Putin has stepped up his attacks on Ukraine since the opening of peace negotiations.

MoscowVladimir Putin continues to demonstrate through his actions that, at least for the time being, he is not interested in stopping the war in Ukraine. Since the start of talks with the United States on February 18, Russia has increased drone attacks against Kiev by 52%, according to research byThe TelegraphAccording to public information from the Ukrainian Air Force Command.

Before Washington and Moscow restored relations, the Russian military launched an average of 101 drones per day against Ukrainian targets, while since then the number has increased to 154. Moreover, five days after the first meeting in Saudi Arabia, the 2nd Fatherland War, Russia sent the largest number of drones in a single day since the start of the war, 267.

The trend has continued to the point that on Saturday night, Moscow ordered the largest missile and drone attack against Ukrainian territory in the last month. In total, 23 missiles and 109 drones, as indicated by the latest report from thethink tankMilitary analysis Institute for the Study of War (ISW). In Kiev, the capital, missiles injured at least five people in several locations. Earlier on Friday, at least 20 people, nine of them children, were killed and another 75 were injured by another missile strike in Krivi Rih, in eastern Ukraine and Zelensky's hometown.

The ISW notes that Russia has not only increased the number of attacks recently, but has also perfected their effectiveness. It now uses "long-range drones" and is constantly experimenting with "different combinations of bombings" to more easily circumvent Ukraine's air defense system.

No respite in the Black Sea

In recent hours, Volodymyr Zelensky has also accused Russia to use its ships in the Black Sea to fire missiles at Ukrainian positions, while Putin obstructs the implementation of a maritime ceasefire by demanding the lifting of sanctions. According to ISW, this practice is part of the Russian military's experiments to improve the effectiveness of attacks.

"Ukraine accepted the US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and Putin rejects it," Zelensky said on Monday, adding: "We are waiting for the United States to respond; so far, there has been no response." The Kremlin defends itself by arguing that "Putin supports the idea of a ceasefire," but that there are "a whole series of issues" to be resolved first.

Meanwhile, military analysts at the Institute for the Study of War have found no evidence that Ukrainian troops have hit Russian energy facilities and, in doing so, violated the ceasefire agreement on these networks. "No official local or regional reports of Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, nor any images of these attacks, have been observed," reads the latest ISW report.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has made it a daily ritual to report alleged Ukrainian bombings against energy facilities. On Monday, for example, it accused Kiev of attacking several fuel and electricity plants in the Rostov, Voronezh, Kherson, Bryansk, and Donetsk regions six times in 24 hours. In its report, the ISW also notes that, before proposing the energy truce, the Kremlin downplayed, to the point of almost concealing, successful attacks on these facilities.

The stone in Belgorod's shoe

One of the issues to be resolved before accepting a ceasefire, even if the Kremlin does not admit it, could be The Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of BelgorodOn March 18, while the whole world was waiting for the second call between Putin and Trump, Kiev's troops broke through Russian lines on the western border with that territory. The attack occurred in the midst of the Russian soldiers' advance on Kursk and forced Moscow to shift some of its regiments from that area south to Belgorod. This partly explains why Russia has not yet been able to complete the expulsion of Kiev's troops from Kursk, which seemed imminent weeks ago.

The Kremlin already warned in August, after the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk, that it was impossible to negotiate with Zelensky. while his soldiers occupied Russian territories. Beyond wanting to make as much progress as possible in eastern Ukraine, Putin needs to have control of the entire Russian border to prevent the Ukrainian president from showing up at the negotiating table with an ace up his sleeve.

Emmanuel Macron has called for "strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and reject peace." The Russian official press is confident that Trump's trade war shifts global attention to the White House, while Putin does not shrink and redoubles the attacks against Ukraine.