News
In this week’s summary:
- Russian forces have reached the “Sudzha” border crossing — only two settlements in the Kursk Region remain under Ukrainian control.
- Reports of “chaos in command” have been confirmed among Russian troops defending the Belgorod border area.
- Russian military command is attempting to link separate footholds north of Kupiansk on the right bank of the Oskil River.
- In the Pokrovsk sector, Russian forces are attacking using unusual “scooter-assault groups.”
- On the Zaporizhzhia front, Russian paratroopers are advancing toward the lateral road from Kamianske to Orikhiv.
- Vladimir Putin has announced plans to “finish off” the Armed Forces of Ukraine and has proposed introducing external governance in Kyiv.
- The number of Russian soldiers confirmed killed in the war has surpassed 100,000, according to an ongoing count by the independent exiled Russian publication Mediazona and BBC News Russian.
- France has pledged a €2 billion military aid package to Ukraine, including armored vehicles and missiles for Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets.
Situation at the front
In the Kursk Region, both Russian and Ukrainian sources (1, 2, 3, 4) reported a gradual retreat of Ukrainian forces from the remaining border territories under their control. On March 27, Russian paratroopers reached the national border, symbolically planting a flag at the “Sudzha” checkpoint. Only two settlements in the region — Oleshnya and Gornal — remain under the control of the AFU. Meanwhile, Russian offensive actions in Ukraine’s Sumy Region, particularly in the Basivka area, continue without visible success (1, 2).
Throughout the week, fighting continued in Belgorod region’s Krasnoyaruzhsky District, particularly over the border settlements of Demidovka and Popovka. On March 23, Russian war correspondent Vladimir Romanov reported that Ukrainian forces had taken control of Demidovka and posted a video showing strikes on Ukrainian troops in the village center. He later also claimed that Popovka had been seized. However, according to the authors of the Telegram channel Arkhangel Spetsnaza (lit. “Archangel of the Spetsnaz”), after a series of back-and-forth engagements, Ukrainian forces still maintained a presence in both Demidovka and Popovka, although they were unable to advance further. Meanwhile, war correspondent Andrey Filatov complained about “chaos in command” among Russian troops operating in the area.
In the Kupiansk sector, Russian forces attempted to merge existing footholds on the right bank of the Oskil River and to establish new ones. Ukrainian military analyst Kostiantyn Mashovets noted that these efforts are proving extremely difficult for Russian troops. Attacks along the offensive axis of the 1st Tank Army have also failed to achieve significant results. As a result, Mashovets argues, the current Russian plan to capture Kupiansk remains “suspended in mid-air.”
Russian troops have become more active on the Pokrovsk axis, according to statements from Ukrainian soldiers and an analysis of combat engagement statistics from the Ukrainian General Staff. Russian forces managed to restore their positions in the settlements of Udachne and Peschane and entered Uspenivka using so-called “scooter-assault groups.” At the same time, the AFU carried out successful counterattacks, liberating the western part of Solone and the southern section of Kotlyn. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to expand its network of defensive lines in the rear of the Pokrovsk front and along the Sloviansk–Kramatorsk–Kostiantynivka line.
On the Zaporizhzhia front, Russian forces succeeded in entering the settlements of Malyi Shcherbaky, Lobkove, and Shcherbaky. A mechanized column of Russian paratroopers was destroyed near Stepove. According to Kostiantyn Mashovets (1, 2), the Russian command is trying to reach the critical lateral road between Kamianske and Orikhiv via the Stepove–Shcherbaky corridor. Despite expanding the control zone by 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in depth, capturing the village of Pyatykhatky, and nearing the mentioned road, Mashovets describes the extent of the Russian advance as minimal and the losses sustained as unjustifiably high.
Following three days of negotiations in Riyadh, the U.S. and Russia reached agreements aimed at ensuring safe navigation in the Black Sea, supporting Russia’s access to global agricultural markets, and prohibiting strikes on energy infrastructure. Regarding the still-unfinalized U.S.–Ukraine “rare earths deal,” Bloomberg reports that Donald Trump’s administration is demanding that Kyiv grant the U.S. the “right of first offer” for investments in all infrastructure and natural resource extraction projects. This would give the United States unprecedented control over investment in Ukrainian roads, railways, ports, mines, oil, gas, and the extraction of critical minerals.
Vladimir Putin also announced his intentions to “finish off” the AFU and proposed introducing temporary external governance in Ukraine under the auspices of the United Nations in order to organize elections in the country.
