We Need Peace – Real, Fair Peace – Not Endless War; and We Need Security Guarantees – Address by the President

3 March 2025 – 22:24

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

A few key updates for today.

I held a Staff meeting where we analyzed support packages and some contracts secured over this time. There are good results on artillery contracts – Ukraine needs a solid foundation. Next – drones, an unwavering priority. Air defense – additional systems have now arrived in Ukraine from Lithuania. Thanks a lot, Mr. President. The Prime Minister of Ukraine reported today on finances for this year – we are securing all necessary funding and will get through 2025 financially. There were also some special issues concerning our national resilience on the Staff meeting agenda today – we are working on all possible scenarios to protect Ukraine. The baseline scenario is to hold positions and create conditions for proper diplomacy, for the soonest possible end to this war with a decent peace. We need peace – real, fair peace – not endless war. And we need security guarantees. It was precisely the lack of security guarantees for Ukraine 11 years ago that allowed Russia to start with the occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. Then, the absence of security guarantees allowed Russia to launch the full-scale invasion. And now, because there are still no defined security guarantees, it is Russia that is keeping this war going. The whole world sees this, the whole world acknowledges this.

Today, we continued working with our European partners on a special diplomatic and security framework that can bring peace closer. In particular, this is what we discussed in London recently and what we had spoken about with many world leaders before that. Ukraine, all of Europe, and America – together, we can ensure decades of peace. And for this, we must stay constructive – work together, complement each other’s proposals, and speed up diplomacy to end the war.

I spoke today with the leaders of the Baltic states – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. A good conversation. About the outcomes of the London summit. About opportunities and perspectives on all processes involving the United States. And about defense support that saves lives of our people. I am grateful to the Baltic states for standing so firmly with Ukraine – thank you once again for your support, friends!

Glory to Ukraine!

President Zelenskyy also sat for a press availability with British and Ukrainian journalists after the summit in London. Here is that video:

Georgia:

Day 96. So great to be confident that protests are there even when I have to miss them. #GeorgiaProtests

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM

Today is Mother’s Day in Georgia. The mothers of people arrested for participating in protests have organized a march and demanded the release of their sons.

#GeorgiaProtests
Day 96

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM

Salome Zourabichvili joined the protest march organized by the mothers.

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— Publika.ge (@publikage.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:06 PM

⭕️ Temur Katamadze, the flag bearer of #Batumi’s pro-European Protests, has been on a hunger strike for 46 days since January 17.

⭕️ Temur is facing deportation.
#GeorgiaProtests #RepressionInGeorgia #TerrorInGeorgia

bsky.app/profile/netg…

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) March 3, 2025 at 4:06 AM

🟥 On March 4, Judge Viktor Metreveli will decide whether Mzia Amaglobeli will remain in detention.

🔴 The founder and CEO of @netgazeti.org is in illegal detention since January 12.

#GeorgiaProtests #RepressionInGeorgia #TerrorinGeorgia

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) March 3, 2025 at 5:21 AM

⭕️Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have imposed additional entry bans on dozens of Georgian citizens, including judges, prosecutors, high-ranking police officials, MPs, and others.

#GeorgiaProtests
netgazeti.ge/news/766051/

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) March 3, 2025 at 7:24 AM

Estonia has imposed travel bans on individuals involved in the Mzia Amaglobeli case.

#GeorgiaProtests
#RepressionInGeorgia
netgazeti.ge/life/766051/

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) March 3, 2025 at 7:49 AM

In Russian-occupied Abkhazia, they say Russia spent millions to support its favored candidate.

In the 2nd round of the de facto presidential elections in Abkhazia, preliminary results show that the Kremlin-backed candidate, Badra Gunba, won with 56.85%.

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— Batumelebi&Netgazeti (@netgazeti.org) March 3, 2025 at 6:49 AM

This is why you don’t hold elections when Russia is illegally occupying parts of your country as it would allow Putin and Russia to determine the outcome of the election.

Germany:

⚡️US deliberately orchestrated Zelensky-Trump Oval Office clash, Friedrich Merz says.

