Russia in March 2026: the most important developments in security
Russia's security picture in March 2026 was dominated by the air war with Ukraine. On 24 March Russia fired nearly 1,000 drones at Ukraine over 24 hours, killing between three and five people and damaging a world heritage site in Lviv; NATO scrambled fighter jets. The next day Russia said it shot down nearly 400 Ukrainian drones aimed at places including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Earlier, a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Kharkiv on 7 March killed at least ten people, and Russian officials reported about 250 Ukrainian drones shot down over the Moscow region in one weekend in mid-March.
Ukraine targeted Russian energy and industry. Strikes hit the Novorossiysk oil terminal on 2 March, the Baltic ports of Primorsk on 23 March and Ust-Luga on 25 March, where oil loadings were halted, and a refinery near St. Petersburg. Ukraine used British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles against a microelectronics plant in Bryansk, and Russian officials said at least six people died in the city. Zelensky said some allies had asked Ukraine to scale back attacks on Russian energy sites.
At sea, Belgium and France seized a tanker described as part of Russia's shadow fleet on 1 March, and France and the UK boarded another on 20 March. A Russian LNG tanker sank in the Mediterranean after explosions on 4 March; Putin blamed Ukrainian sea drones, and Ukraine did not claim it. A second damaged Russian tanker drifted near Italian islands, and coastal states warned of an environmental threat. Sweden detained the captains of two vessels.
A Russian court sentenced several men to life in prison on 12 March for the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack that killed 149 people; authorities linked the attackers to the Islamic State. US officials and media reported that Russia shared intelligence with Iran, which the Kremlin denied. Drones from Russia crashed in Estonia and Latvia, and two possible Ukrainian drones crashed in Finland.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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