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The Yemen-based Houthi militants have told Russia and China that their ships can sail freely through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without fear of being attacked, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. People with knowledge of the matter told the outlet that the understanding was reached during talks in Oman involving Russian and Chinese diplomats and a top Houthi political figure. According to Bloomberg’s sources, in exchange for promising safe passage for ships the Houthis want the two countries to provide political support for the rebel group in international bodies such as the UN Security Council. The Houthi rebels have carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks on commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea, disrupting shipping traffic through one of the world’s most important maritime corridors. As a result, many major shipping companies have stopped using the Suez Canal and are instead redirecting ships around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. The Houthis have been attacking ships they believe to be linked to Israel in what they claim is a show of “solidarity” with the Palestinian people in light of the war in Gaza. After the US and the UK conducted a number of strikes on Houthi facilities in Yemen, the group said it would now also attack ships affiliated with both nations. In a recent such incident, Yemeni missiles struck the merchant vessel True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month, causing the first deaths since the militant group started its attacks. The Houthis claimed the vessel was American. However, according to a Bloomberg source, the ship used to be owned by Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital, but a new non-US company had taken it over. A senior Houthi political leader, Ali Alqhoom, declared recently on X that the group’s goal is “sinking America, Britain and the West in the swamp of the Red Sea.”

The Russian army has lost over 1,500 invaders killed and wounded as a result of the raid by volunteer troops. Russian volunteer units also managed to destroy and damage 171 units of military equipment, according to a press conference of Russian volunteer troops. As reported by Freedom of Russia Legion representative Alexey Baranovsky, Russian volunteer troops were able to liberate two settlements from the Putin regime within a few days and destroy a large number of occupiers and military equipment. Thus, the losses of the Russian Federation over the raid are as follows: 651 irretrievable losses; 980 wounded; 37 captured; 121 units of equipment destroyed; 50 units of equipment disabled. In turn, as noted by the Freedom of Russia Legion representative, Russia launched 323 strikes with aerial bombs. All of them hit the territory of the Belgorod and Kursk regions. "Thanks to our operation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to stabilize the front and cover the areas where Russian attack was expected," said Baranovsky. Recall on March 12, there was a breakthrough at the Ukraine-Russia border by fighters of the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian Battalion, who are fighting on the side of Ukraine. These volunteer battalions entered the Kursk and Belgorod regions, where battles were going on for over a week, accompanied by strikes on military objects of the occupiers. Recently, the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine expressed the view that the "limited military operations" of the Russians would not end soon. Also, after a week of fighting, the authorities of the Belgorod region decided to evacuate part of the population. Additionally, Russian Volunteer Corps fighters showed a video of a failed assault on their position by Russian troops, during which the occupiers suffered losses and retreated.

With each passing day, the intensity and frequency of Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian oil refineries increases. Since the beginning of this year 2024 alone, more than ten major oil refineries and depots have been damaged, some of them enduring multiple strikes. The main goal of these attacks is to reduce the capability of the military, as fuel from Russian oil refineries is transported to Ukraine where it powers hostile tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and aircraft. According to Ekonomichna Pravda, it is highly likely that mysterious drones will continue to attack Russia's oil infrastructure in the future, causing further destruction and damage to the aggressor. Russia has about 30 large oil refineries and dozens of small ones. The aggressor country produces more than 530 million tonnes of oil per year, about 280 million tonnes of which are processed at domestic facilities. Since the beginning of 2024 alone, dozens of Russian refineries and oil depots have been attacked by drones. "In some places, they struck fuel tanks, and in other cases, the refineries were shut down for several months due to the destruction," says the source in the Ukrainian parliament. Large-scale attacks on Russian oil refineries began in 2023. In May, drones attacked the Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai and the Afipsky oil refinery in Kuban Oblast, and in July, an "explosive device" detonated at the Kuibyshev oil refinery in the city of Samara. Fuel storage facilities were also frequently targeted. Since the beginning of 2024, the intensity of attacks on Russian oil refineries has increased. Damage was reported at refineries and oil depots in the Yaroslavl, Oryol, Volgograd, Tuapse, Klintsy, Ust-Luga, Ryazan, Bryansk, Belgorod, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad oblasts and the city of St Petersburg. The first objective of the attacks on Russia's oil refining infrastructure is strategic in nature. "Russian oil refineries are a legitimate target of the Security Service of Ukraine and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine," says a source in Ukraine's Defence and Security Forces. Attacks target military facilities or those contributing to Russia's defence, such as ones that supply fuel to Russian military equipment: tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and aircraft that fire missiles at Ukrainians. The second objective is economic. "The oil refineries not only provide fuel for Russian troops, but are also a key source of income for the nation, which has at times been described as a ‘gas station masquerading as a country’. Russia uses the money from oil and gas sales to fight and kill Ukrainians," said an Ekonomichna Pravda source in one of the defence departments.

On the night of March 23, there was a drone attack on an oil refinery in the city of Novokuybyshev, Samara region of Russia. The Russian press reported on this. According to information, an explosion and a fire occurred in the oil processing facilities at the plant after the drone strikes of the Ukrainian army. No casualties are reported.

