To start the week off, President Zelenskyy traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, March 10, 2025. Zelenskyy departed after the talks, leaving a high-level Ukrainian delegation (including his chief of staff and defense minister) to meet U.S. officials the next day on Tuesday. With US Aid and Intelligence still being halted by the Trump administration, Russia intensified its offensive around the Kursk region – Ukraine’s forces, who had seized a foothold there last year, came under mounting pressure from a Russian counterattack.
On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, we would finally get to see the Ukrainian delegation meeting with US representatives since the horrid meeting that took place in the Oval Office the previous week. This meeting again showed Ukraine’s desire for peace as they agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, pushing the ball of peace talks over into the Kremlin’s court. This move paid off: the United States, recognizing Ukraine’s resolve, restored paused military aid and intelligence sharing almost immediately. Rubio is quoted as saying “If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.” driving home again the onus is on the Kremlin. Of course it’s yet to be seen if the Trump admin is willing to hold Putin accountable to preventing peace.
By Wednesday, Putin finally resurfaced, staging a PR visit to the Kursk region right after Russian forces retook the largest town that Ukrainian troops had managed to capture there. The Kremlin was quick to spin this as a major victory, with Putin’s appearance clearly choreographed to boost morale and project strength—despite the very real setbacks Russia has faced elsewhere. Another article that caught my attention was concerning Lt. Gen. Keith Kellog, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, one who Trump bragged about being key in the “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” plan. Kellog seems to have been sidelined at the behest of the Kremlin for being “too close to Ukraine” according to a senior Russian official. Again I find myself wondering exactly why we continue to allow our adversaries to dictate the terms of this war, but this is the Trump admin so we shouldn’t be shocked.
A Ukrainian Neptune missile system. © Ukrainian Defence
Industry
Thursday, the dream of a quick peace or at least ceasefire came to an end, with Putin formally rejecting the 30-day ceasefire proposal, insisting that fighting would continue until Russia’s “crucial conditions” were met. He insisted that fighting would continue until Russia’s “crucial conditions” were met, which, predictably, mirrored the Kremlin’s usual demands—from forcing Ukraine to renounce its NATO ambitions to recognizing territory Russia has seized as its own. Of course our “strong” Trump admin was again silent, regardless of Rubio’s strong words on Tuesday, the Trump admin gave no public pushback. Rubio, even when speaking at a G7 summit, noted that the peace process was “some steps closer” despite the setback.
On Friday, we got a very, VERY small glimpse into Trump’s envoy’s visit to Moscow the previous day. The only real details shared were that “additional information was provided to the Russian side” and that “Putin passed on information and additional signals to President Trump” through Witkoff. More signs that Russia and the U.S. seem to be coordinating behind closed doors.
Later that day, Trump took to Truth Social to amplify a Kremlin talking point, claiming “thousands of encircled Ukrainian troops” in the Kursk region were at risk of dying and that he personally asked for their lives to be spared. While it’s true that Russia has been making gains in Kursk, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that there is “no geolocated evidence to indicate that Russian forces have encircled a significant number of Ukrainian troops in Kursk Oblast or anywhere along the frontline.”
And finally, on Saturday, while scrolling through social media, I came across reports of the first successful combat test of Ukraine’s long-range “Long Neptune” missile. With an effective combat range of 1,000 km (621 mi), it appears by some reports to be what struck the oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, though there’s no definitive confirmation—just a well-timed coincidence between the missile’s test and the refinery going up in flames. This new Long Neptune is from the same missile systems that sank the Moskova in April 2022, and now, with this upgrade, Ukraine has a weapon capable of striking Moscow itself!