in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region have been evacuated and are safe, a Russian-installed official said.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-appointed head of the region, said power had been restored to the mine and the workers brought to the surface.
He added none of the miners was injured and that no one required medical assistance.
Earlier, Pasechnik said a Ukrainian strike had damaged a power substation supplying the mine, leaving workers trapped underground while rescue operations were under way.
Kyiv has not commented on the incident.
Zelensky says he stands by ceasefire proposal to Russia
05:38 , Arpan RaiUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he stood by a proposal made to Russia for a ceasefire contingent on Moscow halting all attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelensky said in his nightly video address that the proposal had been conveyed to Moscow through the US. He also said work was continuing with US negotiators on security guarantees, which he called the key to lasting peace.
"If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will be ready to respond in kind," he said. "This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans."
Zelensky offered last week to observe a ceasefire under similar conditions for Easter – in the Orthodox faith dominant in both Russia and Ukraine Easter falls on this coming Sunday.
But following new Russian attacks, he then said Russia had responded to the proposal by deploying Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
Moscow reacted coolly to Zelensky's proposal last week, saying it favoured an overall peace deal instead.
In his remarks last night, after an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed three people, Zelensky said Russia appeared unwilling to agree to an Easter ceasefire.
"We have repeatedly proposed to Russia a ceasefire at least for Easter, a special time of the year," he said. "But for them, all times are the same. Nothing is sacred."
Russia says Ukraine damaged CPC terminal on the Black Sea with drones
05:27 , Arpan RaiRussia said Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Black Sea terminal, which handles 1.5 per cent of global oil supply, damaging the single point mooring (SPM), loading infrastructure and four vast storage tanks.
Separately, the Ukrainian military said it had struck oil loading facilities at the nearby Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk.
The strikes could be among the most significant on Russia's Black Sea export facilities during the more than four-year-old war with Ukraine, which in the past month has seen Ukraine step up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.
Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had attacked the CPC's loading facilities with air drones. The CPC's Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal exports oil from Kazakhstan and its shareholders include Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
Watch: Zelensky updates on Ukraine's attacks on Putin's oil network
05:22 , Arpan RaiUkraine missile maker targets 'game changer' air defence system by 2027
04:58 , Arpan RaiFire Point, maker of Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile, is in talks with European companies to launch a new air defence system by next year, a senior executive told Reuters, creating a low-cost alternative to the increasingly hard-to-get Patriot system.
With governments seeking to defend their skies as the wars in Ukraine and Iran sow global instability, Fire Point's co-founder and chief designer Denys Shtilierman said it aimed to slash the cost of intercepting a ballistic missile to below $1m.
Shtilierman also said Fire Point was awaiting government approval for an investment by a Middle Eastern conglomerate that valued the company at $2.5bn and would open the door to new business opportunities, including low-orbit satellite launches.
Years of know-how gained on the battlefield fighting Russian forces have made Ukraine a leading innovator in low-cost defence tech. With the outbreak of war in the Gulf, Kyiv has leveraged that expertise to sign security agreements with governments across the region.
Many Ukrainian defence firms are now seeking to export their excess capacity and cash in on a global boom in military spending. While the government recently loosened wartime export restrictions, each proposed deal is still subject to stringent checks and state approval.
Russia outnumbered by Ukraine in drone warfare in a first since Putin’s invasion – report
04:50 , Arpan RaiRussia suffered more cross-border drone attacks from Ukraine in a one-month period than it has unleashed on the smaller nation since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched the war in February 2022, a new report has revealed.
According to the data by the Russian defence ministry, its forces downed 7,347 Ukrainian drones during March. This marks the highest monthly total ever reported by Moscow and an average of 237 craft each day, reported ABC news after analysing data from both the countries.
Russia typically only publishes the number of Ukrainian drones it claims were shot down and not how many were fired in total.
In sharp contrast, Ukraine’s air force confirmed that they faced an onslaught of 6,462 Russian drones and 138 missiles of various types across the course of the month.
Of these, at least 5,833 drones and 102 missiles – around 90 per cent of drones and just under 74 per cent of missiles – were intercepted or suppressed.
The daily average for Ukraine is a little over 208 drones and four missiles during March.
It is not immediately clear if Russia’s drone attacks have been impacted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East where Iran has been targeting US and Israeli bases in the region by using its Shahed drones.
Putin's forces no longer have the upper hand in Ukraine war, says ex-CIA chief
04:45 , Arpan RaiRussia no longer has the “upper hand” in the war against Ukraine, former CIA director David Petraeus said.