Germany will not let Russian President Vladimir Putin forcibly alter Ukraine’s borders or impose the terms of peace, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed. “We will not accept a dictated peace at the expense of Ukraine,” Scholz told German lawmakers in Berlin. “Law is stronger than violence.” He added that Putin sought to violate that principle with the launch of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine in February 2022. “We will not let him get away with this,” he said. Scholz insisted that Germany’s backing of Ukraine in the conflict with Moscow will not decrease and that expecting otherwise would be a “miscalculation.” He reiterated his criticism of Putin’s reelection last weekend for a fifth term as president, saying it showed that “Russia is not strong.” "If the Russian president believes that he just has to wait out this war and that our support will weaken, then he is mistaken," Scholz underlined while addressing the Bundestag. He reiterated that the Weimar Triangle and the entire European Union "stand together" in their support for Kiev. In his remarks, Scholz criticized the debate in Germany around the potential delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which the chancellor opposes. "The debate in Germany is nothing short of ridiculous," he declared. "This is embarrassing for us as a country," he said, arguing that the debate was not understood outside of Germany. Scholz has argued that Taurus deliveries could spark further escalation with Russia and cause Germany to be drawn directly into the conflict. He said Ukraine would be able to use the missiles to strike deep into Russian territory and that Ukrainian forces would need guidance from German personnel to use them. He pointed to the fact that Germany is Ukraine's second-largest supplier of military aid, saying that this must be recognized. However, as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell acknowledged in an interview, European allies will be hard-pressed to fill the funding gap if Kiev’s biggest backer, Washington, reduces its support. US President Joe Biden’s administration ran out of funding for Ukraine in January and has struggled to secure congressional approval for over $60 billion in additional military and financial aid.

Ukraine is actively developing a domestic equivalent of U.S.-made HIMARS rocket artillery platform, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials. More than two years into the war, Ukraine desperately needs a wide range of military equipment, including advanced munitions such as long-range missile systems, fighter jets, and bombers, to continue defending against the Russian aggression. “Air defense systems and high-precision missiles similar to the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System are also being developed,” the report adds. The Washington Post notes that despite Ukraine's manufacturing capabilities and specific raw material resources, it has been quite challenging to establish arms production quickly. This is because, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the defense industry in Ukraine practically collapsed. "Unfortunately, I can say that without the help of our Western partners, our friends, including from the United States, we will not be able to fully meet the needs of the armed forces of Ukraine," said Maxym Polyvianyi, Deputy CEO of Ukrainian Armor. Ukraine's Minister for Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, also stated that Ukraine has deployed a locally produced missile with a flight range of over 640 kilometers. However, he did not provide details about these missiles. According to officials, Ukraine is also developing air defense systems with precision missiles similar to the advanced American and Norwegian NASAMS systems. NASAMS is a mobile anti-aircraft missile system capable of firing 72 missiles in 12 seconds. It is used to shoot down aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles within a radius of up to 40 kilometers. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukraine must become strong and efficient enough for Russia to know that there will be a response to every attack. Strengthening domestic arms production is necessary to achieve this. Ukraine already produces its long-range weapons. For example, specialists have developed a new version of the Neptune missile. It has also recently been announced that serial production of drones, which are analogous to Iranian Shahed drones, has begun.

Allies of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have suggested that Vladimir Putin could be vulnerable following his re-election, although dissidents expressed fear that repression of opponents could become even more brutal. According to İnews media outlet, the President returned to power with more than 87 per cent of the vote in an election widely derided as a sham. Leonid Volkov, chief of staff at the Anti Corruption Foundation – founded by Navalny – said that the inflated vote share for Putin would give him a “false sense of confidence”. Dictators such as Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu were deposed shortly after sweeping victories in compromised elections, noted Mr Volkov, who was recently assaulted outside his home in Lithuania in an attack he attributed to the Russian regime. “Dictators with huge percentages often have a bad end,” said Volkov in a video address. “The greater the demonstration of people’s love, the less love there is.” Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s widow, issued a message calling on followers to keep fighting in the aftermath of the vote, urging them “not to brush off work because it doesn’t immediately lead to results, but to have patience and move forward”. Daniil Ken, head of the Teacher’s Alliance trade union affiliated to the Navalny network, told i he took encouragement from the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, in which supporters converged on polling stations at noon on Sunday to vote for opposition candidates. About 200,000 people took part and millions more saw the action on TV, he claimed. “We will try to come up with new original ideas,” said Ken.

A special Rosgvardiya group has mysteriously disappeared near the town of Graivoron in Belgorod Region, where fierce fighting is taking place. This was reported by the Russian Telegram channel of "Kremlin Snuffbox", citing its sources, Ukrainian Dialogue media outlet reported. The resource noted that Moscow publishes very little information about the fighting in Belgorod region, as it "spoils" the background of the re-election of Russian dictator Putin. However, very heavy fighting is going on there. "Some information does get out, and it is, alas, not always positive. On March 18, a group of Rosgvardia special forces suddenly stopped communicating near the town of Graivoron in Belgorod Region. There were five servicemen in the group, who had moved to the forward positions by car," the Telegram channel reported. It specified that the car was soon found blown up near Graivoron. There were no traces of the military at the site, including no body fragments. "Sources in the General Staff hinted that there might have been treachery and switching to the enemy's side," the Russian resource specified. Fighting in the border areas of Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions began on the night of March 12. "Russian Volunteer Corps", "Freedom to Russia" Legion, "Siberian Battalion" and others fighting on the side of Ukraine broke the border and entered the territory of the Russian Federation. Several settlements on the border have been taken under their control. Ukraine's military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov said the militias are comprised of Russian citizens who are part of Ukraine's "defense and security forces" but stressed that their incursions into Russia are not taking place under Kyiv's orders. "On the territory of the Russian Federation, they act absolutely autonomously, on their own, and pursue their social and political program tasks," Yusov told the media. Kyrylo Budanov, the military intelligence chief, said that anti-Kremlin militias had been helping Ukraine from the very beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, and Ukrainian forces would try to support them as well "to the extent possible." Despite Moscow's confident announcement of fending off the incursions, fighting in the border regions only grew.