Ben Hatton
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

The Kremlin offered a muted response on Monday to Donald Trump's remarks that he’s “very angry” and “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin.

The US president, who made the remarks to NBC News over the weekend, also threatened to place tariffs of up to 50% on countries that import Russian oil if a ceasefire deal is scuppered by Moscow.

In a daily press briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed any deterioration in relations with Washington.

He suggested parts of the statement were paraphrased, rather than “direct quotes”, said work on a Ukrainian peace process is “ongoing", and called talks about a potential maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea a “work in progress”.

Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, said on Sunday that Putin “does not care about diplomacy”, and called for further pressure on Russia to end the war.

We're pausing our live coverage now. For a deeper dive into some of the issues we've explored today, these posts have you covered:

• Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse looks at the latest in the US-Ukraine rare earth minerals deal, after Trump said Zelensky will have "big problems" if he pulls out
• Our colleagues at BBC Monitoring have been examining how Russian media have covered Trump's criticism
• And we've been taking a closer look at Trump's threat of "secondary tariffs" against Russia
• Or if you'd like to keep updated on further developments, our main story on the Kremlin's comments is here

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Russian forces have been using underground sewage systems in an attempt to enter Toretsk, a Ukrainian frontline town in Bakhmut, according to Viktor Trehubov, spokesman for Ukraine’s Khortytsya military command.

“We received information yesterday about enemy attempts to use underground communications channels to approach our forces from the rear in certain streets,” he told Ukrainian TV. “They are trying to approach us not just from the sides, but also from below.”

Because Ukrainian towns and cities heavily rely on central heating, they have are numerous underground tunnels housing heating pipes as well as sewerage.

Earlier in March, Russian forces claimed to have used a gas pipeline to enter Sudzha in Russia’s own Kursk region and eventually dislodge Ukrainian forces from the town. Later, a similar pipe was installed outside a church in Yekaterinburg in commemoration of the trick, with dozens of Russians lining up to crawl through it, external.

BBC Monitoring

Ukraine has agreed with the US on a list of energy facilities which should not be attacked by Russia during the partial ceasefire reached earlier this month, which differs from the list published by Russia, the Yevropeyska Pravda website reported, quoting the Ukrainian Energy Ministry.

Unlike Russia's list, Ukraine's one includes oil and gas extraction facilities which have suffered the most attacks recently, the website noted.

It added that the US had thus far not denied accepting the Russian list.

"Ukraine handed over and agreed with the American side the types of facilities for all energy infrastructure as part of an agreement to stop mutual strikes," the ministry was quoted as saying.

"This applies to the electric power, oil and gas industries, nuclear and coal industries, and power engineering - production of energy equipment,"

The ministry stressed that Washington was aware of these demands and that they were agreed with Washington.

Since an agreement was reached, both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of targeting energy infrastructure.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Russia and Ukraine continue accusing each other of attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, despite US-brokered promises not to do so.

This morning, the defence ministry in Moscow said Ukrainian shelling caused a power outage due to a power line breaking in Russia’s Bryansk region. In the same region, Ukrainian drones attacked an electricity substation yesterday evening, the statement said.

“Continuing deliberate attacks by Ukraine to against Russian energy facilities show that the Kyiv regime is totally incapable of keeping any commitments related to conflict settlement in Ukraine,” the Russian defence ministry said.

Also this morning, the head of Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv regional administration, Oleh Sunehubov, said a number of settlements were left without power due to Russian shelling. “Despite the constant danger”, he told Ukrainian TV, emergency workers have restored power to almost 2,000 households.

And in Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the local administration, Ivan Fedorov, said part of the village of Kushuhum was left without power due to a Russian attack late last night.

Image source, Volodymyr Zelensky X account

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has marked the third anniversary of the Ukrainian army retaking Bucha in a post in X.

The town outside Kyiv was invaded and occupied by Russian troops in 2022.

"Three years ago, our warriors liberated Bucha from the Russian occupiers. And the world saw what the Russian occupation truly is: people killed in the streets, people tortured, graves in the yards of ordinary houses," he says.