“It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office,” Friedrich Merz, Germany’s likely next chancellor, said.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM

From The Kyiv Independent:

The American side deliberately orchestrated the confrontation during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House, Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the likely chancellor, said on March 3.

“It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelensky, but obviously a manufactured escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office,” Merz said at a press conference in Hamburg.

The visit was expected to mark the signing of a long-debated agreement between Ukraine and the U.S. on jointly developing Ukraine’s mineral resources.

The press conference between Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump turned into a heated exchange, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance berating the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky left the White House without an agreement in hand.

Merz said he was “quite surprised, including by the mutual tone of the dialogue,” adding that the incident fit a pattern in recent U.S. behavior.

“There is a certain sequence in a number of events in recent weeks and months, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference, and we are now seeing it from Washington,” he said.

At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14, Vance stunned European leaders with a speech attacking European values and calling for cooperation with far-right parties.

According to Merz, these events serve as a wake-up call for Europe’s security policy. “I am in favor of preparing for the fact that in the coming years and decades we will have to do much, much more for our own security,” he said.

Merz, whose CDU party won Germany’s recent elections, is expected to become chancellor once coalition talks conclude.

He has been a vocal critic of the outgoing government’s Ukraine policy and has condemned Trump’s shifting stance on the war.

On Feb. 21, Merz called Trump’s statements about Ukraine “shocking” and aligning with Russian narratives.

The US (and Russia):

“The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025…

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— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 5:37 PM

I think Russian intelligence services cannot believe their good fortune at everything that is happening right now. This is a bonanza across the board. The vicious attack on Ukraine, nutters at the FBI, Gabbard at DNI, shredding of CI capabilities. A monumental tragedy for the West.

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— Shashank Joshi (@shashj.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM

From The Guardian:

The Trump administration has publicly and privately signaled that it does not believe Russia represents a cyber threat against US national security or critical infrastructure, marking a radical departure from longstanding intelligence assessments.

The shift in policy could make the US vulnerable to hacking attacks by Russia, experts warned, and appeared to reflect the warming of relations between Donald Trump and Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

Two recent incidents indicate the US is no longer characterizing Russia as a cybersecurity threat.

Liesyl Franz, deputy assistant secretary for international cybersecurity at the state department, said in a speech last week before a United Nations working group on cybersecurity that the US was concerned by threats perpetrated by some states but only named China and Iran, with no mention of Russia in her remarks. Franz also did not mention the Russia-based LockBit ransomware group, which the US has previously said is the most prolific ransomware group in the world and has been called out in UN forums in the past. The treasury last year said LockBit operates on a ransomeware-as-service model, in which the group licenses its ransomware software to criminals in exchange for a portion of the paid ransoms.

In contrast to Franz’s statement, representatives for US allies in the European Union and the UK focused their remarks on the threat posed by Moscow, with the UK pointing out that Russia was using offensive and malicious cyber-attacks against Ukraine alongside its illegal invasion.

“It’s incomprehensible to give a speech about threats in cyberspace and not mention Russia and it’s delusional to think this will turn Russia and the FSB [the Russian security agency] into our friends,” said James Lewis, a veteran cyber expert formerly of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. “They hate the US and are still mad about losing the cold war. Pretending otherwise won’t change this.”

The US policy change has also been established behind closed doors.

A recent memo at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) set out new priorities for the agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and monitors cyber threats against US critical infrastructure. The new directive set out priorities that included China and protecting local systems. It did not mention Russia.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said analysts at the agency were verbally informed that they were not to follow or report on Russian threats, even though this had previously been a main focus for the agency.

The person said work that was being done on something “Russia-related” was in effect “nixed”.

“Russia and China are ourbiggest adversaries. With all the cuts being made to different agencies, a lot of cybersecurity personnel have been fired. Our systems are not going to be protected and our adversaries know this,” the person said.

The person added: “People are saying Russia is winning. Putin is on the inside now.”

The New York Times has separately reported that the Trump administration has also reassigned officials at Cisa who were focused on safeguarding elections from cyber-attacks and other attempts to disrupt voting.

Another person who previously worked on US joint task forces operating at elevated classification levels to track and combat Russian cyber threats said the development was “truly shocking”.

