Ceasefire claims and a farewell: Ukraine's politics in late March 2025
A look back at the political backdrop in Kyiv and Moscow around 25 March 2025, as accusations over an energy ceasefire mounted.
What was the political mood in Kyiv on 25 March 2025? It was shaped by days of competing claims over the peace effort led by U.S. President Donald Trump, and by the death of a figure from the country's earliest years of independence.
On 19 March 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to discredit Trump's peace negotiations. His remark followed overnight Russian drone attacks on Kyiv that came after talks between the United States and Russia.
The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense made a counter-accusation. It said Ukraine had violated the energy infrastructure ceasefire reached by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a drone attack on an oil depot in Krasnodar Krai.
The two statements set out opposing narratives. Each side presented the other as the one undermining the diplomatic track, and the energy ceasefire was already the subject of dispute.
On 20 March 2025, Vitold Fokin, the first prime minister of modern-day Ukraine, died aged 92. Zelenskyy mourned him, describing a sense of loss for all Ukrainians.
Taken together, the reports show a political week in which wartime diplomacy and accusations of violations dominated, while the passing of Fokin prompted a public moment of national remembrance.
