These are the key developments on day 1,111 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, March 11:
Fighting
- One civilian was killed and three more were reportedly injured in one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow in months.
- Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defence units destroyed at least 69 drones flying towards Moscow in a “massive” attack that later reports said involved more than 90 drones.
- Four airports in the Moscow region and the Domodedovo train network were forced to suspend services due to the attack. Several apartments were also damaged while Russia’s TASS news agency reported a large fire in a car park near the Russian capital.
- Pro-Russian war bloggers said Kremlin forces have advanced further into the country’s Kursk region as part of a major encirclement operation to push out thousands of Ukrainian soldiers holding territory inside Russia.
- Kyiv’s top general Oleksandr Syrskii denied his troops were being encircled by Russian forces, adding that the situation was under control. However, Ukraine’s troops required reinforcing, “including electronic warfare and unmanned components”, Syrskii said.
- Ukraine’s military said it shot down 130 of 176 Russian drones launched by Russia overnight, while another 42 failing to reach their targets.
- Ukraine’s border guard spokesperson Andriy Demchenko said Russian troops were trying to create an active fighting zone in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region.
- Russia’s emergency ministry said a large fire broke out in Russia’s southern region of Samara due to a Ukrainian drone attack. No injuries were reported.
- The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said it hit two Russian oil refineries in the Ryazan region and the Samara region, which supplied fuel to Moscow’s army.
- Three people were killed and nine wounded by a Ukrainian attack on Belaya village in the Belovski district of Russia’s Kursk region, the region’s governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Saudi Arabia in advance of talks between Kyiv and Washington to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
- The AFP news agency, citing a Ukrainian official, said that Kyiv plans to propose a partial, aerial and naval ceasefire with Russia during talks in Saudi Arabia.
- A senior source from Ukraine’s government also told AFP that Russia gained a significant advantage against Kyiv during the US’s pause in sharing military intelligence with Ukrainian forces.
- The US’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said Washington expects substantial progress in talks with Ukraine this week, including the signing of the rare earths deal.
- Witkoff also said intelligence sharing with Ukraine would also be discussed during this week’s meetings, but claimed the US never shut out Ukrainian officers from receiving intelligence for defence needs.
- Zelenskyy promised a fully “constructive” position by Ukraine in talks with the US, adding that his country hopes for practical outcomes from the negotiations in Saudi Arabia on ending Russia’s war on his country.
- Russia’s FSB security service said two diplomats from the United Kingdom were expelled from Russia on suspicion of espionage. The Kremlin said those expelled were the UK embassy’s second secretary and the husband of the first secretary.
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said the United Kingdom plans to host virtual talks among leaders of nations willing to help with a ceasefire in Ukraine.