"Since then, no one in the world can say they do not know what Ukraine is defending.

"Ukraine is fighting for the lives of its people. It is fighting to ensure that no one, ever again, does on our land what the Russian occupiers did.

"Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by the Russian war. Eternal gratitude to all our people who are defending Ukraine."

• Last year, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford visited Bucha to see how residents were trying to return to normal life - you can read that story on our website

There may be 'problems' aheadpublished at 14:08 British Summer Time 31 March

14:08 BST 31 March

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

If, as Donald Trump suggests, President Zelensky will have “big problems” if he tries to pull out of America’s rare earth minerals deal, then they may be unavoidable.

Why? Well, according to Kyiv, the latest draft of the White House’s proposal includes US demands that have either been undiscussed or previously rejected.

A leaked version, seen by the BBC, has revealed terms that heavily favour Washington. They include forcing Kyiv to open its government books for inspection and giving the White House the power of a veto on future projects.

The idea of trading profits from Ukraine’s natural resources for American security guarantees was first pitched by Zelensky last year, but Trump has played hard ball, insisting that simply the presence of US businesses would be enough to stop Russia from breaking a future ceasefire.

Nevertheless, Ukraine’s leader had said he was willing to sign the deal, until now it seems.

He has reiterated his red lines of never recognising America’s financial and military aid to date as a “debt”, as well as never agreeing to a deal that could jeopardise Ukraine’s path to a possible membership of the European Union.

Giving the US first refusal on future investment projects would break the bloc’s strict competition laws.

If joining the NATO alliance is already off the table, Zelensky won’t want to lose the EU too.

Image source, Getty Images

The Swedish government announced a new military aid package to Ukraine today worth 16 billion kronor (£1.2 billion).

It is the biggest military aid package to date from the Nordic country.

Defence Minister Pal Jonson told reporters that Sweden wants to send the message that it is "both intensifying our support and increasing its strength and scope".

In a post on X, Jonson says the package includes support for Ukraine's air defence, artillery, satellite communications and maritime capacity.

He adds that an export guarantee will be introduced for defence exports so that more companies can support Ukraine by providing requested material.

Image source, EPA

Let's take another look at comments today from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

According to a report from Russian state-owned Tass news agency, Peskov said today that the US-brokered deal for a ceasefire in the Black Sea was a work in progress.

He is referring to a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea, agreed by both Russia and Ukraine in separate deals with the US last week.

Peskov said today that the previous Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was struck in 2022, was "implemented in the part concerning Ukraine" but never fulfilled in the part concerning Russia". Russia pulled out of the deal in 2023.

He stressed that "therefore, all these details are now receiving due attention in the course of our contacts".

"There is still some work to be done," Tass reported him as saying, adding he "cannot go into the full details about the range of issues on the agenda".

• You can read more about the Black Sea naval ceasefire deal in our full story

Image source, Reuters

Ending the war in Ukraine swiftly was part of Trump's election pitch to voters in the US.

"If we win, I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly," he said last September when he met Zelensky in New York.

But his rhetoric on how quickly he could make a deal has changed over time.

In a televised presidential election debate, Trump promised he would "get it settled before I even become president".

That was an escalation from his previous commitment in May 2023, when he said he could stop the fighting in 24 hours if elected - a claim he repeated several times.

"That deal would be easy", Trump said when campaigning, again repeating a version of this claim several times.

Earlier this month, just before hitting two months in office, he claimed he was "being a little bit sarcastic" when he made the claim he could stop the war in 24 hours.

Francis Scarr
BBC Monitoring

After appearing to ignore Trump’s criticism of Putin in its morning news bulletins earlier today, Russian state TV is now seeking to explain away the remarks.

Since he returned to office in January, the Kremlin-controlled media have been largely favourable towards Trump, sparing him the constant ridicule inflicted on his predecessor Joe Biden.

