March 20, 2025
DW’s compelling documenary ‘Inside Zaporizhzhia — a nuclear plant in the midst of war’
Donald Trump’s offer for the United States to take control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants has brought attention of one plant in particular — Zaporizhzhia.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia sits in southern Ukraine in territory that has been occupied by Russia since just after the war began three years ago.
The nuclear plant has frequently been caught in the war’s crossfire.
Damage to its infrastructure and power supply, coupled with slashed staffing, has fueled fears that Zaporizhzhia could turn into a nuclear disaster.
All the more reason to watch DW’s compelling documentary “Inside Zaporizhzhia — a nuclear plant in the midst of war” from December 2024.
In the nearly hour-long documentary, DW follows three Ukrainian power plant employees and takes a deep dive into the consequences of the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia.
Inside Zaporizhzhia — a nuclear plant in the midst of war
https://p.dw.com/p/4s1Eg
March 20, 2025
Ukraine receives new delivery of F-16 fighter jets
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had received new supplies of “several” F-16 fighter jets.
Speaking at an online press briefing late Wednesday, he declined to say exactly how many jets Ukraine had received or when exactly the delivery had happened.
Ukraine received its first American-made F-16s in August 2024 in a boost to the country’s air force which mostly relies on old Soviet-era fighters.
Those F-16s came from Denmark and the Netherlands.
Ukraine also reportedly received more F-16s in February 2025 from the Netherlands, which has promised to deliver a total of 24 jets, as well as spare engines, air-to-air missiles and other essential components.
The supply of F-16s to Ukraine is part of a broader coalition effort by NATO allies, with the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway pledging to deliver more than 60 of the aircraft.
Other European countries, including the United Kingdom and Romania, have been involved in training Ukrainian combat fighter pilots to fly the F-16s.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s1EN
March 20, 2025
Zelenskyy says speaks with France’s Macron ‘once a day’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he speaks to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron once a day.
During a press briefing following his talk with Donald Trump, Zelenskyy answered a phone call, then telling reporters that it was Macron.
“We have a conversation on average once a day. He’s helping a lot. I will call him back,” Zelenskyy said.
Macron, along with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has been leading efforts to establish a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s1E2
March 20, 2025
US could run Ukraine’s nuclear plants if helpful for ceasefire, energy secretary says
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said the United States could step in to run Ukrainian nuclear plants if that was helpful to ensure a ceasefire.
“If it was helpful to achieve that end, have the US run nuclear power plants in Ukraine. No problem, we can do that,” Wright told US broadcaster Fox News.
Asked in the Fox interview how that would work, Wright said, “We have immense technical expertise in the United States to run those plants. I don’t think that requires boots on the ground.”
US President Donald Trump suggested in a call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that the US could help run Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
Ukraine has four power plants that, which generated half of Ukraine’s pre-war electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Agency.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been shut down since Russian troops occupied it in 2022.
Zelenskyy has also said that Ukraine has begun talks with the US about restoring Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
One difficulty is the plant’s location on the Russian-occupied east bank of the Dnipro River.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s1E1
March 19, 2025
Ukrainian frontline troops suspicious of Trump and Putin’s proposals
While US President Donald Trump attempts to engage in international telephone diplomacy with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines in Donetsk are not hopeful that much will change.
Oleg, 33, doesn’t believe that there will “ever” be a ceasefire with Russia. “This country has been at war its entire existence,” he tells the French AFP news agency. “Going to war is probably in their DNA.”
For Roman, also 33 and serving since the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin is only offering to halt the targeting of energy infrastructure because it “benefits him.”
“He doesn’t want his oil refineries being bombed,” he reasons. “His tanks need gas.”
Should such a partial ceasefire come into effect — both Putin and Zelenskyy have told Trump they would maintain such a ceasefire — it will be up to soldiers like Oleksandr, who commands a drone reconnaissance unit, to observe and police it.
“We’ll be able to monitor the situation along the line of contact and observe the extent to which the conditions are being respected,” he explains. “We certainly won’t be short of work, at any rate.”
Oleksandr is also concerned that any temporary ceasefire would be advantageous to Russia since Putin is also demanding that Ukraine halt its mobilization and rearmament efforts.
“Whatever happens, we won’t remain idle with our arms crossed; we’ll learn and develop and continue defending our country,” he says. “It’s impossible to negotiate with terrorists.”
Putin’s pending ceasefire reply dampens spirits in Ukraine
https://p.dw.com/p/4s0sH
March 19, 2025
Trump suggests US control of Ukrainian power stations in ‘frank’ call with Zelenskyy
US President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States could take over the operation of Ukrainian power plants in order to guarantee their security.
Trump made the suggestion in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, telling him the US could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” according to a White House statement.
Trump added that “American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure.”
The idea of a vested American economic interest or of the presence of American civilians in Ukraine was also part of the thinking behind the proposed US-Ukraine minerals deal.
The deal was put on ice after the shouting match between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last month.
Wednesday’s approximately one-hour phone call, described in the White House statement as “fantastic,” was the first conversation between the two presidents since that meeting.
It also came just one day after Trump had held a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he claimed that Moscow had agreed to halt its bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days.
In return, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Zelenskyy had agreed to a “partial ceasefire,” which would include halting retaliatory attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure.
“One of the first steps towards fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media following the call.
“I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it.”
Zelenskyy described the call with Trump as “very substantive and frank,” saying: “We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire. Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4s0qd
March 19, 2025
EU’s Kallas to propose providing Ukraine with 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wants to provide Ukraine with 2 million rounds of large-caliber artillery ammunition worth around €5 billion ($5.43 billion), which she says are “available on the market and could be delivered in 2025.”
