Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at Russian targets early on March 25, hitting a major port in a spike in fighting as peace talks appear to stall despite an attempt by Kyiv to revive them in Florida last weekend.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, nearly 400 Ukrainian drones were launched at more than 10 Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, in what many said was the single largest assault attempt by Ukraine since the war broke out just over four years ago.
The Ukrainian barrage, which came a day after nearly 1,000 Russian drones targeted regions across Ukraine, hit one of Russia's largest petroleum export outlets. According to Leningrad regional Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko, Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga caught fire as a result of the attack.
"A fire is currently being extinguished," Drozdenko wrote on Telegram, as user-generated videos on Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels showed pillars of smoke allegedly rising from the facility, a key site for oil and gas exports on the Baltic Sea.
Ukraine's security service confirmed the attack, calling it Kyiv's "gift" to Russia on the Day of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Reuters news agency reported that according to its calculations, about 40 percent of Russia's crude oil export capabilities, or around 2 million barrels per day, were shut as of March 25 after the strike on Ust-Luga.
This month, Ukraine has hit "all three of Russia's major western oil export ports," Reuters said: Novorossiisk on the Black Sea and Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea.
Oil exports are a major source of revenue for Russia, which has benefitted from a sharp increase in global oil prices since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.
Separately, Ukrainian military forces said a Russian icebreaker, the Purga, was hit at the shipyard in the city of Vyborg, also located in the Leningrad region, more than 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
"It was prepared to serve the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation. Such vessels perform the functions of both an icebreaker and warship," the statement released on March 25 said.
Russian authorities did not immediately comment on the strike, though Drozdenko said the roof of a residential building in Vyborg was damaged, warning of more incoming drones and a possible reduction in Internet speeds in the area.
The new attacks followed similar ones on March 23 that forced Ust-Luga and another major port on the Gulf of Finland, Primorsk, to suspend exports of crude oil and fuel for a day.
Kyiv has stepped up its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure amid fears that rising oil prices, and a temporary easing of US sanctions on Russia due to conflict in the Middle East, could stimulate Moscow's economy and further fuel its military invasion.
Meanwhile, at least four people were reported killed and 27 others injured in the past 24 hours by Russian strikes in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk and southern Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, all partly occupied by Russia.
In Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, at least 150,000 more people were left without electricity on March 25 following a strike that targeted local energy facility. Nearly 150 Russian drones were reportedly launched on Ukraine's territory.
Separately, Estonia and Latvia, bordering with Russia's Leningrad and Pskov regions, reported drone incursions from Russian territory. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said a drone hit a local power plant, but "was not directed" at the country.
"This is a concrete consequence of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression," Tsahkna wrote on X. No casualties or damage to the power station were reported in the incident.
Days earlier, Ukraine attempted to revive US-backed peace negotiations with Russia, as the talks had sputtered to a halt after multiple rounds held at the start of the year.
Kyiv's team of top officials, including Rustem Umerov, Kyrylo Budanov, David Arakhamia, and Serhiy Kyslytsya, met with the US delegation that included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner on March 22 in Florida.
With both sides saying discussions mainly focused on security guarantees, the only apparent result was "possible" further prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the talks.
Zelenskyy added it was clear the United States were concentrated on its own war with Iran. He earlier suggested Moscow had felt "impunity" while global attention has largely shifted to the United States and Israel's war with Iran.
On March 19, the Kremlin said that the trilateral talks between Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv were on a "situational pause." It added Russia hoped for fresh talks to take place as soon as their "American partners" could pay more attention to Ukrainian affairs.
On March 25, President Vladimir Putin's chief foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said Russia was briefed by the United States about the US-Ukrainian talks in Florida: "We know where we stand now."
US President Donald Trump has sought to end the war in Ukraine since he took office in January 2025, but Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on crucial issues, including control over Ukrainian territory in the Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with Russia showing no readiness for compromise.
"I'd like [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and President Zelenskyy sit down and make a deal," Trump said on March 24. "I think they are getting close, but I've been saying that for a while.
On March 25, Reuters quoted Zelenskyy as saying in an interview that the US is prepared to offer Ukraine strong security guarantees if Kyiv withdraws its forces from the portion of the Donbas they still hold.
"The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from [the] Donbas," Zelenskyy said.
Russia baselessly claims Donetsk, Luhansk, and two other regions in mainland Ukraine as its own. Zelenskyy said a withdrawal would jeopardize the security of Ukraine and Europe by handing strong Ukrainian defensive positions to Russia.
"I would very much like the American side to understand that the eastern part of our country is part of our security guarantees," Reuters quoted him as saying.
It said the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
