Ukraine…Russia Day 1494….Has Putin asked his business people to fund his war with Ukraine?

The Russian War Economy IS failing…..

And?

It seems that despite the media narrative ?

Ukraine IS actually gaining ground against the Russian’s in the Donbas region, a place Putin wants Trump to get the Ukraine to give up without a fight….

US Sec of State Rubio attaches that Donbus give up to US Security agreements…..

The Ukraine has a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia 

A Russian group of lawmakers got to tour the US capitol last week on the invite of. a Republican US House member…The Russian’s people that where sanctioned by several European countries….

 

The Guardian….

• US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, rejected Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s assertion that the Trump administration is demanding Kyiv hand over its eastern Donbas region to Russia to receive US security guarantees in any ceasefire plan. Speaking on Friday, Rubio disputed Zelenskyy’s recent comments and said the US has made no such stipulation in its talks with Ukraine. “That’s a lie,” Rubio said. “And I saw him say that. And it’s unfortunate he would say that because he knows that’s not true and that’s not what he was told.” Zelenskyy this week told Reuters the US was making its offer of security guarantees for Ukraine contingent on the ceding of the Donbas region, the industrial heartland long coveted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• French public television came under severe criticism on Friday for airing a prime-time interview with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. The France 2 television channel aired 10 minutes of the pre-recorded interview during its Thursday evening news, while the full hour-long version was posted online. More than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine, Lavrov on France 2 claimed Moscow was intent on defending “international law”. Lavrov said US-Israeli strikes on Iran that sparked the Middle East war had breached these rules. But he rejected any notion of Russia breaking international law in Ukraine, claiming its forces never targeted “exclusively civilian” targets.

• Ukraine’s ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko, said on X people must be wondering why French television had given a platform to “a war criminal”.

• And the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, responded by saying Russia does not defend international law either in Ukraine or Iran with its actions. “Mr Lavrov was able to calmly spread his propaganda last night on a French television channel … You do not defend international law by launching a war of aggression,” Barrot told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in France.

• Meanwhile, Moscow has denied reports that Vladimir Putin asked Russian oligarchs to donate to fund the Ukraine war, as covered earlier by Nadeem Badshah. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said one of the businessmen at a closed-door meeting on 26 March proposed donating money to the state, and Putin welcomed this initiative.

• Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said the US still has a critical role to play in ending the war with Russia, adding that he had met Rubio on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in France. “Ukraine’s proposals are realistic and doable. Pressure on Russia is key to make Moscow end the war,” Sybiha posted to X on Friday. “We also spoke about the developments in the Middle East. Ukraine’s position is that the regimes in Moscow and Tehran work together to prolong the war.” There are fears the US-Israeli war on Iran has diverted attention away from finding peace in Ukraine….

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ISW...Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 27, 2026

1. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly requested that Russia’s top businessmen provide funding for the Russian government, indicating that the Kremlin may be growing desperate for economic relief and may be setting conditions to nationalize their assets to support the war effort.
2. Putin’s reported request for Russian top businessmen to donate money to the Russian state threatens to break a promise he made to Russian oligarchs not to nationalize their assets soon after seizing power.
3. Ukraine and Saudi Arabia concluded a defense cooperation agreement on March 27.
4. Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure near the Baltic Sea on the night of March 26 to 27, marking the fourth strike in five days against Russian oil infrastructure in Leningrad Oblast.
5. Latvia warned on March 27 that Russia launched a cognitive warfare campaign falsely accusing the Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to launch strikes against Russia from the Baltic states’ territories.
6. Neither Ukrainian nor Russian forces advanced on March 27.
7. Ukrainian forces conducted long-range strikes against the Russian defense industrial base (DIB). Russian forces launched 102 drones against Ukraine.

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Democrats demand answers on sanctioned Russian lawmakers visiting Capitol

Democratic lawmakers and one Republican colleague on Friday demanded answers from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about why sanctioned Russian lawmakers visited the U.S. and toured the U.S. Capitol building this week, a visit organized by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).

The letter, signed by Reps. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), called the lawmakers’ visit to meet with some members of Congress and other officials “deeply concerning.”

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Luna, who gave the lawmakers a tour of the Capitol on Thursday, has sought to position herself as a facilitator between the U.S. and Russia while pursuing peace in Ukraine.

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The Russian delegation was led by Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Duma. Other members of the delegation included Boris Aleksandrovich Chernyshov of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, deputy chair of the State Duma; Mikhail Gennadyevich Delyagin, member of the party A Just Russia — For Truth; Vladimir Pavlovich Isakov, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation; and Svetlana Sergeyevna Zhurova, a member of the party United Russia.

All are subject to sanctions from the European Union, while others hold additional sanctions from the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and others.

Some of Luna’s GOP colleagues objected to the visit….

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Daily Kos grunt report for Today….