Ukraine Update…Day 1,095…Zelensky Want’s to Do the “Deal’…On HIS terms…..

• A Russian drone attack late on Tuesday killed one person and caused power, water and heating cuts in Odesa for the second day running, said the regional governor, Oleh Kiper. A 77-year-old woman died of shrapnel wounds on the outskirts of the city, he said, and drone strikes damaged critical infrastructure, leaving neighbourhoods without services.

• Kiper said fragments from downed drones had damaged private houses and started fires in outlying city districts. A missile strike had destroyed an empty sanatorium near the town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, south of Odesa, he added.

• East of the capital, Kyiv, drones targeted a multi-storey apartment building near the town of Boryspil, smashing windows and triggering a fire in a business. Local officials reported no casualties.

• Zelenskyy has proposed a peace plan to end the war, saying he is willing to work “constructively” under Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” and to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukrainian mineral wealth. In an attempt to mend fences with Washington after Trump abruptly suspended supplies of military aid, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible … I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace”.

• Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, welcomed Zelenskyy’s “steadfast” commitment to securing peace in a phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday, his office said. Starmer told Zelenskyy “it was vital that all parties worked towards a lasting and secure peace for Ukraine as soon as possible”.

• The British defence minister, John Healey, will meet the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, in Washington on Thursday to discuss a peace plan, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

• The British foreign minister, David Lammy, on Tuesday said he had spoken to counterparts in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain and that their determination to strike a peace deal remained clear. “We will step up and we are stepping up – together.”

• Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Tuesday that his CDU/CSU party and the Social Democrats would propose an unprecedented package of billions of euros in extra spending on defenceand infrastructure. Merz also said he wanted to get immediate approval for a €3bn aid package for Ukraine that has been held up for weeks.

• Merz’s proposals would also mark a “sea change” and “a major loosening of Germany’s fiscal straitjacket”, said the Berenberg bank economist Holger Schmieding, noting the country’s longstanding avoidance of large public debts. Merz’s promise of “whatever it takes” recalled the pledge made in 2012 by the then president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, during the sovereign debt crisis. Schmieding described Merz’s plans as “a really big bazooka”, the phrase used to describe the ECB’s interventions under Draghi.

• The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, on Tuesday welcomed European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s plans to raise European defence funds as “an important first step”. “Two things are now essential for peace through strength: additional aid – military and financial – for Ukraine, which is defending our freedom. And a quantum leap to strengthen our EU defence,” Baerbock said…..

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ISW….Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 4, 2025

• US President Donald Trump ordered a pause on US military aid to Ukraine on March 3, suspending the delivery of critical warfighting materiel.
• The United States had been providing Ukraine with artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, towed howitzers, Patriot air defense batteries, and long-range rocket and missile systems such as HIMARS and ATACMS — many of which are sophisticated systems that only the United States can supply.
• The frontline in Ukraine does not risk imminent collapse, but the effects of the US aid pause will become more acute over time.
• The European Commission proposed a plan on March 4 that would enable EU member states to increase defense spending to support Ukraine and strengthen European security. European rearmament is vital for Europe’s short- and long-term security, and Europe should pursue these efforts regardless of the status of US aid to Ukraine.
• Ukraine has significantly expanded its defense industrial production capabilities throughout the war in an effort to eventually meet its military needs independently, but Ukraine’s ability to become self-sufficient in the long-term is contingent on continued support from partner states in the short- and medium-term.
• The Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated on March 4 Ukraine’s commitment to work with the Trump Administration to achieve a sustainable and lasting peace in Ukraine.
• The high casualties in Russia’s war in Ukraine are the direct result of Putin’s determination to conquer all of Ukraine using horrific and costly tactics, and Putin can dramatically reduce this killing any time he chooses.
• The Kremlin continues to express cautious optimism about the pausing of US military aid to Ukraine and advanced several narratives as part of efforts to impose additional demands on the United States.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Lyman, and Pokrovsk and in western Zaporizhia Oblast, and Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reportedly developing a plan to partially demobilize a limited number of mobilized personnel no earlier than July 2025, likely to address growing societal backlash over the lack of rotations and demobilization of Russian mobilized troops for over two years.

Daily Kos grunt Report for today …