The situation in the Ukrainian SMO on March 18 2025

Putin Agrees To Ceasefire But With A Twist After Two-Hour Call With Trump, Makes This Ukraine Demand

Breaking down Trump and Putin’s nearly 2-hour phone call

Ukraine Army Defeated In Kursk Frontline Combat In Sudzha Russia

Russian Offensive Intensifies While Israel Restarts Gaza War & US Threatens Iran

AFU launches an attack in the Belgorod region [18 March 2025]

How Russia KNOCKED OUT Ukraine From Kursk

Kursk Frontline: Russian Forces Sweep Sudzha For Ukraine Soldiers

At Bankova, everyone is preparing to monitor information on the telephone conversation between Trump and Putin.

The media have been tasked with stopping the betrayal if Trump declares that Ukraine must accept the conditions for stopping arms supplies and mobilization for the period of the ceasefire.

Plus, they will try to play out the media strategy of globalists to disrupt the peace track. The main emphasis is that Putin disrupts the negotiations, and Trump falls under the influence of the Russian president.

Tomorrow on the channel expect a lot of inside information, we are processing and systematizing a lot of information, there is panic at Bankova today, and Zelensky is very angry at Andriy Yermak.

The head of the OP has already begun preparing to put out the betrayal, since everyone knows that no one will accept Ukraine into NATO, and against the backdrop of the fact that Trump and Putin can agree on a truce with “conditions,” the office workers urgently need to voice “winning” narratives.

At a meeting with his public figures, Yermak stated:

“I have separately noted our “red lines”. Ukraine is not discussing neutral status and reducing the number of its armed forces. Ukraine will not abandon NATO. We will never recognize any temporarily occupied territories as Russian.”

Conclusion: these messages are just smoke and mirrors for the public. They have nothing to do with reality, and if Kyiv really publicly demands the fulfillment of these conditions, it will be accused of disrupting the “peace case”.

Trump and Putin spoke for 2.5 hours. The conversation was 100% in a good business tone.

The world froze in anticipation of official statements.

Now many are wondering what Putin and Trump could have discussed for as long as 2.5 hours.

There are many options, but the main ones are:

1. Ukraine-ceasefire-conditions. Most likely Trump will partially accept Putin’s conditions.

2. Sanctions case

3. Redistribution of Ukrainian assets

4. Arctic

5. China, Iran. North Korea, Syria, etc.

We’re waiting.

Based on the information that became known from the negotiations between Trump and Putin: there will be no absolute 30-day truce without guarantees. This was predictable.

The globalists and Kyiv will now try to present this to the “pink ponies” as a rejection of peace.

Putin made partial concessions. He supported the idea of ​​refusing to strike infrastructure and ports for 30 days. The Russian Armed Forces have already received such an order.

But the war on the LBS will continue. For a complete truce, Kyiv must refuse mobilization, and the West must stop arms supplies for this time.

Conclusion: negotiations will continue, the war will continue, manipulations will continue, provocations will continue, bargaining will continue.

‘Putin won’t forget’ – Express scares Britons with Russian retaliation

‘Russia remains a serious threat and, whatever the outcome in Ukraine, Putin will not forget Britain’s role in arming Kiev. Retribution is not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’. The head of the British army has been clear that Britain must be ready for war within the next three years. But our army is in a far from good shape at the moment. For every five recruits, eight leave.’

We are “ten yards” from achieving peace in Ukraine, this goal has never been closer — White House

▪️The United States is directly discussing with Kiev the terms of peace with Russia, including the future demarcation (concessions) of territories.

▪️The White House declined to comment on the issue of Zelensky’s future ahead of Trump’s call with Putin : “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

▪️Trump is ready to use “leverage of pressure” on Russia if the upcoming conversation with Putin on Ukraine does not live up to expectations, the White House added.

❗️The United States intends to publish the results of the upcoming conversation between Trump and Putin immediately after its completion.

