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Not only is the weather frozen now in Ukraine — but so is the fighting at the war front. The two sides have fallen into an operational deadlock. The Ukrainian summer-autumn counteroffensive has failed to regain much ground, while the Russians also lack the ability to launch a large-scale offensive. Local battles of a tactical nature are being fought along the entire front, with little chance of a breakthrough. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi unequivocally indicated in his unprecedented interview with The Economist and in his synthetic essay that the war has entered a phase of trench warfare similar to World War I. The West is alarmed that breaking out of this stalemate by the Ukrainian army would require a radical increase in its ability to win air supremacy, fight enemy artillery, overcome the system of fortifications and engineering barriers, effectively conduct electronic warfare and accelerate the preparation of reserves. Hence, the questions are: how did this happen, why and what could be the future scenarios of war in such conditions?

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Ukraine launched a massive new wave of drone attacks on March 17 as Russians cast ballots on the final day of a presidential vote set to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule for another six years. The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, including four in the Moscow region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage. According to the Defense Ministry, another two drones were shot down over the Kaluga region south of the Russian capital and the Yaroslavl region northeast of Moscow. More Ukrainian drones were downed over the Belgorod, Kursk, and Rostov regions. Voting for Russia's presidential election was disrupted at the Russian Consulate in Chisinau on March 17 after an apparent fire-bombing. Flames and smoke broke out in the consulate's courtyard as dozens of voters were lined up to cast their ballots in an election widely expected to be won by incumbent President Vladimir Putin. A man was reportedly detained following the incident, which eyewitnesses said was caused when someone shouting "I despise Russia" threw something over the consulate fence. Images showed scorch marks on the wall of the consulate and smoke rising from the courtyard. International Olympic Committee IOC Vice President John Coates is unsure how many Russians will compete as neutral athletes at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, but thinks reports that it might be as low as 40 could be close to the mark. Under sanctions put in place because of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in , for which Belarus acted as a staging post, the IOC is allowing only some Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris under tight restrictions. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has described the December decision to allow them as "shameful. A traffic accident in southern Afghanistan left at least 21 people dead and 38 injured, according to a provincial traffic department. The accident occurred on the morning of March 17 in the Gerashk district of Helmand Province on the main highway between the southern Kandahar and western Herat provinces, a statement from the department in Helmand said.

Ceasing hostilities.

With irreconcilable war aims between the combatants, the conflict will drag into and inflict more damage to the global economy and long-standing security arrangements. It offers little prospect of a return to lasting peace. The likely result will be an uneasy truce along a disputed and heavily armed line of demarcation: Neither peace nor war, no winners or losers, no genuine negotiations and no trust in any agreement. Stability will have to come from strong deterrence. Ukraine wants to expel Russian forces from occupied territories.

Last week, Russia launched a deadly missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Odesa just as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was visiting its port. But, he wrote on X: "We shall not be intimidated. Many details are still emerging about the incident, but sources told Reuters that the strike hit less than half a mile from Mitsotakis. In the two years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion, allied dignitaries visiting Ukraine have been harried by strikes — and in one case, a drone — in the cities they've visited. Many of these strikes killed Ukrainian civilians, which has become part of Putin's modus operandi in the war.

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Six dead in Russian missile strike on Kharkiv postal distribution centre, says governor; Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds talks with Turkish counterpart ahead of peace summit next week. At least six people have died in a Russian missile strike on a postal centre in Kharkiv region, the local governor has said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared a video on Saturday night showing what appeared to be a heavily damaged warehouse surrounded by rubble and a container with the logo of Ukrainian postal operator Nova Poshta. Turkey will take part in peace talks next week to discuss ways to end the Ukraine conflict, Zelenskiy said.

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Voting on March 17, the last day of the election held over a span of three days, took place with virtually no opposition to the long-serving incumbent. Some of the people in the group had taken part in a protest sponsored by the Revival party that was held earlier on March 14 in front of the U. Russia is bleeding in the current fighting. Almost exactly one month before the polls opened, Putin's most vocal critic, opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, died in an isolated Arctic prison amid suspicious circumstances as he served sentences seen as politically motivated. By Amra Zejneli. Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former U. Protecting civilians and prisoners of war POWs. At this stage, both sides have long-range precision weapons at their disposal and have recently significantly expanded their drone capabilities, allowing them to pin down and incapacitate possible large enemy armored and mechanized groups going on the attack. Politics February 21, The training of personnel and the formation of new military units also became a serious problem. If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

First, the explosions in Kyiv.

Apparently, the Russian leader was trying to break the will of the Ukrainian people to resist since it was not possible to defeat the Ukrainian army in the initial period of the war. Experience has shown that this was a mistake. While it was difficult to determine voters' reasoning for showing up to vote, many appeared to be answering the call to protest across the country as the deadline moved from Russia's Far East toward Moscow, and from then to the western area of the country and parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia. March 16, From a political point of view, it made sense to seek a quick resolution to the war in the south. Ukraine had two operational options for its campaign: either to launch the main strike directly at the center of gravity of the Russian army in the south with the hope of shattering it and resolving the war quickly — or to strike at the weaker point of the Russian front in the northeast and try to score another partial success in the still inconclusive conflict. An investigation into the accident was under way, he added. Paul Schwennesen. Pierre Boussel. China and North Korea are expanding their nuclear arsenals; China in the hope of matching the arsenals of the nuclear superpowers, North Korea with the aim of developing a deterrence of a size somewhere between Pakistan and the UK. James Jay Carafano. All parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually deescalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire.