Tenth Ramstein meeting, Russia's intentions to take control of Moldova: highlights of the day

"Ramstein 10"

On March 15, Ukraine's partners gathered for the tenth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the coalition of countries providing Leopard tanks continues to grow as nine countries have now pledged to provide more than 150 tanks. The number of countries providing air defense systems also continues to grow.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that the Alliance and its members are working to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems, armor and ammunition.

Russia's plans for Moldova

Investigative journalists from RISE Moldova said they had obtained a Kremlin plan to establish political control over Moldova by 2030. This is an unpublished document "Strategic Goals of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova", which was drawn up in 2021.

In particular, by 2030, Russia planned to bring the positions of the leadership of Moldova and "Transnistria" closer to resolving the conflict, as well as to grant Russian the "status of a language of interethnic communication."

Dismissal of regional governors

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees dismissing three heads of regional state (military) administrations:

• Serhiy Hayday as head of the Luhansk Oblast State Administration;

• Maksym Marchenko as head of the Odesa Oblast State Administration;

• Serhiy Hamaliy as head of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast State Administration.

Hayday had been in office since October 2019, Marchenko since March 2022, and Hamaliy since December 2020.

Situation at the frontline

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian troops are focusing their offensive attempts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, Maryinka, and Shakhtarsk axes.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has estimated that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Ukrainian military has killed 161,520 occupiers. On March 14 alone, Russia lost 980 of its soldiers, 8 tanks, 10 armored combat vehicles, 8 artillery systems and other equipment. Also on March 15, Ukrainian troops shot down a Su-24 bomber and a Su-25 attack aircraft on the Bakhmut axis.

Other important news

• The first episode of the "Rotterdam+" case was sent to court: six people are accused of causing electricity consumers losses exceeding $516.5 million in 2016-2017;

• Russian troops attacked the town of Marhanets in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. As a result, two people were killed and five others were injured;

• Russian troops shelled civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that there were no military or infrastructure facilities at the site of the strike — only residential buildings and municipal infrastructure;

• The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled in favor of Ukraine in the case of the $3 billion Eurobonds known as the "Yanukovych debt".