All of Europe trembles before Trump-Putin phone call’ – Bild

As the publication reports, little Lithuania is trembling the most. Trembling so much that it wants to acquire nuclear weapons to protect itself from Russia.

‘The country fears that after the deal between the powerful presidents, it will no longer receive support from its NATO partner, the United States, even in the event of war. ‘Now Vilnius wants to change its constitution to allow the deployment of (French) nuclear weapons on its territory. ‘We believe that we should consider amending Article 137 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania if our allies offer realistic plans for the deployment of nuclear weapons in Lithuania,’ said Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene.’

Skabeeva

Kremlin press service – on the conversation between Putin and Trump:  

✔️ Putin expressed his gratitude to Donald Trump for his desire to contribute to the noble goal of cessation of hostilities and human losses. 

✔️ In the context of the US President’s initiative to introduce a 30-day ceasefire – a number of essential points were outlined from the Russian side concerning the provision of effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire line of contact, the need to stop forced mobilization in Ukraine and the rearmament of the AFU.

✔️ Attention has been drawn to the barbaric crimes of a terrorist nature committed by Ukrainian militants against the civilian population of the Kursk region.

✔️ Putin confirmed that the Russian side is ready to be guided by humanitarian considerations and, in case of surrender, guarantees the life and decent treatment of AFU soldiers in accordance with Russian laws and norms of international law.

✔️ Trump put forward a proposal on mutual refusal of the parties to the conflict to launch strikes on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military a corresponding command.

✔️ Putin informed that on March 19 there would be an exchange of prisoners between the Russian and Ukrainian sides – 175 for 175 people. In addition, as a goodwill gesture, 23 severely wounded Ukrainian servicemen who are being treated in Russian medical institutions will be handed over.

✔️ Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin’s idea to organize hockey matches in the United States and Russia between Russian and American players playing in the NHL and KHL.

White House – on Trump’s call to Putin:

✔️ Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a cease-fire in the war in Ukraine. Both leaders agreed that the conflict must end with a lasting peace. They also emphasized the need to improve bilateral relations between the United States and Russia. 

✔️ The leaders agreed that movement toward peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations to realize a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a full ceasefire, and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.

✔️ The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. Both leaders agreed that Iran should never be able to destroy Israel. 

✔️ Both leaders agreed that a future with improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia has tremendous potential. This includes huge economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace is achieved.

“Keir Starmer’s combative remarks on Ukraine carry risks”: even The Times writes that an attempt to send British troops to Ukraine would turn out disastrous – there is nothing behind Starmer’s empty words. 

“Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that British troops should be stationed in Ukraine to guarantee its security, but Putin and his generals know the difference between a fig leaf and a shield. British forces, if peacekeeping, conflict resolution or stabilization are to be a concern, must be well prepared to fight if the authorities are to protect Ukraine. 

Peacekeeping forces worthy of the name require a command structure linked to the US. Otherwise, they will find themselves as worthless spectators of carnage. In the current situation, deploying an armored brigade for years would drain the tiny 70,000-man UK army to the limit. London is also short of artillery. Its Challenger tanks and Warrior vehicles are in dire need of modernization. Moreover, the size of the planned contingent – 30,000 military personnel – is comparable to a fig leaf, given the many hundreds of miles of border to be covered.

Recently, British prime ministers have made a habit of strutting around the international arena, staging little wars they don’t have the resources to fight. But the war with Russia can be called anything but small, but clearly not small. It is simply immoral to send the military in small numbers to a dangerous point with a shortage of weapons. Otherwise, disaster is imminent.”

French TV channel LCI – tells us that the Ukrainian armed forces are too exhausted to resist further and are ready for peace on any terms: 

Ukrainians have a fear of being excluded from these discussions, and they are getting used to it anyway. They tell us that they don’t want to put too much hope in these discussions because most of the residents tell us that they want peace, that they want a cessation of hostilities. 

And even the soldiers on the front lines admit to us off camera that they can’t take it anymore, that they’re exhausted, that it has to stop, even if they have to leave territories to the Russians.