Kallas said on Wednesday that she intends to present the proposal to European leaders at a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, where she will “stress the importance of supporting this objective.”
The EU’s diplomatic service last week circulated a discussion paper saying the bloc should be prepared to double its military aid to Ukraine this year to €40bn, but multiple countries have expressed concerns about going so far.
Instead, in a letter seen by Reuters news agency, Kallas is pushing for her artillery ammunition plan as a first step.
The proposal comes as Kallas also presented an EU Commission white paper laying out plans to facilitate European rearmament.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s0j3
March 19, 2025
Trump says he had ‘a very good telephone call’ with Zelenskyy
US President Donald Trump said he had “a very good telephone call” with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that lasted approximately one hour.
“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” Trump wrote is a post on Truth Social.
He added that the leaders are “very much on track,” and he will ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz to provide a description of what was discussed soon.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s0S7
March 19, 2025
Waltz says US, Russian technical teams to meet in Riyadh
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said he spoke with his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, about “President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”
The advisers have agreed that their “technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia,” Waltz wrote on X.
He did not mention who was part of the delegations or whether Ukrainian officials were also invited to take part in the upcoming talks.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone Tuesday and agreed to a pause in attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia’s war on Ukraine, but Putin did not agree to Trump’s proposal for a broader 30-day ceasefire.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of air attacks
https://p.dw.com/p/4s0RH
March 19, 2025
Russia and Ukraine exchange 175 prisoners each
Russia and Ukraine have conducted a prisoner exchange, with each country handing over 175 military personnel, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The exchange was announced the day before by the Kremlin in a statement following a phone call between the Russian and US presidents.
According to the ministry, the Russian side also transferred to Ukraine “as a goodwill gesture” 22 seriously wounded prisoners of war in need of urgent medical care.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Ukraine would receive 23 seriously wounded servicemen in addition to the 175 prisoners of war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the exchange. The United Arab Emirates had mediated the deal, he wrote in a social media post.
“We are bringing back soldiers, sergeants, and officers — warriors who fought for our freedom in the ranks of the Armed Forces, the Navy, the National Guard, the Territorial Defense Forces, and the Border Guard Service,” Zelenskyy said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4s05F
March 19, 2025
Germany moves to rush aid to Ukraine after debt reform vote
Germany is set to deliver additional military supplies to Ukraine this year after the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, approved debt reform on Tuesday, paving the way for a massive increase in defense spending.
The measure must still be approved by a two-thirds majority in the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, on Friday.
According to German dpa news agency sources in the Bundestag, the influential Budget Committee will decide by Friday on a multi-billion euro increase in aid for Ukraine.
The package includes €3 billion ($3.3 billion) in aid for 2025 and a further €8.3 billion for the years 2026 to 2029.
A spokesman for Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the equipment would consist of Iris-T air defense systems, guided missiles, surveillance radars, drones, combat vehicles and light weapons.
Pistorius: ‘Putin is playing a game’
https://p.dw.com/p/4rzzB
March 19, 2025
France says Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure show gap between words and deeds
Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian territory Tuesday night, including on civilian infrastructure, show that there is a difference between what Moscow says and how it acts, the French Foreign Ministry said.
“Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian territory last night, some of which targeted civilian infrastructure, demonstrate the gap between Moscow’s words and actions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters.
“Unlike Russia, Ukraine accepted the proposal for an immediate, complete, and unconditional ceasefire put forward by the United States to Saudi Arabia,” he added.
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia fired 145 drones and six missiles during the night after President Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump to temporarily suspend attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rzuH
March 19, 2025
Russia’s enforced disappearances of Ukrainians amount to crimes against humanity — UN
Russia’s “widespread and systematic” use of enforced disappearances and torture of Ukrainians during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine amounts to crimes against humanity, a United Nations commission has found.
Large numbers of civilians were detained in areas under Russian control or deported to Russia, where some were later subjected to torture and sexual violence, according to a new report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
“Both were perpetrated as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population and pursuant to a coordinated state policy,” said the report, which was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The most brutal forms of torture were used during interrogations, which were often led by the Federal Security Service and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation,” the report added.
Russia has failed to disclose the whereabouts of missing persons, leaving Ukrainian families in agonizing uncertainty, Erik Mose, the commission’s chairman, told the UN Human Rights Council.
At least 50,000 people have been reported missing in the war between Ukraine and Russia over the last year, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in February.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rzly
March 19, 2025
Finland’s president says Russia must accept ceasefire ‘without conditions’
Russia must unconditionally accept theceasefire with Ukraine proposed by US President Donald Trump if it wants to achieve “real peace,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said.
“There are only two ways to respond to the proposal of the President of the United States: yes or no… but no conditions,” Stubb said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is visiting Finland.
“Ukraine accepted a ceasefire without any conditions,” the Finnish president added.
Stubb also emphasized that Ukraine has an undeniable right to defend itself, both independently and with the support of partners.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rzZ5
March 19, 2025
Zelenskyy says he will speak with Trump on Wednesday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump later on Wednesday to get details of his Tuesday conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Today I will have contacts with President Trump and we will discuss the next steps,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Helsinki with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb.
He added that Putin’s agreement to stop striking energy infrastructure was “very much at odds with reality” following a series of drone attacks across the country. The Ukrainian president stressed that the US should take control of monitoring a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, focusing on energy facilities.
Zelenskyy said that one of the most difficult issues in future negotiations would be the issue of territorial concessions. “For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not go for it,” he said.
He also said that Kyiv’s allies should increase their support for Ukraine, after Russian leader Vladimir Putin demanded that the West halt its military and intelligence assistance.
“I do not believe that we should make any concessions in terms of assistance for Ukraine, but rather there should be an increase in assistance for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy added.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rzKy