Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 03-30-2025

Like in the Oscar Wilde’s classic novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” a portrait may reveal more of the subject’s deepest soul than initially anticipated.

“And every time Donald Trump takes a new public stance, the face on the portrait gifted by Putin becomes even more grotesque.”

Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, told Tucker Carlson in an interview published on March 21 that Vladimir Putin prayed for Trump on the day of the assassination attempt, alongside a priest. Putin also sent Trump a gift via Witkoff – a portrait.

The New York Times published a detailed story revealing that the US was more deeply involved in Ukraine’s war effort than previously known.

The United States was angry when Ukrainian forces sank the Russian warship Moskva in April 2022 because “the Ukrainians hadn’t given so much as a heads-up,” according to a report by The New York Times.

The newspaper published a detailed story revealing that the US was more deeply involved in Ukraine’s war effort than previously known. According to the report, American military officials worked closely with Ukraine from a command center in Wiesbaden, Germany.

As ceasefire talks gain momentum, Ukraine must play a difficult hand as best it can. To do so, Kyiv should pay attention to historical precedents that entailed similar circumstances.

In light of continuing US-backed Russia-Ukraine peace talks, it is worth studying history to consider a potential range of the long-term outcomes for the War in Ukraine.

A South Korea-North Korea type armistice, which followed the 1950-1953 war and has thus far lasted 72 years, is one of the most discussed options. Unlike peace, an armistice does not involve any territorial concessions de jure, and only means succession of hostilities. 

Seizing land in the Dnipropetrovsk region would be seen as a major propaganda victory for Russia, though military analysts have said such a crossing would have little strategic value.

Russian forces have captured a village just seven kilometres (four miles) from the border of Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region in their latest battlefield advance, Moscow said Sunday.

The Kremlin’s troops have not crossed the boundary of the region since their offensive began three years ago, but they have been grinding towards it for months in the hope of a breakthrough.

Russia’s constant bombardment of civilian targets in Ukraine reveals the hollowness of peace talks as it runs rings around the US and gears up for a fresh meat-grinding offensive.

Russian-US dialogue in Riyadh has stumbled to a close – a diplomatic dance that promised much but has delivered little beyond vague assurances and a masterclass in Kremlin foot-dragging.

After marathon sessions stretching over 12 hours earlier this week, both sides issued statements hinting at progress – a 30-day ceasefire on energy strikes and a Black Sea shipping deal.  After that, static, then silence. There was no deal, and there has been no suspension of hostilities.

Whilst the two countries are in many ways different, the political tide in the US today is churning up some stark similarities to that in Ukraine 15 years ago.

In many ways, the US and Ukraine couldn’t be more different: while the US is a relatively old and federal democracy with a large population and economy, Ukraine is a young unitary democracy whose population and economy are only a fraction of that of the US. The Ukrainian party system is extremely unstable while the US equivalent consists of two major parties which have dominated politics for more than 150 years. Many other distinctions could be listed.

Notwithstanding these differences, the US of 2025, under newly elected President Donald Trump, and Ukraine in 2010, under then newly elected President Viktor Yanukovych, bear similarities in several striking ways. Nine years ago, US and Ukrainian politics became strangely linked through the notorious political figure of Paul Manafort. 

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• The Russian state is likely confronting an increasingly significant shortage of police. In March 2025 Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev reportedly stated there to be 172,000 vacancies in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an increase of 33,000 in the last year. Some Russian civilians have been reported as forming armed self-defence units as a result.
• Decreased police sign-up and retention rates have likely been caused by a combination of: the relatively low salaries on offer; higher salaries and notable sign-up bonuses in the military and related industries; and concerns that joining the police may result in being sent to Ukraine, where Russia has likely sustained more than 900,000 casualties.
• The Russian senior leadership highly likely considers the issue to be a matter of concern, with rising violent crime rates expected to increase further with the return of Russian military personnel, widely accused of atrocities, from the war against Ukraine. The leadership will highly likely continue prioritising funding and resource for the war against Ukraine over the police in the short-medium term.

Polish officials told that “a large portion” of a rising number of asylum applicants came from men afraid of being called-up to fight in the war.

Hundreds of Ukrainians seeking to avoid conscription to the war-torn country’s armed forces have applied for asylum in Poland, according to a media report.

Polish officials told the Wirtualna Polska (WP) news website that “a large portion” of a rising number of asylum applicants came from men afraid of being called-up to fight in the war.  

Kyiv is concerned that the deal could undermine its efforts to join the European Union and might require it to repay all US military and economic aid provided since the start of the war.