Mutual shelling and sabotage
Throughout the past week, Ukraine’s Air Force reported (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) the downing of 519 drones — primarily Shahed-type UAVs and others of unidentified models — out of a total of 930 launched. An additional 283 drones were “radar-lost.” Ukraine also reported two launches of ballistic missiles from the Iskander-M tactical missile system, with no recorded interceptions.
Several of Russia’s strikes on civilian infrastructure led to a high number of casualties among the civilian population:
- On the evening of March 21, a missile strike on Zaporizhzhia killed an entire family: a mother, a father, and their 14-year-old daughter. Sixteen more people were injured.
- On the evening of March 22, in the Donetsk Region, Pokrovsk came under fire, resulting in three deaths (1, 2). The following day, March 23, another strike killed two more people in Pokrovsk and in the town of Donet’ske (not to be confused with the Russian-occupied regional center).
- During a nighttime raid on Kyiv on March 23, three people were killed and ten injured. Among the victims was another family: a father and his 5-year-old daughter died, while the mother was hospitalized.
- A missile strike on the city of Sumy injured 101 people, including 23 children. Residential buildings, infrastructure sites, and a school were damaged in the attack.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reported the destruction of 301 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over internationally recognized Russian territory and the occupied Crimean Peninsula. The ministry also repeatedly accused Ukraine of attacking Russian energy infrastructure in violation of an agreed moratorium (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Ukraine’s General Staff has denied all such accusations.
Mykhailo Litvin, a communications advisor to President Zelensky, accused Russia of committing at least ten violations of the “energy ceasefire” since March 18 (1, 2). President Zelensky, in turn, vowed to provide evidence of these violations to the United States.
Six people were killed in a strike on the Kreminna District of the Luhansk Region — including three employees of Russian state media outlets. In Russia’s Belgorod Region, Channel One correspondent Anna Prokofieva was killed after a vehicle she was traveling in triggered a landmine.
According to calculations by volunteers at the independent open source intelligence (OSINT) project Conflict Intelligence Team (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), at least 46 civilians were killed and 374 injured over the past week as a result of shelling on civilian infrastructure on both sides of the front.
Losses
The independent exiled Russian publication Mediazona, in partnership with BBC News Russian and a team of volunteers, updated its ongoing tally of Russian military losses in the war based on open-source information. As of March 28, 2025, the named list of confirmed Russian fatalities includes 100,001 individuals.
Independent analyst Naalsio updated the count of visually confirmed military equipment and weapons losses by both Ukrainian and Russian forces in the Kursk Region as of March 24, 2025. Total Ukrainian losses are estimated at 790 units (114 of them observed between March 17–24), while Russian losses stood at 740 units (an increase of 20 in the same period).
New footage was released showing strikes on targets in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) reported successful hits on several radar systems — Podlet, Imbir, and Kasta-2E2 — as well as damage to the tugboat Fyodor Uryupin.
According to statistics published in the Russian MoD's Military Medical Journal, more than 75% of wounds sustained during positional combat operations are caused by attacks from Ukrainian drones. The study, based on interviews with approximately 6,000 wounded service members, also revealed that the widespread use of UAVs has tripled the average evacuation time for surgical treatment — which now stands at 14.5 hours.
Weapons and military vehicles
The delivery of 49 decommissioned Australian M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine has stalled following the withdrawal of several U.S. logistical units from the Rzeszów base in Poland — the primary transit hub for military supplies to the AFU.
Several new military aid package announcements in support of Ukraine were also made over the past week:
- French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a €2 billion military aid package for Ukraine. It includes Mistral MANPADS surface-to-air missiles, MILAN anti-tank guided missiles, MICA air-to-air missiles for Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets, VAB armored personnel carriers, AMX-10RC reconnaissance vehicles, and a range of munitions, including remotely controlled types.
- The Dutch government will allocate €2 billion for military aid to Ukraine this year, advancing the funds initially planned for 2026. This is in addition to the €3.5 billion already reserved for 2025.
- The Swedish government intends to nearly double its military aid funding to Ukraine in 2025 — from 25 billion to 41.5 billion Swedish kronor (from €2.3 billion to €3.8 billion).
- The Danish government will provide €130 million in guarantees for its own companies investing in Ukraine’s defense-industrial complex, covering up to 70% of investments.
A new example of Russian frontline military improvisation surfaced on social media: a heavily modified Soviet-era GAZ-69 off-road vehicle from 1952, dubbed the “shashlyk edition” due to its anti-drone grills — a tongue-in-cheek nod to the skewered meat dish popular throughout the former Soviet Union, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ mocked the vehicle, remarking: “No more imports — only time-tested technologies: rust, wire, and belief in miracles.”