Ukraine uses drones for the first time to direct fire on a Russian defense plant in real time. Ukraine has “cards” to play and everyone understands that they are there, Zelenskyi says. Ukraine returns more than 8,000 people in prisoner swaps with Russia in the four years of the war.
Ukraine uses drones for first time to direct fire on Russian defense plant in real time
Ukraine struck the Kremniy El plant in Russia’s Bryansk on Tuesday. The facility produces missile components and is an important part of Russia’s defense industrial base. The strike was directed by drones in real time. This is the first such known operation in the current war, the 413th Raid Regiment of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said in a post to social media Wednesday.
The unit conducted reconnaissance and directed fire deep inside the Russian territory, so that other branches of the Ukrainian military were able to use a small number of Storm Shadow cruise missiles to achieve the result.
“This is the first known strike on a strategic plant of the Russian defense industrial base where drones directed fire in real time,” the 413th Raid Regiment said.
Ukrainian news site Novynarnya described the operation as extremely complex as it requires deep reconnaissance, stable communications with the drones and high coordination levels among the units.
“The strike in which Raid took part could be described as the ‘Kursk operation happening in the skies’ based on the effect it has on how the war develops,” the regiment’s service member who goes by the call sign “Kip” said.
Such operations can have a strong impact on Russia’s defense industrial base and complicate the production of missile components, Novynarnya concludes.
Ukraine has “cards” to play and everyone understands that they are there, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine has cards to play thanks to its military and defense production, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told Irish journalist Caolan Robertson in an interview released on Wednesday, in a reference to a U.S. request for Ukraine to help the allies counter Iranian drones in the Middle East.
“They didn’t ask France first, not Germany. They turned down the UK’s aircraft carrier. They asked Ukraine. How does that feel?” Robertson asked.
Zelenskyi said it was a “good feeling” when the U.S. asked Ukraine for help.
“Good feeling. Now it’s because of our soldiers, great people, and a lot of different production, which we increased from the very beginning of the war. Now we have the high level,” he said. “The Americans asked us and of course I’m very proud that we can help American partners.”
Asked if he had cards to play, Zelenskyi said Ukraine held the cards without showing them: “I think we had them a year ago, too, but we didn’t show them. Now, however, everyone understands that they are there.”
A peaceful time for Ukraine largely depends on allies’ readiness to support the country and take “quick steps,” Zelenskyi said. During the interview an air raid siren went off. “It’s like with this air raid alarm. When you have missiles and Shaheds, if you don’t take quick steps to defend yourself, you will be destroyed. The same about Putin — you need to stop him. If the war in the Middle East does not stop, it can be a world war,” Zelenskyi said.
When asked if he thinks the world is prepared to face World War III, Zelenskyi said: “The world is not prepared from the technical side. Europe is not enough prepared, only some countries. Yes, they’re on their way. For example, Germans are very quick, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough time to be prepared this year for such challenges. The Nordic countries are also very technological. I mean, in Northern Europe they are preparing. Everybody says that the U.S. army is very strong. But we have to understand one thing, with all respect to the American army, and it’s the strongest one. If we speak about a missile and drone war, it’s not a land war. We have to understand it’s not about land war. So nobody now has the experience with the land forces what we have. It’s not something we are very happy about, to have this experience, a lot of human losses, it’s not about happiness, it’s about real experience. Because Russia attacked us, not the other way round, but this is about land war and these are very dangerous new technologies, a new war and a new attitude to the people, I mean civilians. That’s why I think that the world is not ready for a world war because it will not be just drones and missiles. It will be with land forces, land offensives and a global number of losses.”
U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly stated that Kyiv held no cards in its talks with Moscow and Washington, and that it should make concessions in order to reach a deal to end the war with Russia.
In an interview with The New York Times in January 2026, Trump said: “If he [Zelenskyi] doesn’t have Donald Trump, that thing would have been a total disaster, and he knows it, and the European leaders know, and everybody knows it.”
“Well, he doesn’t have the cards. He didn’t — he didn’t have the cards from Day 1,” he said in the same interview.
President Trump indicated that he was ready to commit to the United States being involved in Ukraine’s future defense — but only, he said, because he was confident that Russia would not try to invade the country again.
Trump told reporters in February 2025 that he believes Russia has “the cards” in any peace talks to end the war in Ukraine because Russia has “taken a lot of territory”.
Ukraine returns more than 8,000 people in prisoner swaps with Russia in four years of war
Ukraine has returned 8,050 people from Russian captivity in more than 70 prisoner exchanges in the four years of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on social media Wednesday.
“Today is not a time for big speeches or celebrations. It is just another day when we acknowledge what has been done and continue working. Our principle remains unchanged, it says: ‘Together for a return [home]’,” the message reads.
The Coordination Headquarters said there was still “much complicated, often invisible work ahead, and we will not stop until we get it done.”
Around 7,000 Ukrainian service members are held prisoner in Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told reporters last month. Ukraine holds prisoner more than 4,000 Russian troops, he said.
Prisoner exchanges on March 5 and March 6 brought home 500 Ukrainians from Russian captivity following agreements made in Geneva.