From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / March 16, 2025
As Russian forces press forward in Kursk Oblast while Ukraine establishes a new peace delegation, both sides are positioning for a high-stakes negotiation amid continuing battlefield violence
Summary of the Day – March 15, 2025
The brutal chess match of the Ukraine-Russia war entered a new phase today, with multiple forces converging around a potential, yet still elusive, ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unsubstantiated claims of encircling Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast were categorically denied by both Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers alike, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky named a powerful new negotiating team amid intensifying Russian attacks in northeastern Ukraine. The shadow of peace talks looms large, yet violence continues uninterrupted, with a punishing overnight drone barrage striking fourteen Ukrainian regions and new Russian ground operations threatening Sumy Oblast as world leaders attempt to build a coalition strong enough to enforce any future agreement.
Both diplomatic and military momentum have accelerated dramatically, with a 25-nation “coalition of the willing” moving into what UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer termed an “operational phase” to develop security guarantees for Ukraine. Simultaneously, Russian forces have intensified artillery, and drone strikes against Ukrainian civilians in Nikopol, killing one woman and injuring two children, continuing a pattern of targeting non-military targets even as peace proposals circulate….
Voice of Ukraine 