Key Takeaways from the ISW:
- Ukraine has been imposing increasing challenges on Russia at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels since the beginning of 2026.
- Recent Ukrainian advances in the Oleksandrivka direction and the continued success of Ukraine’s defensive lines in constraining Russian advances have forced the Russian military command into competing tactical and operational dilemmas on the battlefield.
- The competing dilemmas that Ukraine has imposed on the Russian military command have likely disrupted Russian preparations for their Spring-Summer 2026 offensive.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) likely formalized some Russian Combat Army Reserve (BARS) elements.
- Tankers carrying Russian oil are reportedly sailing to Cuba in violation of the US embargo.
- Kremlin officials are reportedly considering military means to escort Russian ships.
- Russian federal censor Roskomnadzor is reportedly struggling to block all blacklisted resources on the Russian internet as Russian authorities are attempting to slowly throttle access to Telegram.
- The US decision to lift sanctions against Belarus will likely directly benefit Russia’s economy and therefore Russia’s war effort.
- A Russian Su-30 fighter jet briefly violated Estonian airspace on March 18.
- Ukrainian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and in the Pokrovsk and Oleksandrivka directions. Russian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and in the Hulyaipole direction.
- · Russian forces launched 133 drones against Ukraine, including in Chernihiv, Volyn, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, and Lviv oblasts.
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