“There are thousands of US government employees and military working daily on the massive threat Russia poses as possibly the most significant nation state threat actor. Not to diminish the significance of China, Iran or North Korea, but Russia is at least on par with China as the most significant cyber threat,” the person said.

The person added:“There are dozens of discrete Russia state-sponsored hacker teams dedicated to either producing damage to US government, infrastructure and commercial interests or conducting information theft with a key goal of maintaining persistent access to computer systems.”

Cisa did not initially respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Hours after publication of this article, it denied the memo was “from the Trump administration”.

Great news for money launderers!

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— Eliot Higgins (@eliothiggins.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:04 AM

When you combine this with the shutting down of counter-Russian operations at CYBERCOM, CISA, other Intel agencies, and, I expect, the Combatant Commands, it leaves the US wide open. This actually makes the US weaker and more vulnerable.

They should call it the “Rubio-Lavrov pact”

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— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM

Again, if you had 144 Tubervilles you’d have gross stupidity.

This is how absolutely fucked up America is right now. Trump’s mafiosi Secretary of Commerce accuses Zelenskyy of wanting Russians off Ukraine’s land and “wanting all the land”, as if part of Ukraine already belongs to Russia.

An orchestrated pile on. Things are going from bad to worse rapidly.

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— Andy Scollick (@andyscollick.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:46 PM

Everyone in Europe, including Sir Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, should listen to Senator Andy Kim here regarding whether Trump would honour Article 5 (collective defence) of the North Atlantic Treaty.

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— Andy Scollick (@andyscollick.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:34 PM

It seems Moscow’s quite pleased with how the last few days have gone. Today’s Russian papers:
· “Russia can’t conceal its malicious pleasure…”
· “The Western system is crashing like a house of cards.”
· Kremlin “New US foreign policy configurations largely aligned with Russia’s” #ReadingRussia

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— Steve Rosenberg (@bbcstever.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 3:33 AM

Sweden:

After the news about an attempt at sabotaging water supply on the Swedish island of Gotland, now also a sabotage attack at the LKAB iron ore mine in Kiruna in Northern Sweden.

www.svd.se/a/Vz21eJ/sky…

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— Minna Ålander 🌻 (@alanderminna.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:50 AM

Water supply of strategic Baltic island Gotland was sabotaged last night.

Someone broke into the pump controls and destroyed them.

The pumps serve a large part of Gotland (pop 61k) and had it gone unnoticed could have left all island without water.

Security services are notified. Water is ok.

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— auonsson (@auonsson.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 4:58 AM

Finland:

Finnish President just told Zelensky and Trump to “go to the sauna”. He suggested they take a deep breath, have a cold bath, visit a sauna, and then return to the negotiating table.

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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) March 3, 2025 at 12:52 PM

peeps fuming over this but you don’t know the subtle cultural reference buried in it;

during cold war the Soviets made repeated attempts to subjugate Finland more including “proposals” of joint military exercises and so forth.

One tactic to stymy was to sauna them to exhaustion till they gave up.

— Aki Heikkinen (@akihheikkinen.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Of course soviets were heavy into sauna too and boozing so it took a lot of stamina and Sisu!

— Aki Heikkinen (@akihheikkinen.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 1:02 PM

trump’s gigantic, fragile ego makes him an excellent mark for such, just could not quit and take a break before the other yields first.

Zelensky could sit there for hrs melting the slob till timed exit and trumpf would sign anything to skip the 2nd sauna rnd without saying he can’t take no more.

— Aki Heikkinen (@akihheikkinen.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 1:20 PM

Denmark:

The European Commission:

European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, stated that Europe is working on concrete plans to strengthen support for Ukraine in case the U.S. administration decides not to continue its support.
youtu.be/CBBVX55m3U0?…

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 3:07 PM

Poland:

Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa and other former political prisoners criticized Washington’s expectations for gratitude from Ukraine, reminding them of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump.
www.facebook.com/lechwalesa/p…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 1:06 PM

Can’t wait for the Party of Reagan to explain how Lech Walesa is a woke commie simp.

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— Jonathan V. Last (@jvl.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM

There is no longer a Party of Reagan.

Back to Ukraine.