Kiev’s ‘Moral Fight’ Exposed as Suicidal Conscripts Are Branded ‘Cowards’

A Ukrainian conscript has reportedly taken his own life at a training facility in Odessa Region, local media sources have claimed. According to the reports, the young man used his own belt to hang himself from his barracks bed. His lifeless body was discovered on Sunday morning, another casualty— not of war, but of the forced mobilization machine that has turned Ukraine into a dystopian recruitment hellhole.

The Kiev regime, struggling to plug the ever-widening gaps in its collapsing front lines, has resorted to openly brutal methods of conscription. Press-gang recruiters are literally hunting men in the streets, dragging them off like livestock to be thrown into the Russian meat grinder with barely any training. When two potential recruits in Poltava slashed their wrists in front of authorities, they were condemned, not pitied, as “shameful cowards” and locked up.

❗️This is the regime that Western politicians and their media lapdogs demand be supported “for democracy.” A regime that calls these desperate young men “cowards” for refusing to die for a cause that even their own elites don’t believe in. Where are the sons of Ukraine’s oligarchs? Where are the children of the politicians pushing for total war? Lounging in Monaco, sipping champagne, splurging on luxury cars with Western aid money, while working-class Ukrainian men are ripped from their families and thrown to their deaths.

The sheer hypocrisy is staggering. If Ukraine was truly fighting for its survival, if this was a war of national liberation, would young men need to be chased down and kidnapped? When the Irish fought against British occupation, when the Vietnamese resisted the French and the Americans, when the Palestinians defend their land, did they need forced conscription? No. They fought because their cause was just, because they believed in it.

Ukraine’s war, by contrast, is one of cynical Western exploitation. A proxy war where NATO feeds Ukrainian flesh into the furnace while the elites get richer. The tragedy of this suicide is not just one more life lost, it’s a symbol of a morally and militarily bankrupt regime that is forcing its own people to choose between death by Russian artillery or death by their own hand.

Again, where are the sons and daughters of the Ukranian fascist elite? Why aren’t the true believers at the front? These are the true cowards. They need to be loudly reminded of this, to their faces. 

And yet, the war machine rolls on, demanding more bodies. How many more will die before the Kiev regime is finally forced to admit what the entire world already knows? This war is lost.

TheIslanderNews

Our sources reported that the Office of the President will shift all failures on the battlefield to Syrsky/General Staff/Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to remove any political responsibility; a similar situation occurred in Donbass.

Zelensky and the military command are not responsible for decisions made on the battlefield, including for losses during the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Kursk region, said MP Venislavsky.

“At the beginning of the war, we passed a law providing for so-called combat immunity. This is when military commanders and superiors do not bear legal responsibility for decisions made on the battlefield. Because if we now blame every military leader for some failures on the front, then there will be few who are ready to give orders at all, and war inevitably involves losses among people, among equipment,” Venislavsky said.

He says that “the key decisions are made by the military,” and Zelensky “assesses what decisions he makes, but I don’t think the president has directly insisted that it be that way.”

Kursk Front Implodes: Russia’s Drone Domination Decisive?

Today we share an in-depth review of Russia’s successful offensive in Kursk, from Русский инженер (Russian Engineer) Telegram Channel (http://t.me/rusengineer):

“The Russian army has mastered such a tactical technique as “isolation of the battlefield” by modern means in modern conditions. That is, with the help of drones, the supply of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group was cut off, and it had no options but to retreat. And after the landing through the pipe, the retreat turned into flight.

Moreover, de facto a cauldron was created for the Ukrainian Armed Forces group, which was closed not by living soldiers, but by robots. This sharply reduced our losses, did not allow us to counterattack at the moment of the cauldron closing, and it was possible to greatly thin out their combat formations during the escape, and almost completely destroy their armored vehicles and transport.

And this revolution was achieved by moving from quantity to quality of our drones, and all other supporting forces and means. That is, the concentration of strike means, electronic warfare, reconnaissance, artillery, aviation, coordination of their actions, allowed us to solve this equation, which we have been trying to solve since 2023.

