Trump, Putin pose as peacemaker in each other’s war as Ukraine gains ground

As a new war rages, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has barrelled into a fifth year with little sign of peace on the horizon.

On February 27, Russian forces escalated their offensive by shelling outlying communities of Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia has claimed. It was “the first time that Russian forces have hit Kramatorsk or its suburbs with tube artillery,” said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.

Kramatorsk is one of four cities, along with Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, forming a “fortress belt” running from north to south, in whose defence Ukraine has heavily invested. Putin has demanded the surrender of the fortress belt as a condition for a ceasefire.

Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that he had seen leaked documents of Russian war plans, and they included seizing the unoccupied parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk in an offensive beginning this month.

Also in Putin’s war aims is the seizure of the southern port city of Odesa and swathes of Zaporizhia and Dnipro, which would place Russian troops deeper into central Ukraine.

‘We are holding our ground’

But the fight is not going well for Russia, according to Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii.

“In February 2026, for the first time since the Kursk offensive operation, the Ukrainian Defence Forces regained control over a larger territory than the enemy was able to seize,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging service. “We are holding our ground,” he said.

The Kursk offensive, masterminded by Syrskii, counter-invaded Russian territory in August 2024 and took Russia by surprise.

The ISW agreed with him, estimating Ukraine had made net gains of 257sq km (100 square miles) this year. The last time Ukrainian forces made net gains on their own territory was during a 2023 counteroffensive, said the ISW, estimating those gains at 536sq km (205 square miles).

“They cannot launch the March offensive,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “They want to attack, but they don’t have the strength to do it yet.”

Syrskii said, “The total losses of the Russian invaders over the three winter months amount to about 92,850 soldiers killed and wounded, or 1,031 people per day.”

Ukraine also scored a range of fire victories in the past week.

An estimated 200 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles struck the Russian Black Sea Port of Novorossiysk on Monday. Video showed them blowing up an oil terminal and damaging six of seven tankers moored there. They also damaged jamming and radar systems on the frigate Admiral Essen, and damaged the minesweeper Valentin Pikul and the anti-submarine warfare corvettes Yeysk and Kasimov.

On the same night, Ukraine struck the Albashneft oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai. The attack destroyed several fuel tanks and pipelines.

Two days later, Russia accused Ukraine of sinking its liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Arctic Metagaz off the coast of Libya by launching unmanned surface drones from the Libyan coast. The ship caught fire and sank along with 61,000 tonnes of LNG, 240km (150 miles) off Sirte.

Ukraine is developing an ATACMS-like missile that will let them not have to rely on foreign aid.

https://unn.ua/en/news/ukraine-is-developing-a-cheap-atacms-analogue-with-a-range-of-up-to-800-km-what-is-known-about-the-missile

Vladimir Putin 'fears coup plot' as Kremlin turns off internet in major cities. Vladimir Putin is reportedly facing a coup as 'chaos' erupts across Moscow, with internet communications blocked in the centre of the Russian capital amid an unconfirmed theory about a plot from followers of security official Sergei Shoigu

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/vladimir-putin-fears-coup-plot-36843864



It's not that he doesn't have any risk of being deposed, but what's going on behind the scenes is that Putin is suffering from the associated paranoia that comes with his Parkinson's. I just love it when evil people unravel for everyone to see. Hopefully he'll pass away soon and Ukraine will have some amount of rest.

Trump officials weigh further easing sanctions on Russian oil as prices rise

The Trump administration has discussed further easing sanctions on Russian oil as part of an urgent effort to combat rising energy prices spurred by its war with Iran, people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The potential move would aim to bolster the global supply of oil and counter the effective halt to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which has driven prices sharply higher over the past week.

President Donald Trump on Monday alluded to the possibility of loosening those sanctions, saying during a press conference that “we have sanctions on some countries” and “we are going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out.”

The Treasury Department last week granted India temporary permission to purchase Russian oil already at sea without being penalized by the US.

Trump officials have since discussed an additional easing of its sanctions, though the people familiar cautioned they have yet to make any final decision on the size and scope of any such action.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The US originally imposed the sanctions as an effort to punish Russia for its war in Ukraine. During a meeting of G7 finance ministers on Monday, European officials pressed the US not to make any moves that would allow Russia to reap a significant windfall.

“It’s important that we do not now ease the pressure on Russia and do not help Russia to fill its war chest using this situation of elevated oil and gas prices right now,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Union’s economy commissioner, said at a press conference afterward.


Trump and Putin must both pass away soon, one way or the other.

Dunno, it is hard to accuse the guy who temporarily lowers the sanctions to soften the effect on the world economy in a phase of tumult if he was the one who imposed said sanctions in the first place.
It stings but sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils.
We can start to be angry if the Hormus blockade eases down but the sanctions won't get reinstated.

It was not just the USA:

The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, G7 nations, and Australia have enforced strict sanctions on Russian oil, including a maritime import ban and a price cap mechanism, bolstered by direct sanctions on major Russian companies like Rosneft and Lukoil.

US is throwing the others under the bus just as usual.

Lesser of two evils would be to stop murdering civilians / attacking Iran and stop supporting genocide. Then the blockade will cease.

You're defending the person that has many thousands of pages of files written by Epstein and has shown a horrible level of moral character in many other instances.  Shame on you for not seeing things more broadly.  

Edit: Not just merely horrible character but downright evil and loves to have people scared of what might happen next. He's shown this over and over. 

Ukraine entering the US/Israel - Iran war...

Ukraine finds new role as protector of US, Gulf allies amid Iran war

The United States, which stopped providing military and financial assistance to Ukraine under Trump, has asked for Kyiv’s assistance in protecting its bases from Iranian retaliatory strikes in the Gulf.

Ukraine’s head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, made the request public on March 6. Two days later, President Zelenskyy said Ukraine would send military experts to the Gulf.

On March 9, Zelenskyy also dispatched chief negotiator Rustem Umerov to sell Ukrainian interceptor drones to Gulf states.

Zelenskyy said the US and more than 10 European and Middle Eastern countries had already reached out to Ukraine, “requesting our support for their defensive capabilities”.



Why is Zelensky shaking hands with Pahlavi, wtf

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meets with son of former Iranian monarch Pahlavi

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has met Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi in Paris, where they discussed the situation in Iran and the US operations against the “terrorist regime”.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said the Israel-allied Pahlavi, who is the son of Iran’s last monarch who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and his team briefed him on the “signals they are receiving from inside the country”.

“The regime’s hierarchy has indeed already suffered significant losses, and it is crucial that the Iranian regime gains nothing from this and that the people of Iran have greater protection for their lives and more opportunities to determine their own fate,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Zelenskyy had said earlier that the war in the region brings “nothing good” to Ukraine.

I met in Paris with the exiled Crown Prince of Iran, @PahlaviReza. We discussed in detail the situation in Iran and the region, as well as the U.S. operation against the terrorist regime. The Crown Prince and his team briefed me on signals they are receiving from inside the… pic.twitter.com/1W22XhbJRH

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 13, 2026

The Pahlavi regime is why we are in this mess now. 



The Pahlavi regime is the last thing Iran needs.

Ukraine is actually the one country I'm not mad at for supporting the war efforts. Iran has supported the war again Ukraine, so I'd say it's only fair for Ukraine to act against Iran as well, and if helping their allies helps Ukraine, it makes sense too. I can't say I like Ukraine getting involved, but I'm not too mad about it either. Shame about Pahlavi though, because it doesn't sound like he'd be exactly good news for Iran either.