“I think what’s remarkable is that Russia no longer has the upper hand,” Petraeus said in an interview with CBS News.
“Russia heavily outnumbers Ukraine. It outguns Ukraine. It has an economy 10 or 12 times the size of Ukraine’s. And yet the Ukrainian forces right now are stopping the Russians cold on the front lines,” he said.
Petraeus also highlighted that on the morning of his interview, more than 400 drones and dozens of missiles were fired, and glide bombs are incoming every night.
Ukraine not involved in explosives plot, says Serbian intelligence chief
04:28 , Arpan RaiSerbia’s top military official has ruled out any Ukrainian role in explosives found near a gas pipeline with Hungary, after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban claimed Kyiv was involved.
Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, a close ally of Orbán, on Sunday said authorities found “an explosive of devastating power” near a gas pipeline transporting Russian gas from the country to its neighbour Hungary.
However, Đuro Jovanić, director of Belgrade’s counterintelligence Military Security Agency (VBA), said it was “not true that the Ukrainians tried to organise” the plot, which involved “explosives specially packaged, hermetically sealed, detonator caps”.
“The manufacturer of the explosives does not mean that he is also the one who ordered or executed it,” he said, adding, “The markings on the explosives show that it was manufactured in the US,” Jovanić said.
His remarks came as Orban on Sunday called an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council that the Serbian authorities had uncovered a “sabotage operation” in Vojvodina, Serbia and seemingly linked it to Ukraine.
Orban went as far as to claim that Ukraine, without naming the country, had been “working for years to cut Europe off from Russian energy” and posed “a direct threat to Hungary”.
Ukraine says truce offer still stands ahead of Orthodox Easter
03:58 , Arpan RaiVolodymyr Zelensky has reiterated his offer to Russia of a temporary ceasefire on strikes against energy infrastructure for the upcoming Orthodox Easter.
“If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will respond in kind,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president said the proposal had been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans.
Zelensky had previously offered to observe a ceasefire for Easter last week, which the Kremlin refused. Orthodox followers mark the same day in Russia and Ukraine on 13 April.
Zelensky says ‘prolonged’ US-Iran war could divert critical support from Ukraine
03:00 , Rebecca WhittakerUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed concern that a prolonged U.S.-Israeli war on Iran could further erode America’s support for Ukraine as Washington’s global priorities shift and Kyiv braces for reduced deliveries of critically needed Patriot air defense missiles.
Zelensky says ‘prolonged’ US-Iran war could divert critical support from Ukraine
Watch: Stress from Russian bombardment causing premature birthrates in Ukraine, UNFPA warns
02:01 , Rebecca WhittakerThe Independent view: As Iran absorbs the world’s attention, we cannot forget about Ukraine
01:00 , Rebecca WhittakerWith military resources stretched and headlines focused elsewhere, Ukraine is entering a critical and precarious phase in its struggle against Russia
As Iran absorbs the world’s attention, we cannot forget about Ukraine
Russia says 41 miners trapped after Ukrainian strike in Luhansk
Tuesday 7 April 2026 00:30 , Rebecca WhittakerUkraine struck the Bilorichenska coal mine in the Russian-controlled part of the Luhansk region, damaging a power substation and leaving 41 mine workers trapped underground, a Russian-installed official said this morning.
"All the relevant services are taking steps to rescue the miners and restore power to the mine," said Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-appointed head of the region.
He said that contact with the miners had already been established, and that they had a supply of drinking water.
Recap: Attacks on Ukraine's Chernihiv leave 350,000 without power supply
Monday 6 April 2026 23:30 , Rebecca WhittakerMore than 350,000 people in northern Ukraine's Chernihiv oblast have been left without power supply due to overnight Russian attacks.
A local energy company, Chernihivoblenerho, said an energy facility in the Novhorod-Siverskyi district was damaged, and "(m)ore than 10,000 subscribers in the same district were left without power”.
Shortly after, another facility in the Nizhyn district was struck, leaving 340,000 without power, including subscribers in the cities of Chernihiv and Pryluky, the company said.
Putin’s top military commander killed in Russian plane crash
Monday 6 April 2026 22:30 , Rebecca WhittakerA senior Russian air force commander was among 30 people killed last week when a military transport aircraft crashed in Russian-controlled Crimea, according to a senior official cited by Russian media on Monday.
Putin’s top military commander killed in Russian plane crash
Pictured: Apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike
Monday 6 April 2026 21:29 , Rebecca Whittaker