Zelensky looks to be considering freezing the US out of the peace process, with the EU and Turkey taking the role of mediators instead.

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 3:00 AM

Zelensky also said he is ready to meet with Trump if he invites him to a “constructive dialogue”, and he is ready to sign a minerals deal.

He added that Ukraine and Europe consider the US a strategic partner, and if the US stop helping Ukraine, they will help Russia in the war.

— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 4:02 AM

“This is essentially Russian propaganda coming from the mouth of the American president.” – said Nesty and Gas, American volunteers from the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, “Khartia,” who came to Ukraine last year to fight against the occupiers.
t.me/c/1377735387…

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 11:04 AM

Fact-checking for Trump and Vance: Journalists have counted at least 94 expressions of gratitude from Zelensky to the U.S. since the start of the full-scale war.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:58 AM

Trying to pressure Zelensky into an apology, knowing he won’t, is just an excuse for the US to shift blame for its own failure to reach a truce with Russia – something that would make Trump look weak. Do you expect Vance to ever treat Netanyahu the same way he did Zelensky?

— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:35 PM

When I see US officials gaslighting Zelensky, most Ukrainians perceive it as an attack on our Constitution, which only boosts his popularity at home. The level of disinformation from senior U.S. officials reminds me of Colin Powell’s anthrax vial demonstration at the UN

— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 11:59 AM

And to make things worse, after launching various grift cryptocurrency tokens, the US national strategy is now being sourced from TikTok and Facebook

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— Tatarigami (@tatarigami.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 11:59 AM

Read this by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk: “Russia does not care whether there is war or peace — it seeks the destruction of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It will gleefully pocket every concession from the Trump administration and then continue fighting.” on.ft.com/4bn2uSs

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— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.ft.com) March 3, 2025 at 1:23 AM

From The Financial Times: (emphasis mine)

The writer, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Peace, is a human rights lawyer, board member of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, and heads the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv

I have some idea how Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must have felt during those difficult moments in the Oval Office this past Friday, because I sometimes find myself in the absurd position of having to convince people that I, a Nobel Peace laureate, truly want peace.

Let’s be clear, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is horrible. For 11 years, I have documented the war’s cost. With the full-scale invasion three years ago, my organisation established a network of human rights defenders to record mass atrocities — from the dead on the streets in Bucha to the mass graves in Izium. Our database now underpins the prosecutor-general’s listing of more than 150,000 Russian war crimes.

I have spoken with hundreds of survivors of Russian captivity. They have recounted being beaten, raped, electrocuted and subjected to other unspeakable horrors. The suffering of Ukraine’s children is especially harrowing. Reprogramming children to reject their native language and culture is a genocidal tactic aimed at erasing a people by destroying its future. More than 20,000 children have been illegally abducted to Russia — an offence for which Vladimir Putin now faces charges at the International Criminal Court.

Two conclusions emerge. First, victims believe their tormentors commit these atrocities with impunity. Fully aware that Russian forces have meted out similar brutalities in Chechnya, Syria, Mali and elsewhere without punishment, these soldiers feel free to continue their crimes in Ukraine. Second, occupation is not peace — it is only the beginning of a new phase of suffering. In Russian-occupied territories, people live in a grey zone without the means to defend their rights, property or even their children. Under international law, occupation remains an armed conflict. Rather than alleviating the horrors, it merely renders them invisible.

Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else. But we demand real peace — a peace built on justice, freedom and sustainable security, one that assures us of our European future. We seek the freedom to live without the threat of renewed violence. This is the peace for which we have fought and suffered, died and survived.

As ceasefire negotiations continue above our heads, our greatest fear is that they will achieve nothing. Russia does not care whether there is war or peace — it seeks the destruction of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. It will gleefully pocket every concession from the Trump administration and then continue fighting. There is a long record of Russia breaching ceasefire agreements with a new aggression. But a hybrid strategy is equally likely, including mobilising proxy political forces, infiltrating institutions, fomenting social chaos and investing heavily in propaganda to sap Ukrainian resolve while Russia re-arms.

Ukrainians are very grateful to the US and all who have supported us. Yet to forge a real peace, I call on our western partners to add the human dimension to these talks. Security guarantees are essential, mineral rights and conflict lines are important, but I am shocked by how little discussion there has been about people.

