The EU’s foreign policy chief and several foreign ministers visit Bucha on the anniversary of the massacre. A Russian strike on the railway infrastructure in Slovyansk injures four workers. Trump thinks the only way to stop Putin is for Ukraine to withdraw from Donbas, Zelenskyi says.
EU foreign policy chief, foreign ministers visit Bucha on anniversary of massacre
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas and several EU foreign ministers arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday morning. They visited the commuter town of Bucha where Russian troops killed hundreds of civilians during the occupation four years ago.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha and Ambassador of the EU to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová welcomed the delegation at the railway station in Kyiv.
“Welcome to Kyiv, dear European friends, Kaja Kallas and fellow European ministers! Today, we commemorate the grim anniversary of the Bucha massacre. On that day, horrific pictures of slaughtered civilians shook the entire world to its core. Such a strong European presence on this day demonstrates that justice for this and other Russian atrocities is inevitable,” Sybiha said in a post to X.
Later in the day, an informal gathering of EU foreign ministers was held in Kyiv. The ministers who attended in person included Germany’s Johann Wadephul, Poland’s Radosław Sikorski, Latvia’s Baiba Braže and Lithuania’s Kęstutis Budrys.
Russian strike on railway infrastructure in Slovyansk injures four workers
A Russian aerial attack on the railway infrastructure of Slovyansk, in Donetsk region, on Tuesday injured four people, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration — Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram.
The strike damaged railway facilities and a locomotive depot, and blew off some windows of the Slovyansk railway station.
The railway workers went to the shelter, but four working in a locomotive depot were wounded. All were taken to hospital. A woman is in a grave condition, he said.
Ukraine’s railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia confirmed the strike on its facilities in Slovyansk. In a post to Telegram on midday Tuesday it added that the air raid was still in progress and called on the city’s residents to stay in shelters.
Russia dropped two FAB-250 aerial bombs on Slovyansk overnight on Tuesday, the city’s mayor, Vadym Lyakh said. The strike injured three people, including a 12-year-old girl, and damaged 22 private homes and three cars.
Trump thinks the only way to stop Putin is for Ukraine to withdraw from Donbas, Zelenskyi says
U.S. President Donald Trump’s team sees no other way to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine than for Ukraine to agree to concessions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told Axios in an interview published on Monday.
Zelensky is concerned that after the war with Iran is over, the Trump administration will resume its pressure on Kyiv to agree to territorial concessions in order to end the war.
“They want to end the war. My concern is that they see only one way to do it. I am sure the President Trump and his team want to end the war. But why do we have to pay for this? We are not the aggressors. They don’t see another way to stop Putin other than withdrawing Ukrainian troops from our territory. My concern is that nobody really values the danger of such a decision for our security,” Zelensky told Axios.
He also said Russia “is supporting Iran directly, 100%. The same format of sharing satellite images like they did in the case of Ukraine.”
The U.S. is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told Reuters in an interview released on March 25.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi of lying when he suggested last week that the United States was conditioning security guarantees for Kyiv with the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Donbas. “That’s a lie… that’s not what he was told,” Rubio said on March 27, responding to a reporter’s question. “Security guarantees are not going to kick in until there’s an end to a war,” he said.
Zelenskyi told reporters on March 28 that the U.S. is conditioning security guarantees on the war’s end and Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbas. He denied that the U.S. is pressuring Ukraine to accept that.
Zelenskyi has repeatedly stated that Ukraine will not accept territorial concessions and will not withdraw troops from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published on March 3, he explained that an eventual withdrawal would open the way for Russia toward the central part of the country. Concessions won’t stop the Kremlin’s new demands, he warned.