From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / March 31, 2025
As the US President Threatens Russia with Oil Sanctions, Putin Pushes for UN Control of Ukraine While Drones Target a Military Hospital in Kharkiv
Summary of the Day — March 30, 2025
The diplomatic chess match between Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv reached a critical inflection point today as President Donald Trump declared himself “angry and pissed off” at Vladimir Putin’s questioning of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy, threatening to impose crippling secondary sanctions on Russian oil exports if Moscow fails to make progress toward a general ceasefire. Meanwhile, Russia continues its systematic attacks on Ukraine, with drones striking a military hospital in Kharkiv overnight, killing two civilians and injuring 25 others. The Kremlin’s push for regime change in Ukraine became more explicit as a senior Russian diplomat detailed plans for a “temporary international administration” in Ukraine under UN auspices—a proposal swiftly rejected by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Amid these tensions, Ukraine announced the formation of a Space Policy Department aimed at developing satellite capabilities to strengthen its defense systems, while Russian forces made marginal advances near Toretsk and Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast.
Doctors at a Kharkiv military hospital operate on a patient in an operating room damaged by a Russian drone attack. (Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region / Facebook)
Trump’s Oil Ultimatum: Secondary Sanctions Loom if Russia Blocks Peace Deal
In an unexpected escalation of diplomatic pressure, President Donald Trump threatened to impose secondary sanctions targeting Russian oil if Vladimir Putin fails to make progress toward a general ceasefire, including an end to land warfare. During a March 30 phone call with NBC News, Trump expressed that he is “angry and pissed off” at Putin for disparaging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy.
Voice of Ukraine 