Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders have criticised Vladimir Putin after his forces launched attacks on Ukraine overnight – with Zelenskyy accusing Russia of targeting energy infrastructure despite Putin’s pledge to Trump last night. Listen to Trump 100 on their call as you scroll.
Wednesday 19 March 2025 11:47, UK
Live reporting by Mark Wyatt
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke returns tomorrow for his weekly Q&A on the Ukraine war – covering anything from the battlefield to the negotiating table.
He’ll tackle as many of your questions as he can at 1pm – submit yours in the box above.
We heard a moment ago from the chairman of Ukraine’s foreign affairs committee, who gave his thoughts on yesterday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Oleksandr Merezhko, who is also a Ukrainian MP and a member of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party, says the call was a “total disaster” after Putin rejected Trump’s proposal of a 30-day ceasefire.
“It’s absolutely clear that Putin cannot and doesn’t want to negotiate in earnest,” Merezhko tells Sky News Breakfast presenter Wilfred Frost.
“He doesn’t want negotiations. He doesn’t understand the meaning of negotiations or compromise,” he adds.
“He can be dealt with only by the use of force, by using sanctions against their energy sector, against the banking sector in Russia, by giving more military aid to Ukraine. This is the only way we can exert pressure and to make him do anything at all.”
He says the ball is now back in Trump’s court and the world will see if he will “deliver on his promise to be tough with those who disagree” with his ceasefire proposal.
‘Ukrainians support Zelenskyy’
Zelenskyy has said he will hold elections in Ukraine once the war is over, being unable to do so last year while the country is under martial law.
He has previously said he would resign his position as president if it meant Ukraine could guarantee membership into NATO.
“President Zelenskyy is a symbol of our resistance,” says Merezhko. “And, of course, Ukrainians, according to the recently held polls, firmly support our president.
“We need to survive. We need to be out of the woods. And only after that we will have democratic, transparent, elections.”
We’ve mentioned yesterday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin several times already today.
As a reminder, here’s what was agreed during the nearly two-hour call:
We’ve just had some more lines from the Kremlin, where spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has been speaking about the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The leaders “understand each other well, trust each other and are intent to gradually move towards the normalisation of ties”, Peskov says.
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
There’s one key difference about what exactly this ceasefire covers.
The American readout from the White House talks about a ceasefire regarding “energy and infrastructure”, implying that it covers energy facilities and then also infrastructure like ports, bridges and things like that.
But the Kremlin’s readout is different. It just says “energy infrastructure” – there’s no “and” in the middle. That suggests it’s just infrastructure about energy and not ports and bridges.
That’s still unclear. Is it just a something that has been lost in translation, or is it a fundamental difference between what the two sides think they’ve agreed?
As Zelenskyy accuses Putin of hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure overnight in Helsinki, we’re hearing from the Kremlin – which has accusations of its own against Kyiv.
Dmitry Peskov says Russia has paused energy attacks as was agreed between Trump and Putin: “There were no other orders from the president.”
It’s Ukraine, he says, that has shown “no reciprocity”.
Peskov says Putin’s order was “widely available” but Kyiv didn’t take action and instead attacked an energy facility in the Krasnodar region, contradicting peace efforts.
We’re hearing too from the Russian defence ministry, which has also accused Ukraine of deliberately attacking its energy infrastructure.
The ministry gives more detail on the Krasnodar attack, saying Kyiv launched three drones at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya, sparking a fire.
“It is absolutely clear that this is another provocation specially prepared by the Kyiv regime, aimed at disrupting the peace initiatives of the US president,” it adds.
The ministry says its forces shot down seven of its own missiles that were already in the air when Putin gave his order. They had been launched at Ukrainian energy facilities in the Nikolaev region.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just finished speaking at a news conference in Helsinki.
It’s the first time Ukraine’s president has spoken publicly since Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s phone call yesterday.
Here’s a breakdown of the key things he said:
GPS, a system we rely upon every day to navigate by plane, car or even at sea, is vulnerable.
Foreign news reporter Michael Drummond has dug into GPS interference and claims of Russian jamming in a full investigation – which we’re serialising today in the Ukraine war blog.
Part three: How the UK is preparing to counter threat
Efforts to interfere with GPS signals have become routine during the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s drone operators continue to target Russian oil refineries and even its vaunted Black Sea fleet, sinking a number of warships with unmanned vessels.
Earlier we looked into how GPS jamming affects planes (see 8.00am post) and how experts have pointed the finger at Kaliningrad, the small slice of Russian territory near Poland (see 9.00am post).
“Russia knows that drones are causing havoc to its energy infrastructure and the only way it can do a one-size-fits-all approach is to put out massive GPS jamming,” says military analyst and former RAF pilot Sean Bell.
Ukraine has also admitted to carrying out GPS interference to try to disrupt Russian air attacks, warning citizens that smartphones using automatic timezones can be fooled by spoofing and that navigation systems may not work properly during air raid alerts.
UK investing in anti-jamming tech
The British Ministry of Defence has invested at least £30m on projects exploring how to counter GPS interference, including calling for private companies to present ideas on anti-jamming tech last month as part of Project Wayfind.
The UK is also building a new “silent hangar” facility large enough to hold some of its biggest military aircraft so it can test anti-GPS jamming technology.
‘Jamming does not prevent us conducting air operations’
An MoD spokesperson said: “GPS jamming to disorientate equipment has become increasingly common. It is indiscriminate and can affect all civil and military aircraft.
“Our aircraft are fitted with a range of capabilities to ensure they can operate in a variety of environments, including where GPS jamming could take place. Such jamming does not prevent us conducting air operations.
“Through Project Wayfind, we are also working to improve drone operations in environments where GPS jamming occurs.”
This was the final part in the series – you can read Drummond’s full investigation here:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is speaking in Helsinki at a news conference with Alexander Stubband, the Finnish president.
He accuses Putin of breaking a promise made during his call with Trump to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, saying the Russian leader’s words are “very different from reality”
“Even this night, after Putin’s talk with Trump, when Putin allegedly said he had given the order to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy targets, 150 drones struck energy infrastructure and transport,” he says
Zelenskyy also adds that Ukraine is willing to provide a list of its energy infrastructure facilities for a halt on strikes to be implemented.
He says he will speak with Trump today to discuss the details of this Sunday’s ceasefire talks in Jeddah.
On NATO membership for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says his country would make the bloc stronger, adding the Ukrainian military has “one of the strongest” armies in modern warfare.
Asked about his red lines for negotiations, Zelenskyy says it’s important Ukraine does not lose its independence and sovereignty by handing over land to Russia.
You can watch the news conference live in the stream at the top of this page
As high-level negotiations take place in an attempt to end the war, fighting continues on the battlefield.
These maps show the latest territorial situation, indicating how much ground is held by Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The first map shows a wide view of the conflict, and from left to right you can see closer views of the fronts in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and of the Russian region of Kursk, where Putin’s forces have advanced and pushed Ukraine’s positions back in recent weeks.
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