From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / March 27, 2025
As Russia and Ukraine Sign Energy and Black Sea Agreements, 117 Drones Rain Down On Ukrainian Cities While Nuclear Plant Control Remains a Flashpoint
Summary of the Day — March 26, 2025
The elusive promise of a ceasefire crystallized and then immediately fractured across the Ukrainian battlespace as dueling agreements to halt strikes on energy infrastructure and military operations in the Black Sea were met with 117 Russian drones darkening Ukraine’s skies overnight. Despite days of intensive negotiations in Saudi Arabia, Moscow’s conditions for implementing the limited ceasefires—including the lifting of Western sanctions—revealed the wide chasm that still separates the warring parties. Meanwhile, the Kremlin categorically rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for American involvement in operating the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, while French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new €2 billion military aid package for Ukraine during Zelensky’s visit to Paris ahead of a crucial “coalition of the willing” security summit.
A Ceasefire in Name Only: Russia Launches Massive Drone Attack Hours After Agreement
The ink had barely dried on agreements to halt strikes against energy infrastructure when 117 Russian drones carved through Ukrainian airspace overnight on March 26, a stark contradiction to Moscow’s professed desire for peace. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 56 of the unmanned aerial vehicles—the majority of them Iranian-designed Shaheds—while another 48 disappeared from radar, likely serving as decoys to overwhelm defense systems.
Voice of Ukraine 