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 launched a “massive missile and drone” attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, a Ukrainian minister said, after Washington said talks with Kyiv were back on track to secure a truce in the three-year conflict. The attack damaged natural gas production facilities of Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas firm Naftogaz, the company said in a statement.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Russian forces struck a civilian enterprise and injured at least five people, according to its governor Oleh Syniehubov.
In the northern region of Chernihiv, an attack damaged one of the production facilities, according to its governor Viacheslav Chaus who did not provide additional details.
The governor of the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said the air defence repelled an attack on infrastructure facilities. She reported no casualties.
Ukraine said that Russia had launched at least 58 missiles and 194 drones in an overnight barrage targeting energy facilities across the country.
The air force said it had downed 34 of the missiles and 100 drones, adding that it had deployed French Mirage fighters jets for the first time to repel the Russian barrage.
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.
The death toll from Moscow’s air strike on a hotel the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih has increased to six, according to Ukrainian officials said.
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
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for a mutual halt to aerial attacks on critical infrastructure, after Russia launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Alexander Darchiev as ambassador to the US 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.