Ukraine plans to request changes to a new draft agreement with the United States on mineral resources, particularly asking for more American investments, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

A draft of the agreement, reviewed by Bloomberg News, would give the United States control over all major infrastructure and mineral investments in Ukraine, with no set expiration date.

A new generation of social-media-savvy artists has been drawing the world’s attention to Ukraine’s plight – caught between destruction and defiance, uprootedness and nostalgia.

Olena Tolstokora, or as many of her online followers would know her as, @bravebirdie, is a Ukrainian artist currently living and working in Vancouver. Sharing her work online first in 2021, Tolstokora has amassed over 40,000 followers across Instagram and Tiktok, and has shown in galleries across Europe, Japan and Canada. Her simplistic cartoon renderings touch on ideas of nostalgia, trauma and trends of “hopecore” – an internet aesthetic based on the hope for humanity.

Tolstokora grew up in Kharkiv and later settled in Canada, where childhood memories continued to shape her work. Her father was a radio show host on Utrechko; her mother an actress at the Shevchenko Drama Theater and later cultural journalist. Tolstokora comments that because of her parents, “I met so many incredible people – Ukrainian artists, poets, musicians, performers, and writers. Those experiences greatly impacted me, expanding my perspective and immersing me in the creative world from a young age.”

Ukrainian military commanders said Russia has recently intensified attacks to improve its tactical positions ahead of the expected offensive.

Russian forces are preparing a new offensive in the coming weeks to increase pressure on Ukraine and strengthen Moscow’s position in ceasefire talks, Ukrainian officials and military analysts say.

They believe Moscow is planning a large-scale attack along the front line as spring begins. During a visit to Paris, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said intelligence reports suggest Russia is preparing offensives in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions in the northeast.

The Trump administration has backed down for now, but the future of the US-backed broadcaster remains uncertain.

The Trump administration said it would restore funds for Radio Free Europe amid a court battle over drastic funding cuts. But that might not be the end of the story.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the storied US-backed broadcaster best known for transmitting news across the Iron Curtain, faced a dire future after the Trump administration abruptly pulled the plug on its funding earlier this month.

The children are aged between 11 and 16 years old and were returned from Russian-occupied of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Five children have been reunited with their families and returned from Russian occupied Ukrainian territories thanks to Qatari mediation, the head of the Ukrainian President’s office said on Saturday.

The children are aged between 11 and 16 years old and were returned from Russian-occupied of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said.

Turkey is using tablet-based software to allow its F-16s to integrate with locally produced weapons similar to the workaround Ukraine uses to control Western weapons from its Soviet-era aircraft.

The military issues website The War Zone (TWZ) reported that the Turkish Air Force is using tablet-based systems inside its F-16 fighter aircraft to operate domestically developed air-to-ground weapons.

The tablet uses specifically developed software known as UBAS, a Turkish acronym that translates as the “Aircraft Independent Firing System.” UBAS enables an independent interface between the aircraft and newly developed weapons without the need to access to the Operational Flight Program (OFP) source codes of the US-made F-16s.

Ukraine’s well-established technological prowess is being put to use to ensure the country’s survival. After the war, Europe will have a new Silicon Valley.

From the Cossack warriors of the 16th century to the poets of the 19th, Ukraine’s history has been shaped by ordinary people defending their homeland. Today, that fight continues – not just on the battlefield, but in the digital and technological domain, where Ukrainian engineers, developers, and volunteers are proving that innovation is as critical to Ukraine’s survival as firepower.

Russia’s 2014 invasion first galvanized Ukrainian civil society and the diaspora. The full-scale assault in 2022 transformed that urgency into a global movement. Across the world, Ukrainians sought ways to help. For those with technical expertise, that meant applying their skills to strengthen Ukraine’s war effort, from developing battlefield technology to mobilizing funding and advocacy.

Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the concept of a Black Sea truce following talks with US officials earlier this week, but Russia said it would not enter into force until the West lifted certain sanction.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia’s response to US ceasefire efforts had been inadequate “for too long”, and that Moscow needed to be pressured into a peace deal.

Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the concept of a Black Sea truce following talks with US officials earlier this week, but Russia said it would not enter into force until the West lifted certain sanctions.

The attack wounded patients receiving treatment at the hospital and killed at least two people in a nearby residential building, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine has accused Russia of committing a war crime after a military hospital was hit in a deadly attack on Kharkiv over the weekend.

Officials said six strikes hit the northeastern city from late Saturday into early Sunday, March 30. The attack wounded patients receiving treatment at the hospital and killed at least two people in a nearby residential building, according to Ukrainian authorities.