More at the link.

As Ukraine steps up its mobilization efforts, attacks on personnel are becoming more frequent, driven by escalating social tensions as the war drags on. In search of the perpetrators, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) insists that Russian special services are behind the latest incidents.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 3, 2025 at 9:16 AM

From The Kyiv Independent:

Within a single week in February, several attacks against enlistment offices and personnel in Ukraine took place, resulting in injuries among both military and civilians. The most striking was the murder of an enlistment officer at a gas station in Poltava Oblast.

A man killed the officer during an attempt to kidnap his acquaintance who had recently been mobilized into the army. The soldier died immediately from the gunshot wounds. Two accomplices were detained later the same day.

“Killing military personnel in the rear is a red line that cannot be crossed,” Mykhailo Drapatyi, commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, wrote on Facebook, reacting to the recent attacks.

“We have already seen cases of humiliation and aggression against our defenders, but I have not seen a strong public reaction. Now, we have direct armed attacks. This is how the enemy works,” Drapatyi added.

As Ukraine steps up its mobilization efforts, attacks on personnel are becoming more frequent, driven by escalating social tensions as the war drags on. In search of the perpetrators, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) insists that Russian special services are behind the latest incidents.

In the meantime, criticism of the government’s mobilization policy, as well as its inability to protect service members is also mounting.

“Everything that was done regarding mobilization was done in the worst possible way,” Andrii Osadchuk, a lawmaker of the Holos faction and deputy chairman of parliament’s Law Enforcement Committee, told the Kyiv Independent.

The consequences of poorly organized mobilization efforts have been emotional and psychological, creating a fragility of social relations in Ukraine that Russia is exploiting, Osadchuk said.

Throughout the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has had to confront Russian aggression not only on the battlefield. In February alone, the SBU detained dozens of individuals who it said were recruited by Russian special services and involved in sabotage activities in Ukraine.

Among the detained were both adults and underage citizens who acted on Russia’s orders. They reported the coordinates of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, set fire to military vehicles, and organized disinformation campaigns. Two cases were also related to attacks against enlistment office staff.

The SBU and Ukraine’s National Police on Feb. 5 detained Russian agents who had detonated explosives near an enlistment office in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

On the same day, the SBU determined the circumstances of the recruitment of another agent who blew himself up in an enlistment office in the western Ukrainian city of Rivne. The explosives were detonated remotely, killing the agent and injuring six other people.

According to Serhii Andrushchenko, SBU’s deputy head, the remote detonation of self-made devices is a new tactic of the Russian special services, allowing them to get rid of the perpetrator of the crime and not pay them the promised money for carrying out an attack.

“Russian special services simply use these people for their purposes as expendable material. An FSB (Russia’s Federal Security Service) officer does not care what happens to them after the task is completed,” Andrushchenko said.

Russian special services are trying to destabilize the situation with terrorist attacks against the military to discredit enlistment offices, disrupt mobilization, and sow distrust in Ukrainian forces, Andrushchenko added.

Osadchuk echoed Andrushchenko’s stance, saying that destabilization inside Ukraine is “an absolute priority” for Russia. The expert stressed that Russian special services have been operating similarly for decades in Ukraine but have been particularly active over the past two and a half years of the full-scale invasion.

Russia’s efforts to destabilize the situation in Ukraine are made easier due to the fact that people are “exhausted, traumatized, and tense,” Osadchuk said. The societal conditions are ripe for these types of crimes, he said.

Much more at the link.

Demanding Zelenskyy to apologize on camera to Trump and Vance, while simultaneously demanding he negotiates a ‘peace deal’ with russia—who invaded our country to kill, destroy entire towns, kidnap children, loot, and rape—is probably the most striking cognitive dissonance I’ve seen.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 12:17 PM

Peace through betrayal

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:10 PM

History will not forget

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM

Kharkiv:

Russia drones in Kharkiv skies and sounds of air defense in the city‼️

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:36 PM

Yesterday’s russian attack in Kharkiv injured 8 people and heavily damaged a five-story building.

