🚫New Zealand diplomat sacked for mocking Trump's peace effort

The country’s high commissioner to the UK, Phil Goff, has been dismissed following his comment comparing Donald Trump’s Ukraine plans to the 1938 Munich Agreement, signed by then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia.

Reflecting on Winston Churchill's criticism of Chamberlain, who chose "dishonor" over "war" and "yet had war," Goff mocked the US president for placing a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office, suggesting it reflected a poor understanding of history.

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters condemned Goff's comments as "untenable" and not representative of the government's views.

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💬 'Macron’s remarks on the possible use of nuclear arms a threat to Russia' - Lavrov

More statements by the Russian FM:

🟠Macron's statements on Ukraine and Russia are nervous

🟠Without US, UK help with intelligence information, Kiev can not launch missiles

🟠The Ukraine conflict can end by stopping arms supplies by the West to Kiev

🟠Russia is ready for frank talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict, with Moscow's top priority to ensure its own security

🟠There can be no compromise on the possible deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine

🟠 The deployment of European peacekeepers to Ukraine will mean NATO direct involvement in war with Russia

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Ukrainian forces strike CIVILIAN infrastructure in Donetsk

Residential buildings and vehicles were damaged as a result of the attack last night, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

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📑Ukraine’s situation is ‘pretty bad’ without US help – reports

The cessation of US intelligence and military support to Ukraine “pretty much guarantees a Russian victory,” making a peace agreement unnecessary, CNN writes, citing sources.

One source described the situation as “PRETTY BAD,” emphasizing that without military and financial aid, Ukraine faces almost certain defeat.

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❗️The Kremlin sees French President Emmanuel Macron's address to his nation yesterday as CONFRONTATIONAL and creating the impression that France is seeking to prolong the war, press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

He also pointed out several inaccuracies in Macron's statements, including on the Ukrainian settlement.

Other statements by Peskov:

🔸 Moscow has repeatedly stated that the situation in Ukraine is a PROXY WAR, agreeing with the words of US Secretary of State Rubio.

🔸 Peskov exposed Macron’s false claims about the Minsk peace accords, saying: "One cannot forget that Paris had no intention of implementing them."

🔸 Russia's reaction to the possible deployment of French forces on Ukrainian territory is obvious to everyone.

🔸 Macron's speech was full of "nuclear rhetoric and claims to nuclear leadership."

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🇷🇺🪖More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry's daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:

▪️Ukraine lost up to 200 servicemen in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 155 troops in the Russian Vostok Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Russian aviation shot down four JDAM bombs and 67 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 230 militants and 2 warehouses in the Russian Yug Battlegroup's combat zone.

▪️Ukraine lost up to 95 soldiers in the areas of responsibility of Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr and Sever.

▪️Ukraine lost more than 170 militants in the Kursk region over the day.

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🇸🇰 Slovakia will not provide Ukraine with military aid, contributions should be made voluntarily - Prime Minister Fico.

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💬 Macron's predecessors were Napoleon and Hitler – Lavrov

“They [Napoleon and Hitler] said directly that Russia must be defeated, and Macron apparently wants to do the same but for some reason he says it’s necessary to go to war with Russia so that it does not defeat France”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

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⚔️Trump pressuring Zelensky to clean house of officials hostile to peace talks – report

The administration’s ‘initial plan’ for the freeze of US arms aid and intel support for Ukraine is for it to last ‘a week or two’ as part of a broader effort to compel Zelensky to match the US position, an unnamed senior administration official has told NYT.

🟠Trump’s team wants Zelensky ‘to remove officials from his government whom the White House sees as hostile to negotiations with the Russians’, the outlet’s sources said, adding that the administration still wants the mineral rights deal, whose signature was interrupted last week, to be signed in time.

🟠Senior Trump allies including House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier called on Zelensky himself to resign, saying following last week’s White House blowup that “if he is unwilling to come to the table with gratitude, Ukraine may need a new leader to move forward.”

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❗️Trump's administration is planning to revoke the temporary legal status of some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, Reuters reports.

The decision is expected to be made as early as April.

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✅US pulls plug on Ukraine: No arms deliveries & intel blackout

The Pentagon has confirmed that all forms of US military aid to Ukraine have been suspended since 11:00 p.m. GMT Monday.

The order to halt all aid affects not only future deliveries, but also weapons ALREADY EN ROUTE to Ukraine, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense told Sputnik.

Earlier, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that the Washington had completely ceased sharing intelligence data, rather than reducing it selectively.

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❗️Trump administration may begin sharing classified data with Russia, NBC reports

But some former US intelligence officers say they are concerned that the Trump administration may opt to scale back intelligence collection aimed at Russia, as the US may no longer see Russia as a top threat.

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⚔️China confident in trade war advantage over US – expert

China has an upper hand because "reconfiguring supply chains is far more difficult, time-consuming, and risky for the US than for China," Fabio Massimo Parenti, associate professor of international political economy and global studies at China Foreign Affairs University, tells Sputnik.

"China is the world's leading manufacturer across all sectors, with advantages in rare earth deposits and a higher innovation rate in frontier industries," Parenti stresses.

He argues that China's national production system outperforms the US due to its large domestic market, strong global presence, and cost-effective products.

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❗️'The West is trying at all costs to achieve a breakthrough for Ukraine and prevent the collapse of the front' - Russian MFA spokeswoman.

"Pause in Ukrainian conflict is unacceptable, firm agreements on final settlement needed," Maria Zakharova stated.

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