That is, the speed of the collapse of the section of the Ukrainian Armed Forces front where the most motivated units were concentrated turned out to be unpredictable for almost most experts. And this speed became the main achievement obtained by mastering the art of isolating the battlefield. Which allowed to overcome the deadlock of positional warfare. And it became a rehearsal for the collapse of all Ukrainian Armed Forces.

And this is exactly what I have been writing about for a long time. There will be no remakes of Mariupol and Bakhmut, since then the war has changed a lot. After both armies ran into a new positional war, the question was who would be able to overcome this deadlock. And the deadlock was caused by the emergence of total reconnaissance and mass weapons. Which made the concentration of large masses of equipment and personnel pointless.

Therefore, the way out was seen in the war of robots, and the ability to fight with them, to tie them to them and reassemble all the other tactics in order to gain maneuver speed. And not idiotic cries about the need for mass mobilization, lamentations that Russia is at a dead end and is not able to reach Kiev and Odessa in the coming years.

The reality turned out to be different. Instead of mass mobilization, it was necessary to learn interaction, prepare drone operators, prepare industrial capacities for their production, study the enemy and look for new methods of how to create the reconissance-assault network that has been repeatedly discussed . That is, it is necessary to pump up brains and fight with robots, not meat.

And this revolution allows us to expect a repetition of similar situations now in other areas of the front. And after another major defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (in my estimation, at least 10 brigades would be isolated in such a pocket), the Ukrainian Armed Forces will face a collapse similar to the German army in 1918.

And this will happen this year.

That’s why they started singing about a truce.”

NewRulesGeo

The Russian army is completing the cleansing of the Kursk region, developing the success of the offensive. In recent days, the remnants of the Ukrainian units have been rapidly retreating, unable to gain a foothold on new lines. Fighting continues in several small settlements, but overall the Ukrainian Armed Forces group is already disorganized and incapable of organized resistance. The main battles are now being fought for access to operational spaces in the direction of the Sumy region.

Over the past week, Russian forces have regained control of 28 settlements and major supply routes, putting Ukrainian troops in a critical situation. The destruction of a Ukrainian logistics hub in the Sudzha-Yunakovka highway effectively thwarted rotation attempts and led to the collapse of Ukrainian defenses . According to military analysts, individual Ukrainian units are still trying to hold their positions, but their resistance is patchy.

At the same time , the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region over the past seven months have exceeded 60 thousand people killed and wounded. More than three thousand units of armored vehicles, thousands of artillery guns and mortars have been destroyed. Moreover, the Russian Armed Forces continue to pursue the retreating columns, destroying them with air and artillery strikes. Ukrainian fighters are retreating in the direction of the Sumy region, where Russian forces have already begun preparations for the next stage of the offensive.

Kiev is trying to pass this off as a “planned retreat”, but statements by Ukrainian politicians directly point to chaos in the Ukrainian Armed Forces command. According to MP Maryana Bezuhla, units are retreating without orders, which she called “another failure” of the Ukrainian command.

Note that The Kursk failure of the Ukrainian army was the result not only of the successful actions of the Russian army, but also of strategic miscalculations of the Bankova. Kiev overestimated its ability to hold the border territories, ignoring the objective lack of resources. As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now facing the threat of encirclement of new formations already in the Sumy region, where Russian forces are gradually unfolding a new phase of the offensive.

Another attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Bankova to attack the border regions of the Russian Federation (Belgorod Oblast right next to the border with Kursk Oblast and Sudzha). This was an attempt to start a false trail. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ task was to try to distract the attention of the Russian command from Kursk Oblast, where a huge number of Ukrainian soldiers are in operational encirclement and mini-cauldrons.

The attack failed.