Emergency responders quickly dismantled unstable structures to minimize further risk.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 11:27 AM

The Russians also hit an animal preserve in last night’s attack. I’m not including any skeets regarding this because you don’t need to see a bunch of blown up deer and goats.

Odesa:

Odesa right now! Russia struck the city’s energy infrastructure with drones, injuring at least four people.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM

From The Kyiv Independent:

A Russian drone attack targeted energy infrastructure in southern city of Odesaovernight on March 4, causing power outages across the city and disrupting heating systems, according to local authorities.

At least four people were injured in the attack, according to State Emergency Service.

Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that a strike has damaged energy infrastructure, and confirmed that parts of the city were experiencing power cuts.

Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov reported that the attack had knocked out three boiler plants, forcing officials to urgently search for alternative power sources to restore heating to residents.

Odesa, a port city on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast with a population of around 1 million, has been a frequent target of Russian attacks throughout the full-scale war.

On March 1, a Russian ballistic missile struck the Odesa port, damaging its infrastructure as well as a foreign civilian ship flying the flag of Panama. Two port employees were injured as a results of the attack.

Sumy Oblast:

⚡️ Russia trying to break through border in Sumy Oblast, cut off Ukraine’s Kursk logistics routes, Border Guard says.

Russia is attempting to enter Ukrainian territory with assault groups in the direction of the village of Novenke.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 3, 2025 at 9:25 AM

The Kyiv Independent has the details:

The Russian army is trying to break through the Russia-Ukraine border in Sumy Oblast and cut Ukrainian forces off from its logistics routes, State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on March 3 on national television.

Demchenko’s statement comes after Russian forces attempted to cross the Russia-Ukraine border in Sumy Oblast near the village of Novenke but were repelled the previous week.

Northeastern Sumy Oblast borders Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion last summer to draw away Moscow’s troops from Donbas and disrupt Russian plans for an offensive from the north.

Demchenko said Russia is attempting to enter Ukrainian territory with assault groups in the direction of the village of Novenke that lies just across the border, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the regional center, Sumy.

The Ukrainian army is making every effort to prevent Russian units from gaining a foothold on Ukrainian territory, Demchenko said, adding that Russian troops mainly use “large numbers of equipment and personnel” in Kursk Oblast to achieve a breakthrough.

“These are not mass assaults. When the enemy tries to drive the Ukrainian Defense Forces out of Kursk Oblast, firstly, it puts pressure on our units within Kursk Oblast,” Demchenko said.

“And then, it (Russia) is trying to expand the area of active combat activities, trying to enter the territory of Ukraine. However, all elements of the Defense Forces are operating in that area to prevent this. All available weapons are being used,” he added.

Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024. After six months of fighting in the region, Russian troops have regained control of about 64% of the territory in the region, the Russian military claimed.

Russian casualties have reached nearly 40,000 in Kursk Oblast, including over 16,000 killed, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Feb. 6. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said last November that the incursion thwarted Russia’s plans to invade Sumy Oblast in an attempt to create a “buffer zone” in the region.

The Kursk cross border offensive:

47th Brigade repels Russian attack on the Kursk front: 3 T-80BVM obr.2022; BMP-3 and BTR-82 were destroyed t.me/brygada47/1291

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 7:05 AM

Kherson:

Right after this, a Russian tank across the river guided by a drone fired again, trying to kill us and the firefighters responding.

Listen to the sound—it’s what Ukrainians live through daily. Russia could choose to stop doing this.

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— Nate Mook (@natemook.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 1:35 PM

Syrzan, Samara Oblast, Russia:

Russian oil refinery in Syzran was targeted by drones. This is second Russian oil refinery which was hit tonight. 800km from the frontline.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:11 PM

Novoshakhtinsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia:

Russian Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery on fire after a drone attack. Previous attack on this oil refinery was on the mid December 2024.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM

Tver Oblast, Russia:

Partisans in Tver burned down a command post with a target illumination radar and missile guidance system of the S-300 air defense complex.

The cost of the destroyed scrap metal was approximately $160 million.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:22 AM

That enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.

The infantrymen, during the clearing operation, threw two beehives into the basement with the Russians when they ran out of grenades.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:41 AM

Open thread!