Putin brags about ‘securing victory’ in Kursk region following POW exchange between Kyiv and Moscow, a day after Trump’s conversation.

Vladimir Putin today boasted about Russia ‘completing the defeat’ of Ukraine in the Kursk region just one day after agreeing to a partial 30-day ceasefire during a call with Donald Trump.

During a board meeting of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the dictator declared that Russian troops ‘have recently conducted a series of rapid, daring, and successful operations’ and are now ‘finishing off the defeat of enemy forces in the Kursk region.’

Putin said that all Ukrainian troops in the region are ‘terrorists’, and told his prosecutors to launch investigations into their actions. 

‘The atrocities they committed must be brought to light, recorded, and thoroughly investigated’, he said. 

He emphasized, ‘The instigators – those responsible for giving criminal orders and mistreating innocent civilians – need to be identified and brought to justice.’

Despite last night agreeing to a partial ceasefire with US president Donald Trump, Putin today told his military prosecutors to promote discipline within his ranks ‘as the most important driver of high combat readiness of troops.’

But he also followed through with his promise to exchanged 372 soldiers in a prisoner swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates. 

A defiant Volodymyr Zelensky today vowed to ‘win this war’ after accusing Putin of breaking his own ceasefire proposals with deadly strikes just hours after the Kremlin agreed to halt its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

In a press conference with President Stubb of Finland in Helsinki today, the Ukrainian president said: ‘We’re fighting for our sovereignty and our independence — we’ll win this war.’

Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) following a prisoner swap, at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, 19 March 2025

Loved ones greeted Ukrainian prisoners of war wrapped with national flags

Vladimir Putin has today bragged of Russia ‘completing the defeat’ of Ukraine in the Kursk region

Zelensky drew clear red lines for peace, insisting that his nation would not accept territorial losses as part of a peace deal, and that the return of ‘thousands’ of prisoners held in Russia was ‘unconditional’.

Trump said he had a ‘very good telephone call’ with Zelensky in their first conversation since last month’s disastrous Oval Office meeting.

The two men spoke for about an hour to discuss Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the conditions for a partial ceasefire.

‘Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. We are very much on track,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump added that he was asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to give more details.

Both men are headed to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to resume the peace talks, amid the prisoner swap.  

Prisoner swaps and the exchange of remains of killed soldiers is one of the only areas of cooperation between the warring countries since the Kremlin launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The Kremlin announced the swap on Tuesday, following talks between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on March 19, 2025, shows destroyed building following a Russian strike in the Bucha district of Kyiv region

View shows damaged private houses and car at a site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Hostomel, Kyiv region, Ukraine March 19, 2025

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of violating the partial ceasefire

President Donald Trump said he had a ‘very good telephone call’ with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

The Russian defence ministry said it had handed over 175 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 22 ‘seriously wounded’ Ukrainian captives while Kyiv had delivered 175 Russian prisoners in return.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the exchange as one of the largest of the war and said that some among the Ukrainians released had been ‘persecuted by Russia for fictitious crimes’.

Wednesday’s phone call was the first time Zelensky and Trump spoke since their falling out in the Oval Office at the end of February. The two men got into a shouting match about the war with Russia, with Trump accusing Zelensky of not being grateful enough to the United States. 

The talks come at a sensitive time, with Ukraine accusing Russia of having attacked energy infrastructure just hours after agreeing to a partial ceasefire.

While the Kremlin declined to sign up to a month-long ceasefire plan hashed out between Trump administration officials and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia, it did agree to stop attacks on crucial infrastructure. 

Speaking publicly for the first time since the call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin yesterday, Zelensky claimed Russia had hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure last night despite Putin’s pledge to avoid such targets for a month.

Both sides today accused each other of launching air attacks that damaged infrastructure claimed to be exempt under the terms of the agreement.

Ukrainian service personnel use searchlights as they search for drones in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 18, 2025

Devastation in Sumy, Ukraine on March 19 after Russian troops launched seven strikes on a medical facility in the Krasnopil community 

Zelensky said that Ukraine could supply a list of its facilities in order for an agreement to be properly implemented, while urging that the U.S. oversee the ceasefire.

While Ukraine has sought to show it is acting in good faith in supporting U.S. efforts to mediate a ceasefire, Russia today accused the other side of using drones to attack an oil depot near Kavkazskaya village, sparking a fire.

‘It is absolutely clear that this is another provocation specially prepared by the Kyiv regime, aimed at disrupting the peace initiatives of the US president,’ the defence ministry said.

The ministry acknowledged firing missiles at Ukrainian energy facilities in Mykolaiv region, but said they were already in flight when Putin gave the order to cease fire.

It said Russian air defences were employed to shoot down their own missiles.

‘Putin’s words are very different from reality,’ Zelensky hit back.