Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at energy strikes in the Russia-Ukraine war, renewed Israeli attacks across Gaza, and sweeping arrests in Turkey.
Targeting Energy
Barely an hour after Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump that Moscow would immediately cease all strikes on Ukrainian “energy and infrastructure” for 30 days, Kyiv accused the Kremlin of carrying out new attacks on these exact locations.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at energy strikes in the Russia-Ukraine war, renewed Israeli attacks across Gaza, and sweeping arrests in Turkey.
Targeting Energy
Barely an hour after Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump that Moscow would immediately cease all strikes on Ukrainian “energy and infrastructure” for 30 days, Kyiv accused the Kremlin of carrying out new attacks on these exact locations.
“Putin’s words are very different from reality,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday, adding that Russian forces launched 150 drones overnight that hit energy infrastructure, transport, and two hospitals. In response, Moscow accused Kyiv of targeting an energy facility in Russia’s Krasnodar region as well as launching 57 drones over the Azov Sea and several Russian provinces.
“We’ve seen that attacks on civilian infrastructure have not eased at all in the first night after this supposedly groundbreaking, great phone call” between Putin and Trump, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. “Putin is playing a game here.”
Trump had an hourlong phone call with Zelensky on Wednesday to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social. According to a White House readout, the two leaders discussed a partial cease-fire on energy, with the potential of expanding it to the Black Sea; ways for Europe to provide Kyiv with additional air defense systems; and the return of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children taken by Russian forces. The latter point is particularly notable following reports that the Trump administration last month terminated a U.S.-funded initiative tracking alleged Russian war crimes, including its mass abduction of Ukrainian children.
During the call, Trump also suggested that the United States take ownership of Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the readout said. Ukrainian officials told the New York Times on Tuesday that this may be related to negotiations on a U.S.-Ukraine critical minerals deal.
U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday for further peace talks. Putin maintains that a full cease-fire is contingent on Ukraine not being allowed to rearm its forces and a complete stop on all foreign military aid and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv. “What Russia wants is that Ukraine will let all the guards down,” European Union foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday. “If they achieve that ‘no military aid to Ukraine,’ then they are free to continue, because the Ukrainians can’t defend themselves.”
Zelensky, meanwhile, has listed several red lines for accepting a peace deal, including promises to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence; tangible security guarantees; the exchange of prisoners; Ukrainian control over Russian-occupied territories, such as Crimea and parts of the Donbas region; and no Russian say on the future of Ukraine’s military.
“If the Russians don’t hit our facilities, we definitely won’t hit theirs,” Zelensky said.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
War in Gaza. The Israeli army conducted “targeted ground activities” in Gaza on Wednesday to expand its control of the Netzarim Corridor, just hours after Israel kicked off a large-scale assault that killed more than 400 people in the territory and shattered the precarious cease-fire between it and Hamas. According to the United Nations, one attack hit the site of a U.N. headquarters building in central Gaza. Israel denied that and said it had hit a Hamas site, but Jorge Moreira da Silva, the head of the U.N. Office for Project Services, said, “Israel knew that this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place.”
Renewed Israeli strikes have triggered widespread condemnation from foreign leaders in the Middle East and Europe. But it has bolstered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power domestically. On Wednesday, far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir rejoined Netanyahu’s government as his national security minister, ending a monthslong standoff between the prime minister’s Likud party and Ben-Gvir’s demands. Ben-Gvir had left Netanyahu’s coalition in January to protest the cease-fire deal.
Opposition crackdown. Turkish police arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, at least one of his close aides, and two district mayors on Wednesday in an ongoing government crackdown on the opposition. More than 100 arrest warrants have been reportedly issued as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and aid to a terrorist group, as prosecutors accuse Imamoglu of working with a pro-Kurdish political party during last year’s municipal elections, during which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party suffered heavy losses.
However, experts claim that the legal actions are politically motivated, with opposition leader Ozgur Ozel calling it “a coup attempt against our next president.”
This coming Sunday, Imamoglu’s opposition Republican People’s Party was set to hold a primary vote to choose its candidate for future elections. Imamoglu was the likely front-runner; Erdogan has reached his two-term limit, meaning he cannot run again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution or calls for an early election, which many believe he is likely to do. But on Tuesday, Istanbul University nullified Imamoglu’s diploma, effectively disqualifying him from running, as a university degree is required to hold elected office in Turkey.
Hundreds have since gathered outside of Turkey’s parliament to protest the arrests. “We are facing great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged,” Imamoglu said in a video post on X.
Congo truce talks. Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame called for an “immediate and unconditional” cease-fire in eastern Congo on Tuesday. The talk, hosted in Qatar, was the first sit-down meeting between the two leaders since M23 rebels intensified their offensive in the mineral-rich Congolese region in January.
The presidents did not agree to any specific terms, and it is unclear how M23 will respond. Kinshasa has accused Kigali of supplying the rebel group with weapons and additional troops, but the latter maintains that its forces are acting under self-defense orders. An M23 delegation was expected to attend cease-fire talks in Angola on Tuesday, but it pulled out of the meeting on Monday after the European Union announced sanctions on the group’s leaders.
Odds and Ends
What started as an eight-day test mission at the International Space Station turned into a nine-month stay for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who found themselves stuck in zero gravity as experts scrambled to address a slew of technical and staffing issues. But on Tuesday, a SpaceX capsule returned the duo safely to Earth. The welcome crew even included a surprise appearance: a pod of dolphins. “They will get some well-deserved time off, well-deserved time with their families,” NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said.
2025-03-19 21:48:00
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