Watch: Trump defense official tells MAGA senator that ‘Canada needs to step up’ militarily on Russia threatTrump defense official tells MAGA senator that ‘Canada needs to step up’ militarily on Russia threat
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 12:00
In pictures: Passenger train hit by Russian drone strike in Mykolaiv
(Emergency Service of Ukraine)
(Emergency Service of Ukraine)
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 11:30
Russian drone hits empty passenger train in Ukraine’s south, deputy PM says
A Russian drone hit an empty passenger train in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region early on Wednesday, injuring a railway worker, deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
He added that there was also an attempted Russian drone attack on a train operating between the eastern-central city of Dnipro and Kovel in the northwest late on Tuesday, but it was stopped by railway workers and the drone hit a few metres away from the locomotive.
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrainian national railways, said that Russia had intensified drone attacks on railway infrastructure, and that rolling stock was among the main targets.
It reported that 18 strikes had been recorded since the start of March, damaging 41 facilities. Locomotives, freight cars and specialised equipment used to repair infrastructure have also been targeted, the operator said, and railway depots and bridges had also come under attack this month. A Russian drone attack on a commuter train in Dnipropetrovsk region killed one person and wounded even more people on Monday.
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 11:00
Four experts on the future of the Ukraine-Russia war
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 10:30
Ukraine receives $1.5bn under new IMF deal
Ukraine has received $1.5 billion under the first tranche under the new 4-year IMF EFF program. The funds will be directed to finance priority expenditures.
“We continue implementing agreed reforms to strengthen resilience, governance, and recovery,” said Sergii Marchenko the minister of finance.
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 10:00
Russia accuse Ukraine of attacking Arctic Metagaz tanker in Meditteranean
Russia’s transport ministry said on Wednesday that Ukrainian naval drones were responsible for an attack on a Russian ship carrying gas – Arctic Metagaz – which caught fire in the Mediterranean a day earlier.
The ministry said the attack was “an act of international terrorism” and that all 30 crew members, who were Russian nationals, were safe. The Security Service of Ukraine did not respond to a request.
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 09:30
Trump’s Iran attack rattles Russian hardliners who call for Putin to double down on war in Ukraine
When president Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, some Russian hardliners were cautiously optimistic, hoping his unpredictability and transactional nature might benefit Moscow on Ukraine.
But his attack on Iran means many now see him as a growing threat to Russia itself and are questioning if Trump is the pragmatic, potentially pro-Moscow strongman ready to deal in realpolitik that they thought he was.
Some hawks are publicly demanding that Moscow abandon US-brokered peace talks with Ukraine and double down on fighting there instead, arguing that the US-Iran nuclear talks which preceded the US-Israeli air war were a cynical ploy which showed Washington cannot be trusted.
“The unprincipled United States is a threat to the entire world,” said nationalist tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, who is married to a top Kremlin official. “This is the United States we are trying to negotiate with regarding Ukraine. Yes, it wants a weak Europe. But it also wants a weak Russia.”
Boris Rozhin, an influential war blogger who goes by the moniker, “Colonel Cassad” and has nearly 800,000 followers on the Telegram app, said Trump was a monster, driven mad by impunity.
“To seriously count on any agreements or deals with it (the monster) is either foolishness or treason,” opined Rozhin.
Bryony Gooch4 March 2026 09:00
Russia’s budget deficit much bigger than official figures, German intelligence claims
Russia’s true federal budget deficit in 2025 exceeded 2.36 trillion roubles (£24bn), far above official figures, as Moscow sought to hide the real costs of its war in Ukraine, Germany’s BND intelligence service claimed today.
In a LinkedIn post, the agency said Western sanctions were having a “clear effect” and that concealing economic damage made Russia an “incalculable risk” for investment.
“Putin is sacrificing Russia’s economic future for his imperial goals,” the intelligence service said.
Stuti Mishra4 March 2026 08:23
Druzhba oil pipeline damaged by fire after Russian strike, minister says
The Ukrainian branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, was severely damaged by fire after a Russian attack, Ukraine’s energy minister Denys Shmyhal told Interfax Ukraine on Tuesday.
“Most of the internal equipment of the oil pipeline, various sensors and other equipment inside the oil pipeline were damaged by temperature conditions,” Shmyhal was quoted as saying.
Oil shipments through the pipeline primarily operated by Russia have been suspended since January 27 after what Kyiv says was a Russian attack on pumping installations in western Ukraine, prompting a dispute within the European Union and efforts by Hungary to block new sanctions on Russia. Hungary, in addition, has accused Ukraine of meddling in its April elections and has blocked a 90 billion euro EU loan to Kyiv.
Stuti Mishra4 March 2026 07:30
Russia halts construction work at Bushehr nuclear plant due to strikes on Iran
Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, has halted construction work at new units of Iran’s nuclear power plant in the port city of Bushehr because of the U.S.-Israeli air assault on Iran, its chief Alexei Likhachev said on Tuesday.
Likhachev had earlier warned of the threat posed by strikes near Iranian nuclear facilities, and said explosions could be heard “just kilometres away” from the plant, although the facility itself was not being targeted.
Stuti Mishra4 March 2026 07:00