Name: Russia and Ukraine trade attacks as the Iran war pulls US attention away | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-03-22T16:58:18.000Z
Duration: 5 min 56 s
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Fighting between Russia and Ukraine has left at least six people dead ahead of expected talks between the US And Ukraine.

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Ukrainian officials say at least two people were killed and six wounded, including two children, when a Russian drone struck a house in Zaporizhzhia.

In Russia, authorities say four people were killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Belgorod border region.

The attacks come as the US And Ukraine prepare to meet in Miami to discuss ways to end the war, according to Ukrainian state media.

She's a senior fellow and director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities.

She joins us now from Washington, D.C. good to have you with us, Jennifer.

Now, Ukraine appears to be ramping up its strikes on Russian territory.

What's your understanding of its strategy?

First, a lot of the strikes have been aimed at Russia's oil infrastructure, and

the goal being to diminish Russia's ability to produce oil, both for its domestic uses, but

That's especially important now that the United States has lifted some of the sanctions.

And as we've seen, the conflict in the Middle east has pushed oil prices higher.

So this is a lucrative business for Russia to fund its war machine.

The second goal is to try to hit military targets, places where, where Russia is continuing to build the input parts as well as the full military equipment, weapons, tanks, other types of things, to try to make sure that Russia's military capacity is diminished to the extent possible, to limit its ability to continue to push forward inside of Ukrainian territory.

And talking about the Iran war, how much is Russia banking on the world's attention being focused on the Middle east to carry out its attacks on Ukraine.

Well, the diversion of attention is most important when we think about the United States.

The United States has been the leading advocate here for pushing towards a peaceful resolution of this war since the Trump administration came in a little bit over a year ago.

And right now, US Attention is completely absorbed by the war and the challenges that the war has created, such as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

There's very little political space for pushing forward these diplomatic negotiations.

And so since the war started, we've seen none of the trilateral talks that were happening between the United States, Russia and Ukraine, which were most important for pushing towards an end to this war.

Of course, there are other implications as well, including limits on the military equipment that Ukraine can get because it's being used in the Middle East.

And as I mentioned before, the economic benefits that Russia is getting from the reduced sanctions and higher oil prices.

Yeah, speaking of the sanctions, this all comes at a time when some of these sanctions are being lifted.

How does this affect its ability to sustain its defensive position?

Well, Ukraine is facing a number of challenges.

You know, one of them is the potential loss, the likely loss of what military assistance it was continuing to get from the United States.

It relies most heavily from the United States on air defense.

And air defense is in high demand in the Middle East.

So it's very unlikely that Ukraine will get additional Patriot missiles.

This means that its industrial infrastructure, the infrastructure that it's using to power its economy and its military are going to be most likely degraded.

And that's going to put pressure on Ukraine's ability to fight and its ability to maintain its, its economy going forward.

The second factor is simply the lack of funding.

And we've seen that there are challenges in the EU to raising the necessary loan that was promised to Ukraine last at the end of last year due to objections from Hungary.

And so that means that in a couple of weeks, maybe six weeks, Ukraine will basically run out of money to fund its government, to fund its operations.

Now, we've seen Ukraine be very resilient.

It has become very adept at using low cost asymmetric capabilities.

So I do believe that it will try to continue to fight, but

it can only hold out for so long without cash or weapons.

I'm just wondering, so what other options would it have possibly, you know, in terms of going to the table for negotiations?

Would that push Ukraine to more concessions?

Well, it does put Ukraine at a disadvantage at the negotiating table.

My, my view has long been that Ukraine's position gets worse over time.

That time isn't really on Ukraine's side.

And the best deal that it's going to get is the deal that it can get today.

And the deal, six months isn't going to look that much better.

You know, that is, that means that the deal will be unsatisfying to a lot of people.

it still could be the, the best deal that Ukraine would get and it could leave Ukraine with most of its territory and the chance for economic prosperity going forward.

Now, there are a lot of issues that still have to be worked out.

And I think the United States can help Ukraine to get the best deal possible.

And that would mean making sure that Ukraine has the capabilities and the military that it needs to defend itself in the future.

As well as access to the weapons to arm that military and the economic resources it will need to fund its reconstruction.

Jennifer Kavanaugh, thank you for speaking to us.