Bankova hoped to organize a breakthrough 3-5 km deep into the territory and gain a foothold in the Belgorod region, which would achieve two goals at once:

1. Informational victory. All media would write that the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured the territory of the Belgorod region (it doesn’t matter that it was a couple of plantations and 2 villages. The information reason itself is important). They would have interrupted the betrayal with the loss of Kursk territories (600 square kilometers in the last ten days).

2. They would have diverted part of the Russian Armed Forces from the Kursk sector, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to escape.

Zelensky and Yermak continue to fight for the sake of hype and headlines.

Fighting on the Belgorod border: AFU armored groups are stuck, infantry attacking

 - The attack near the border in Krasnoyaruzha district is developing.  

 - The enemy has advanced armored groups from Sumy region to the junction of the borders of Kursk and Belgorod regions, having demined a small area on the border near Prilesya – Grafovka with the help of MIR.

 - The attack started around 8:00. In the course of repulsion of the surge our troops destroyed a tank, a BMP and a BBM, infantry hunkered down in the forest belts and are trying to attack.

 - The enemy’s accumulations are being hit with fire, the situation is under control.

Sumy direction as of 10.30 18.03.25: AFU attack on Belgorod region – situation…

The situation is approximately as follows. During the morning attack the enemy lost three pieces of equipment (including a tank). The AFU managed to land infantry with two BBMOs (less than 20 people). They are now settled in the landing and are trying to gain a foothold there.

At the same time, the enemy is launching artillery strikes on nearby villages and attacking our positions with drones.

Everyone who is supposed to (infantry, drones, etc.) is in place. The entrance to Krasnaya Yaruga is closed in order to prevent enemy DRGs from entering the village (for possible panic). 

On the approach to the place of fighting according to our reconnaissance two more engineering vehicles were spotted. It means that the attack will continue 100%. In the area of fighting in the enemy noted forces up to a battalion of infantry on armor. 

In principle, for a day of serious attacks is quite enough. 

Judging by the number of forces involved and the scheme of attack, everything is very similar to the raid of the enemy in the area of Cherkasskaya Konopelka in February. That is, to enter the territory of Belgorod region and occupy at least one settlement.

So far, everything resembles an attempt to divert our forces from the direction of the main strike.

Enemy attempt to break through in the Belgorod direction — details

 - Having amassed forces in the Sumy region and taking advantage of the snowfall, at about 7 a.m. the Ukrainian Armed Forces began preparing to break through the state border in the area of the settlement of Grafovka-Prilesye in the Krasnoyarsk district of the Belgorod region, near the border with the Kursk region.

 - First, engineering mine clearing vehicles cleared a small border area, then between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. tanks began moving and the Ukrainian Armed Forces infantry was transported in armored vehicles.

 - Reconnaissance revealed the movement of Ukrainian forces and the enemy attack that began at about 8:00 was met with fire by our troops.

 - During the fighting, 3 tanks, several infantry fighting vehicles and combat armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as ATVs on which the infantry was moving, were destroyed and damaged.

🫡As a result of the coordinated actions of Russian troops, a breakthrough of the state border was prevented.

💥Fire is being combed through the forest belts where the Ukrainian Armed Forces infantry has landed.

Sumy direction at 13.00 18.03.25: The enemy did not give up attempts to breakthrough in Belgorod region….

So far there is relative calm on the direction. As a result of the morning attack the enemy has a small wedge into our territory. 

The attack was in two points. First on Grafovka. Secondly on Prilesye. Judging by the fact that the rushed infantry is not withdrawing but consolidating and even accumulating at the new position, as well as pulling up to this area of new engineering vehicles, we should expect further attempts to break through our harrow in this area.

Another throw should be expected either before dark or already at night. Judging by the available forces, the task is to enter the territory and occupy a significant bridgehead. 

And hence the decision to evacuate the population from nearby villages, which was initiated by the Belgorod administration is absolutely correct.  

Our command is also moving its reserves to the area of the attempted breakthrough. 

