Russia reported on Wednesday that its forces took control of a settlement in the Donetsk region in the past 24 hours, while Ukraine on the same day claimed to have repelled Russian offensives on multiple fronts.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in its daily report that over the past day, Russian forces had conducted strikes in 149 regions against targets of Ukrainian long-range drone assembly workshops and launch sites, energy facilities, ammunition and fuel depots serving the Ukrainian military, as well as temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries.
Russian air defense forces shot down 543 fixed-wing drones.
On the same day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Ukrainian forces engaged in a total of 191 battles with Russia in the past day, with its forces repelling Russian offensives on multiple fronts.
Ukrainian missile and artillery units launched strikes against a key Russian target, shooting down 2,459 Russian drones.
The Security Service of Ukraine reported that Ukraine conducted a long-range strike on a Russian oil infrastructure located on the Baltic coast.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a regular press conference on Wednesday that the United States had briefed Russia on the details of the U.S.-Ukraine talks held in Florida last week.
Russia is willing to continue contact with the United States through existing channels and welcomes the U.S. continued efforts to resolve the Ukraine issue, said the spokesman, emphasizing that Russia is open to negotiations, but any solution must take Russia's interests into account.
Peskov said on March 18 that the work of the Russia-U.S.-Ukraine trilateral working group on security issues has suspended.
Since the start of this year, Russia, the United States, and Ukraine have held three rounds of trilateral talks on the Ukraine issue, with the most recent round held in Geneva, Switzerland, from Feb 17-18.
Russia claims capturing settlement, Ukraine reports repelling Russian offensives
