Russia and Ukraine both claim front-line progress with US-brokered talks
on hold
[March 11, 2026]
By HANNA ARHIROVA
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian officials made rival claims
of battlefield successes in their 4-year-old war, with Ukraine saying it
pushed Moscow’s forces back across places on the front line and the
Kremlin insisting Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is making progress.
At the same time, Russia’s almost daily attacks on Ukrainian civilian
areas continued, killing several people, as Washington postponed its
sponsored talks between the two sides due to the war in the Middle East.
Russia and Ukraine tout contradictory success claims
Despite being short of soldiers, Ukrainian forces have recently retaken
nearly all the territory of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk industrial
region during a counteroffensive, driving Russian troops out of more
than 400 square kilometers (150 square miles), Maj. Gen. Oleksandr
Komarenko said in an interview published Tuesday by local media outlet
RBC-Ukraine.
Russian troops are poorly supplied and lack support, Andrii Kyianenko,
the deputy battalion commander of the 425th Separate Assault Regiment
“Skelia” deployed in the area, told The Associated Press. Ukrainian
soldiers have broken through Russian defenses and advanced more than 10
kilometers (6 miles), he said.
The evolving military situation couldn't be independently verified, but
the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank,
observed that recent Ukrainian counterattacks “are generating tactical,
operational and strategic effects that may disrupt Russia’s
spring-summer 2026 offensive campaign plan.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Tuesday that Russian
forces have extended their gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region,
whose capture Moscow has made one of the goals of its invasion. Ukraine
controlled about 25% of the Donbas six months ago, but it now holds just
15% to 17%, Putin said.
He made the claim during a meeting with Denis Pushilin, the
Kremlin-appointed head of the parts of the Donbas controlled by Russian
forces. It was not possible to verify the claim.
The Kremlin foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that Putin told
U.S. President Donald Trump late Monday that Russian forces are
“advancing rather successfully” in Ukraine.
That progress should “encourage” Kyiv to “move toward a negotiated
settlement of the conflict,” Ushakov told reporters — even though
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly demanded a
lasting peace deal and European governments accuse Putin of feigning
interest in talks while the Russian military keeps hammering Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine exchange strikes
Three powerful glide bombs struck the center of the eastern Ukrainian
city of Sloviansk, killing four people, the head of the Donetsk regional
military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said Tuesday. At least 16
other people, including a 14-year-old girl, were wounded.
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Rescuers put out the fire at a residential neighborhood following
Russia's drone attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Monday, March 9,
2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Overnight drone strikes on three other Ukrainian cities wounded at
least 17 people, including two children, emergency services said
Tuesday. Ukraine’s air force said that it shot down 122 out of 137
drones that Russia launched during the night.
Ukrainian missiles meanwhile struck the city of Bryansk in western
Russia on Tuesday, killing at least six civilians and injuring 37,
regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said.
Zelenskyy told reporters that the Ukrainian military chief, Col.
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported to him that the strike on Bryansk
hit a plant involved in manufacturing control systems for all types
of Russian missiles.
The Ukrainian military said it used British-made Storm Shadow cruise
missiles to hit the Kremniy El microchip factory in Bryansk, one of
Russia's largest makers of microelectronics.
US-brokered talks on hold due to war in the Middle East
The next round of talks was set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Turkey,
according to Zelenskyy, but American negotiators postponed it,
possibly until next week, he told reporters via WhatsApp messages.
The Iran war, which erupted on Feb. 28 following U.S.-Israeli
strikes on Iran and spread across the region, has drawn the
international spotlight from Ukraine’s plight as it strives to hold
back Russia’s bigger army.
In the meantime, Zelenskyy urged Washington not to lift sanctions on
Russia. The U.S. is reportedly considering easing sanctions on
Moscow's oil sales in a bid to ease supply chain disruption and
pressure on gas prices as the Middle East conflict continues.
Such a move would help Moscow finance its invasion and would be “a
serious blow” for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin is hoping that the Iran war will bring it a financial
windfall from rising oil prices, distract global attention from the
war in Ukraine, run down Western arsenals and force the U.S. and its
NATO allies to reduce military support for Kyiv.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, is hoping that by supplying its cutting-edge
and battle-tested drone technology to the United States and its Gulf
partners for the war in the Middle East, Ukraine will win more
international diplomatic leverage against Moscow.
He is also seeking a reciprocal supply of advanced American-made air
defense missiles Ukraine needs to counter Russia’s attacks.
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Associated Press writer Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed
to this report.
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