These are the key developments on day 1,107 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Friday, March 7:
Fighting
- Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces captured the village of Andriivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Moscow said the village, which used to be a main supply hub for Ukraine, was seized in January.
- Moscow launched an air strike on a hotel in southeast Ukraine’s industrial city of Kryvyi Rih overnight, killing six people, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, more than 30 people were injured.
- Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Dmitry Levin, a Russian citizen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of high treason and having membership of a terrorist organisation. Authorities said he was found guilty of spying on Russia’s navy for Ukraine.
- A Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa damaged energy infrastructure and caused fires, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Alexander Darchiev as ambassador to the United States after Washington gave the go-ahead for his appointment in an earlier meeting between US and Russian officials.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for describing Moscow as a “threat to France and Europe”. Zakharova called the statements “contradictory” and “detached from reality”.
- Zakharova described France and the UK’s peace initiative for Ukraine as an attempt to buy time for Kyiv to prevent its military collapse. Instead, “firm agreements on a final settlement are necessary”, she said.
- According to Zakharova, Russia is currently waiting on the US to appoint a team of negotiators to engage in peace talks with Ukraine, after which Moscow will appoint its team.
- Putin, reflecting on failed historic attempts by France to conquer Russia, reminded Macron of how Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign against Moscow ended.
- Macron hit back at Putin, calling him “an imperialist seeking to rewrite history”. “Napoleon carried out conquests. The only imperial power that I see today in Europe is Russia,” Macron said.
- French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Paris has been providing military intelligence to Kyiv after Washington put a pause on sharing information.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s view of the Russia-Ukraine war being a Russia-US war by proxy is in line with Putin’s assessment as well.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state news agency RIA Novosti that Macron’s suggestion to discuss placing European allies under France’s nuclear protection posed a threat to Russia.
- Lavrov said deploying European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine would be regarded as NATO’s official involvement in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
- Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said his country would send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in 2026. He said the promised jets were being delayed due to the late arrival of new F-35 jets to replace its F-16s.
- The United Kingdom finalised a $38.68m deal with a defence tech company to allow Ukraine’s armed forces to use more advanced attack drones in the Black Sea, the UK’s defence ministry said.
- Zelenskyy called on European Union leaders in Brussels to support a truce in the air and at sea. “Everyone needs to make sure that Russia, as the sole source of this war, accepts the need to end it,” he said.
- Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr said his country would increase aid to Ukraine for this year by an extra $4.5bn. This would bring this year’s total Norwegian aid for Ukraine to $7.78bn.
- Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, said the US decision to freeze aid to Ukraine was “like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose”, adding that the move got Ukraine’s attention.
- US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told reporters that a US delegation will be travelling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next week to meet Ukrainian officials.
- Witkoff said the meeting would centre around a ceasefire with Russia and a “framework” on a more permanent agreement.
- Zelenskyy announced he would travel to Saudi Arabia for the meeting and revealed plans to have an audience with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- EU leaders issued a statement in support of Ukraine at the Brussels summit. However, Hungary refused to endorse the statement on rearming Ukraine.
