What's corroborated

Kyiv declined to renew the contract to transit Russia's natural gas as of January 1, 2025, causing tensions with Slovakia.

The Ukrainian Air Force noted that 17 drones did not reach their targets as they were 'lost in location' (likely referring to Ukrainian electronic warfare interference).

Russian attacks are a U.S. problem as well, with operations against U.S. targets like bases in Germany.

Other weapons included blunt or edged instruments (27 percent), electronic attack (15 percent), and weaponization of illegal immigrants (8 percent).

Many targets had links to Western aid to Ukraine.

Other operations relied on Russia's 'shadow fleet' for undersea attacks.

Its main weapons and tactics have included explosives, blunt or edged instruments (such as anchors), and electronic attack.

GRU General Andrei Averjanov was killed in an SBU drone strike on a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Mediterranean Sea, with two tankers struck and 12 Russian intelligence officers on board.

Sergeant Oleksandr Kusharev (call sign 'Zelenyj') was a Ukrainian hero with a Russian bounty of around $150,000, who died on June 9, 2025, near Vuhledar at age 36.

The European Commission outlined three options for supporting Ukraine, including tapping €170 billion in frozen Russian assets.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused NATO of conducting a proxy war and said Western weapons in Ukraine would be fair targets.

UK defence minister James Heappey said it was 'not necessarily a problem' for Ukraine to use UK-supplied arms against military targets in Russia.

Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine will not hand over the Donbas in exchange for peace.

Recruitment began slowing by the end of 2022, becoming a major problem after the failed summer counteroffensive in 2023.

Russia is increasingly centralizing drone procurement for its Unmanned Systems Forces, potentially creating a drone 'famine' in regular units.

Russia's war economy is under mounting strain, with manufacturing declining, slowing growth of 0.6 percent in 2025, and no globally competitive technology firms.

Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack and made some advances but the extent of observed Ukrainian advances is rejected.

Russia recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics as independent states in early 2022 before the full-scale invasion.

Three men from Armenia, Russia, and Ukraine have been charged in Germany with espionage for Russia and preparing an assassination.

Residential areas in Sumy were hit, damaging houses, cars, and utility networks.

The drone incidents underscore persistent regional tensions and spillover risks from the Russo-Ukrainian war, as well as potential air defence gaps over the Baltic region.

The incorporation of former Wagner detachments indicates Wagner has been successfully subordinated to Rosgvardia, increasing state control.

Estonian authorities believe the drone entered from Russian airspace by accident and was not directed to target Estonia.

The attacks occurred while Zelenskyy is in Istanbul meeting Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russian missile attacks deprived Ukraine of 80% of its thermal generation capacity.

Russia has recommissioned thousands of armored vehicles from Soviet stocks.

In some areas of the long front line, especially east of the city of Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces appear to have been forced to retreat.

Moscow's basic terms have not changed: Ukraine is still expected to surrender territory, accept limits on its sovereignty, and move towards a settlement shaped around Russian interests.

Zelenskyy highlighted Ukraine's expertise in drone warfare and defense systems, positioning it as a key partner for global defense solutions.

Ukrainian forces liberated multiple settlements in the Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole directions in February 2026, with a net gain of 165 square kilometers.

U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to start talks aimed at ending Moscow’s nearly three-year war in Ukraine.

The southern leg of the Druzhba pipeline was damaged in January after being hit by a Russian strike.

Ukrainian and South Korean officials reported in early October 2024 the presence of a limited number of North Korean personnel in occupied Donetsk City, mainly engineering personnel.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says this shows that Europe has an ambition to arm with nuclear weapons and to militarize.

Russia launched more than 360 drones in the attack.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 405 Shahed-type, Gerbera-type, and other drones — roughly 250 of which were Shahed drones — from Kursk and Oryol cities; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai; and occupied Cape Chauda, Crimea.

As a result of Trump's threat, a group of countries including the UK, France, and Germany issued a statement on 19 March expressing readiness to contribute to efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Ukraine completed repair works on the Druzhba pipeline by April 21, 2025, and expects to resume operations tied to EU support.

Belarus was used as a launch pad to attack Ukraine in the early months following Russia's 2022 invasion.

Ukraine's defence ministry fired a top commander after photos emerged of emaciated soldiers left on the frontline without proper food and water near Kupiansk.

Satellite imagery reveals Russian forces destroyed a mass burial site in Manhush near Mariupol, clearing remains for road repairs.

Any excavations of mass graves and identification of victims will likely be possible only when Mariupol is no longer occupied.

The USA withdrew from 66 international bodies and commitments and allowed the last nuclear arms control treaty to expire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US, and Russia scheduled for March 5-6 in Abu Dhabi has not been cancelled but cannot be confirmed due to hostilities.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui visited Russia on October 29, 2024, but did not specify the purpose of the visit.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia remains open to negotiations with the United States.

Russia said France's plan to expand its nuclear arsenal was a highly destabilising move that posed a potential threat to Moscow.

US Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby said that Trump has made clear the US extended nuclear deterrent continues to apply in Europe.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte insisted that nobody was considering fully replacing the American nuclear umbrella.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK's nuclear deterrent already protected fellow NATO members and he was enhancing nuclear cooperation with France.