On the 60 Minutes talk show on the country’s most popular channel Rossiya 1, host Yevgeny Popov linked Trump’s comments to domestic politics in the US. He said that the president was keen to “drown out” the so-called Signal-gate scandal around the leak of information from top administration officials concerning missile strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

He also said that Trump was desperate to show some “tangible results” by the end of his first 100 days in office, which falls on 30 April, such as a ceasefire in Ukraine.

On Time Will Tell, a political talk show on Channel One, there was some rare criticism of Trump, as a pundit referred to a letter signed US mental health professionals written ahead of the 2024 election saying that Trump suffered from “malignant narcissism”.

“In my view, the man has some problems,” commentator Alexander Artamonov told the show.

Image source, Rossiya 1

What is President Donald Trump’s next move in the ceasefire negotiations?

What would happen if Russia launched a missile from the Black Sea into Ukraine? And what is President Putin up to in the Arctic?

If you've got burning questions on the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainecast is going to try to answer them.

Send the team a message at ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk, and stay tuned for a new episode Friday.

• In the meantime, you can listen to the most recent episode

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting US President Donald Trump's tone towards Russia changed over the weekend when he said he was "very angry" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He threatened to impose tariffs of up to 50% on countries buying Russian oil unless Moscow agrees to a ceasefire.

Here's what's happened since:

• In Russia's first reaction to Trump's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that the country was continuing to "work with the American side" on peace in Ukraine, and said Putin remained "open to contact" with Trump
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's said Putin "does not care about diplomacy" and called for further pressure on Russia to end the war

• Meanwhile, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund said Moscow and Washington had begun talks on jointly exploiting Russian rare earth metals
• This came after Trump accused Volodomyr Zelensky on Sunday of trying to "renegotiate" a wide-reaching energy and infrastructure deal that would give the US access to Ukraine's rare earths

• Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said two people were injured after Russia carried out air strikes on Kharkiv overnight - the Ukrainian Air Force said it had shot down 57 out of 131 decoy drones
• The Russian Defence Ministry said it shot down 66 Ukrainian drones overnight

Steve Rosenberg
Russia editor, reporting from Moscow

In Moscow we’ve just got the first official reaction to Donald Trump’s criticisms of Russia this weekend.

On his daily conference call with journalists Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wasn’t going to be drawn into an argument.

“Part of the statements you mentioned were paraphrased. These were not direct quotes,” Peskov said, referring to an NBC News anchor who had spoken to Trump on the telephone.

“We continue to work with the American side, primarily on sorting out our bilaterial relations, which had been greatly damaged by the previous [US] administration. And we are also working on several areas regarding the Ukraine peace process,” the Kremlin spokesman continued.

“Work is ongoing. We have nothing concrete yet that we could or should tell you. This process is drawn out due to its complicated nature. The President remains open to contact with President Trump. A telephone call can be organised quickly if needed.”

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Finnish Presidential Office

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Sunday that Trump is running out of patience with Russia and that the US has "far-reaching" plans for if it does not agree to a ceasefire.

Stubb was speaking at a news conference the day after a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where the pair reportedly played golf together.

Ukrayinska Pravda, a Ukrainian news website, reports that Stubb told reporters a plan for additional sanctions on Russia could be brought before Congress if Moscow doesn't agree to a ceasefire or breaches its conditions.

Trump has threatened more sanctions on Russia previously - but at the beginning of March, his administration was also reported to be drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia some relief from the measures.

So far, Trump has mostly stuck with the sanctions regime he inherited from the Biden administration. Earlier this month, however, his administration allowed a short-term exemption that let some Russian banks access payment systems for energy-related transactions to lapse, effectively increasing the impact of sanctions.

Steve Rosenberg
Russia editor, reporting from Moscow

This morning I’ve been analysing Russian newspapers following Donald Trump’s remarks that he's "angry" with Vladimir Putin.

One Russian paper takes issue with President Trump: “So far Trump has not fulfilled his obligations...agreements reached on the level of Trump are only worth a few pennies on a market day.”

Watch below for my full take on how Russia is reading the situation.