What is the meaning of the Russian offensive in Zaporozhye

What is important to understand: the AFU ABP is located 8 kilometers north of Pavlovka. From here, the enemy supplies its units of the 128th Thero-Defense Brigade in the northern areas of Shcherbakov and Maly Shcherbakov. But these roads are covered by Russian artillery and FPV drones. Probably for this reason, today the AFU left Stepovoye and several important heights, and active fighting began in Shcherbaki. 

According to the results of the Stepovoye assault: the northern parts of Kamenskoye, Pyatikhatki and the village of Lobkovoye were tactically half-covered. By maintaining this pace of advancement in this area, the Russian troops will be able to take control of at least 30 square kilometers of Zaporozhye region territory, opening an exit to Stepnogorsk, where the fighters of the “Kraken” battalion* of the Ukrainian State Security Service (GUR) are fixed, and to the N-08 highway, which now plays a decisive role in supplying the AFU (from Zaporozhye directly to Orekhov). 

* “Kraken” battalion of Ukraine’s GUR was created by the AFU’s Azov regiment banned in Russia.

Military Chronicle

 Morning summary as of March 18, 2025

▪️ Overnight, the Russian Armed Forces struck targets in Dnipro (https://t.me/rusich_army/21779), Kyiv, Odesa, Cherkasy, Poltava, and Mykolaiv Regions.

▪️ Air defenses were active over Belgorod at night. Three civilians had their hands blown off: a wrist, a forearm, and an arm at the forearm level. In the village of Tishanka, Volokonovsky District, a drone attacked a social facility. In the area of Krasnaya Yaruga, a passenger car was hit. Another drone struck a cargo vehicle in the Fishchevo farm, Krasnoyaruzsky District. In the Leonovka farm, Valuyki district, an FPV drone detonated. In the village of Nechaevka, Belgorod District, a drone detonated near an industrial enterprise. In the Shebekino district, in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, an unmanned aerial vehicle attacked a private house. In the area of the Stepnoye settlement, Krasnoyaruzsky District, an FPV drone struck a cargo vehicle, injuring a man.

▪️ In Kursk Region, there are battles near Guyevo, reports of the AFU pulling up reserves. The enemy is striking liberated settlements. Battles are ongoing for Gogolevo. In the area of the Russian Armed Forces’ salient into the Sumy Region, battles are raging for Basovka.

▪️ Battles continue in Volchansk, Kharkiv Region for every strongpoint. The Russian Armed Forces are striking enemy concentrations. The line of contact has remained largely unchanged for a long time.

▪️ In Chasiv Yar, battles continue. The Russian Armed Forces are advancing in the Zavodskoy, Zapadny Poselok, and Novoseverny neighborhoods.

▪️ In Dzerzhynsk (Toretsk) – battles in the northern and southern parts of the city.

▪️ Southwest of Dzerzhynsk, a “pocket” is forming 16 km wide, on the southern edge of which, near Aleksandropol (Rozovka), the 68th Tank Regiment and 20th Motorized Rifle Regiment have captured AFU strongpoints. From the west, assault and reconnaissance units of the 33rd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 20th Motorized Rifle Division are taking Tarasovka.

▪️ Near Pokrovsk – battles in the area of the settlements of Shevchenko, Peschanoe, Kotlino, and Udachnoye.

▪️ On the Zaporizhia Front, the Russian Armed Forces liberated Stepove, engaged the enemy in Shcherbaki and Malye Shcherbaki. In Polohy District, Zaporizhia Region, the enemy struck a school bus with a drone. Enemy channels admit that our forces have advanced widely up to 2.5 km deep.

▪️ In the Kherson direction, the AFU shelled Oleshky, Hornostaivka, Kakhovka, Nova Kakhovka, Dnipryany, Lyubymivka, Mala Lepetykha, Razdolne, Rybalche, and Solontsi. A 55-year-old man was wounded in Oleshky, and a 7-year-old child in the village of Rybalche. Spans of the bridge over the Konka River were destroyed. The Russian Armed Forces are striking the enemy’s bank of the Dnipro.

Two Majors

Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-situation-in-ukrainian-smo-on-march_18.html