Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 745

Here is the situation on Saturday, March 9, 2024.

Fighting

• Russia said it destroyed 47 Ukrainian drones over its southern regions overnight, mostly in the Rostov area bordering Ukraine which is a hub for the Russian army to plan its military operations in Ukraine.

• Russian drones killed three people in Ukraine’s south and north on Friday, local authorities said.

• Safety at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is worsening daily, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said, pledging to keep pressuring Russia at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, to withdraw from the site.

Politics and diplomacy

• Turkey is ready to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul.
• Zelenskyy said any peace negotiations must align with a 10-point plan he has previously suggested, which includes food security, the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression, and security guarantees for his country.
• Zelenskyy said Russia would not be invited to the first peace summit due to be held in Switzerland.

• German local councils are calling on the government to provide more money to help them protect civilians in the event of war, including more bunkers.

• The call by the Association of Towns and Municipalities comes a day after Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the country must provide greater protection for its civilian population.

Weapons

• Following a meeting with the foreign ministers of France and the Baltic republics in Vilnius, Lithuania, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba issued an urgent appeal to the country’s Western allies to supply arms of all kinds without restrictions. “What is required is an unrestricted and timely supply of all types of weapons and ammunition to ensure that Ukraine beats Russia and the war in Europe does not spill over,” he said.
• Ukraine will receive 6 billion euros ($6.6bn) from the European Union via its four-year Ukraine facility in the next two months, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
• The Czech-led initiative to buy ammunition for Ukraine has raised enough so far to purchase a first batch of 300,000 artillery shells, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on X.
• France is planning to have some of its arms manufacturers produce much-needed military equipment directly on Ukrainian soil to help the country in its war against Russia, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said.