Earlier we brought you news of a fresh series of drone strikes on Ukraine from Russia - we are now hearing an update from the other side of the border.

The Russian Defence Ministry says it shot down 66 Ukrainian drones overnight.

These include 41 in the Bryansk region, 24 over the Kaluga region and one over the Kursk region, it says.

On Sunday, Trump threatened "secondary tariffs" on Russia if it doesn't agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine. Let's unpack that a little.

What did Trump say?

"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia's fault , which it might not be... I am going to put secondary tariffs... on all oil coming out of Russia," the US president told NBC News.

"That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States," Trump added. "There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil."

He also described it as a "25% tariff on oil and other products sold in the United States, secondary tariffs".

What is a secondary tariff?

When a government imposes trade tariffs it means it is taxing the importer of goods. It's effectively an entrance fee for products, usually set at a percentage of their value.

This is not the first time Trump has talked about using "secondary tariffs". He appears to mean a tariff placed on a country because it does business with another country - in this case Russia.

So Trump appears to be threatening to impose a 25% to 50% tariff on products brought into the US from countries that purchase Russian oil. The biggest buyers of Russian oil are China and India.

What change would this make?

In March 2022, the US said it was banning the import of almost all Russian energy products. Other Western countries have issued similar sanctions.

And the US has a wider - and highly complex - sanctions regime against Russia. Its intention, in part, is to make it harder for Russia to buy and sell products, and reduce how much money it can make.

The secondary tariffs Trump is suggesting would make it harder for Russia to sell oil - as purchasers would be mindful of damaging their trade with the US.

I don't expect the Kremlin to say 'we're quaking in our boots'published at 09:21 British Summer Time 31 March

09:21 BST 31 March

Steve Rosenberg
Russia editor, in Moscow

There has been no official reaction yet in Moscow to Donald Trump's comments. That may come later in the day. But I don't expect the Kremlin to say "we are quaking in our boots". Traditionally, President Vladimir Putin does not take well to threats and ultimatums.

What caught my eye this morning is an article in one of the leading pro-Kremlin papers, Moskovsky Komsomolets. It points an accusatory finger back at President Trump and accuses the US president of not fulfilling his "obligations" to stop Ukraine striking Russian energy infrastructure.

The newspaper reaches this conclusion: that "all agreements on the level of President Trump are only worth a few pennies on market day. Moscow is prepared to make a deal with the US president, as 'the leader of the free world', and the undisputed boss of Nato and 'the lord and master of Kyiv'. But right now the leader is not leading, the boss is not bossing and the lord is not directing his vassal."

That is rare criticism of Donald Trump in the Russian media. He usually gets a good press here. The article ends with a warning: "If the diplomats cannot move the peace process forward, the military will do all the talking. Putin has made his move, now we wait for Trump's."

We need to add a note of caution from what we have seen before. What Trump says one day can change dramatically, diametrically by the next.

This makes analysing them in real time difficult for us - and possibly for the Kremlin, too.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

Russia has stepped up the number of attacks using highly powerful glide bombs, reports say.

Over the course of Sunday alone, it launched 223 glide bombs at Ukrainian troops and settlements, the Ukrainian General Staff says, external.

Glide bombs are cheap but highly destructive ordnance made from conventional free-fall bombs fitted with pop-out wings.

It has also recently increased the number of glide bombs launched in a single strike.

“While in January the enemy used an average of two-three glide bombs in a single air strike, now the number has grown to four-five and sometimes even nine bombs per strike,” Dmytro Zaporozhets, a spokesman for the Ukrainian operational command Luhansk, said in a TV interview on 1 March, external.

According to reports, external, last year Russia used more than 3,000 glide bombs against Ukraine per month.

BBC Monitoring

Overnight, Ukraine's air defences shot down 57 out of 131 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force says in its daily update.

Posting on Telegram, the air force says Russian drones were "shot down in the north, east and centre of the country".

Some 45 decoy drones were lost in flight and did not cause damage, it says, adding that Sumy, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions were affected by the Russian attack.