UK and Ukraine to work towards drone-production partnership
UK and Ukraine could be moving toward a new drone‑production partnership after Kyiv’s offer to help the United States and its Gulf allies counter Iranian drones was rejected by Donald Trump. Ukraine has become a major producer of advanced, battle‑tested drone‑interceptor technology, and British officials have said Russia and Iran are now sharing drone tactics in the Middle East.
Experts from the UK and Ukraine have already been deployed to the region to help neighbouring states defend against Iranian drone attacks. In London, Starmer’s office said the two countries will sign an agreement combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.” Britain is also funding an “AI Center of Excellence” with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, AP reported.
Announcing his arrival in London, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his priorities were “more security and opportunities for Ukraine.” Starmer said “drones, electronic warfare and rapid battlefield innovation are now central to national and economic security, and that has only been further magnified by the conflict in the Middle East.”
Harry Cockburn17 March 2026 14:50
Iran conflict draining U.S. air-defence missiles Kyiv relies on
Ukraine stands to be “the ultimate loser” from the war with Iran, according to Ed Arnold, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He told AP the conflict is draining U.S. air‑defence missile stockpiles that Kyiv relies on to intercept Russian attacks, while also pulling Washington’s attention away from negotiations on ending the Russia‑Ukraine war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian teams recently travelled to Gulf states to discuss shared security interests. Securing advanced air‑defence systems from those countries will be crucial, said François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, who argued that Ukraine could offer its anti‑drone expertise and technology in return.
Harry Cockburn17 March 2026 14:24
EU offers to fund Ukraine pipeline repairs to break Hungary deadlock
EU leaders have offered to fund repairs to a damaged pipeline carrying Russian crude to Hungary, hoping to persuade Budapest to drop its veto on a major aid package for Ukraine, AP reports.
Oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia stopped in January after the Druzhba pipeline was damaged on Ukrainian territory, which Kyiv said was caused by Russian drone strikes.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accused President Zelenskyy of deliberately blocking supplies — which Zelenskyy denies — and has responded by vetoing a €90bn EU loan for Ukraine and holding up new sanctions on Russia.
The EU said it “has offered Ukraine technical support and funding” to fix the pipeline. “The Ukrainians have welcomed and accepted this offer. European experts are available immediately,” European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Zelenskyy opposes allowing Russian energy to transit through Ukraine but said the country is “undertaking all possible efforts to repair the damage and restore operations.”
Harry Cockburn17 March 2026 13:44
Trump’s attacks on Starmer “unseemly” amid wars in Iran and Ukraine, says Badenoch
Donald Trump’s attack on the Prime Minister after asking the UK to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz was “childish”, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said.
She told PA: “I’m Keir Starmer’s biggest critic. He’s done a lot of things wrong, but I think the words that were coming out of the White House were wrong.
“It’s very childish, this war of words and these spats. They might think that they’re entertaining, but I think the western alliance being involved in a public spat at a time when there’s war in Ukraine, (Volodymyr) Zelensky in the country, there’s a war in Iran.
“It’s just unseemly. I think people need to grow up.”
Harry Cockburn17 March 2026 13:02
Zelensky arrives in UK for talks with Rutte and Starmer
Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in the UK for talks with Nato chief Mark Rutte and PM Sir Keir Starmer.
The Ukrainian leader wrote: “In London today. The agenda includes an audience with His Majesty King Charles III, meetings with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as an address to the British Parliament.
“Our priorities are clear – more security and opportunities for Ukraine. I thank the United Kingdom for its support and partnership in protecting lives.”
(Ukrainian president’s office)
Daniel Keane17 March 2026 12:11
Adrift Russian tanker is ‘imminent and serious’ threat, say Mediterranean states
Italy, France and seven other nations told the European Commission that a Russian liquefied natural gas tanker currently adrift in the Mediterranean represents an ecological threat, and they urged swift action on the issue, a letter showed on Monday.
“The precarious condition of the vessel, combined with the nature of its specialised cargo, gives rise to an imminent and serious risk of a major ecological disaster in the heart of the Union’s maritime space,” the letter seen by Reuters said.
Russia’s transport ministry said the Arctic Metagaz, carrying LNG from the Arctic port of Murmansk, was attacked earlier this month by Ukrainian naval drones launched from the Libyan coast. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for any such attack.
Arpan Rai17 March 2026 12:00
Pollution from Russian strike on Ukraine hydro plant cuts water to Moldovan city
A Russian attack on a hydroelectric plant in southern Ukraine triggered an oil spill and polluted water systems in neighbouring Moldova yesterday, with supplies cut completely in the country’s second-largest city, officials said.
President Maia Sandu, who wants to bring Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, into the European Union by the end of the decade, said she held Russia responsible for the pollution in the Dniestr River.
Moldova’s environment ministry said the spill prompted the cutoff in Balti, a city of 90,000, and in three other towns and would remain in effect for at least a further 12 hours into Tuesday.
Schools were ordered closed and students told to work online.
Moldova declared a 15-day environmental alert on Sunday as the extent of the pollution became apparent.
“We declared environmental alert and are acting to protect our people,” Sandu said in a statement on social media, referring to the 7 March attack on the Novodnistrovsk hydro station. “Russia bears full responsibility.”
Arpan Rai17 March 2026 11:30
Sean Penn skips Oscar ceremony and takes train to Ukraine
At the 2026 Oscars ceremony, actor Sean Penn joined a small coterie of male performers who have three Academy Awards to their name.
But the 65-year-old, who was named Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant portrayal of a racist military officer in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, wasn’t among the stars gathered at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on Sunday night.
“Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf,” Succession star – and last year’s Best Supporting Actor winner – Kieran Culkin quipped after opening the golden envelope.
So where was Penn on one of the biggest nights of his acting career? According to a report from the New York Times, the actor, who previously earned Oscars for Mystic River in 2004 and for Milk in 2009, chose to skip the ceremony in order to head to Europe.
His plan “as of late last week”, anonymous sources told the paper, was to visit Ukraine, although they “did not specify what he would be doing there or where precisely within the country he would be going”. On Monday, an AFP reporter spotted Penn leaving a car in Kyiv, and he has since been photographed in a meeting with president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Swapping a glitzy Hollywood party to spend time in a country torn apart by war – it’s not exactly your usual A-list behaviour, but it is certainly quite typical of the unusual turn that Penn’s life and work has taken in recent years.
Hollywood actor Sean Penn walks down a street in Kyiv on 16 March 2026 (AFP/Getty)
Arpan Rai17 March 2026 11:00
Russian air defences down 206 Ukrainian drones overnight
Russian air defence units have downed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 43 over Moscow region, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.
Arpan Rai17 March 2026 10:45
Putin’s forces offensive disrupted by Ukraine, says Zelensky
Russian assaults on the war battlefield have had become less intense, Volodymyr Zelensky said after his meeting with Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“Ukraine’s defence forces have disrupted Russia’s strategic offensive operation that the enemy had planned for March,” he said.
“Although attacks are constant and assaults continue, their intensity and the scale of the confrontation are not what Russia had planned and what its command promised to Russia’s political leadership,” he said.
Zelensky and Syrskyi have pointed in recent weeks to successes in Zaporizhzhia region, recapturing about 400sq km (154 sq miles) of territory and retaking eight settlements.
Russia’s top military offices have repeatedly said their forces have been making constant gains all along the front line.
The Ukrainian DeepState military blog, which relies on open sources to determine the position of both sides, said Russian forces were attempting a breakthrough in Kostiantynivka and had made some gains around Sloviansk.
(Sputnik)
Arpan Rai17 March 2026 10:30