Ukraine talks on pause
Trilateral peace talks involving Washington, Kyiv and Moscow are on a “situational pause” as the Iran war diverts diplomatic and military attention, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. President Zelensky warned the Middle East conflict is draining Western matériel and delaying peace initiatives — and Kyiv’s drone expertise, honed against Iran‑supplied systems, is now being used by U.S. and allied forces in the region. (reuters.com) (kyivpost.com) (latimes.com)
Russia’s Izvestia reported on March 19 that the Kremlin described trilateral U.S.-Russia-Ukraine talks as on a “situational pause,” and quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev would continue work on investment and economic cooperation. (usnews.com) Both Kyiv and Moscow publicly confirmed on March 12 that a scheduled next round of trilateral talks had been postponed amid the wider Middle East crisis. (rferl.org) The most recent U.S.-mediated trilateral session took place in Geneva on Feb. 17–18 as the third round of talks this year, with delegations from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow present. (swissinfo.ch) President Volodymyr Zelensky told lawmakers and press that 201 Ukrainian military specialists are already operating in Gulf states to advise on countering Iranian drones, with a further 34 personnel reported ready for deployment. (thedefensepost.com) U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Bloomberg the Pentagon rushed roughly 10,000 Merops interceptor drones — a Ukraine-tested counter‑UAS system — to the Middle East within five days of the Feb. 28 start of the U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran. (bloomberg.com) Defense contractors and Pentagon briefings say the Merops/Surveyor package, battle‑tested in Ukraine and credited with more than 1,000 intercepts of Shahed‑type drones there, is being positioned at multiple regional locations to blunt Iranian swarm attacks. ( )
