⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry statement on the situation in the Middle East (March 5, 2026)

💬 Moscow is deeply concerned that the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate.

There are no signs that the US and Israel – which launched a military operation under a completely far-fetched pretext aimed at overthrowing the legitimate authorities in Iran – are prepared to show restraint and stop the bloodshed. On the contrary, belligerent statements continue to flow from their capitals, while the Israeli army has carried out a new incursion into Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the aggressors are seeking to sow division within the Islamic world in the midst of the holy month of Ramadan.

They deliberately provoked Iran into retaliatory strikes against facilities in several Arab countries, which resulted in human casualties and material damage – developments that the Russian side deeply regrets.

In doing so, they are attempting to draw Arab states into a war serving someone else’s interests. At the same time, they are trying to divert attention from the catastrophic plight of the Palestinian people.

Russia once again calls on all parties to the current confrontation to immediately cease hostilities, including unacceptable strikes on the territory of the Arab states of the Gulf.

We consider attacks on civilians and strikes against any civilian infrastructure – whether in Iran or in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council – to be absolutely unacceptable.

❗️ It is clear that the only way to prevent the region from sliding further into the abyss of destabilization is to stop the aggression of the US and Israel, which triggered this chain reaction of suffering for the Arab peoples.

💬 Extract from the briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Moscow, March 4, 2026

Ukrainian crisis update

• The Banderite neo-Nazi regime, under the guise of so-called military expediency, continues to violate international humanitarian law, perpetrate terrorist attacks, and vent its frustration over battlefield failures on civilians.

• The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have once again deliberately targeted purely civilian facilities – residential buildings, medical and educational institutions, and civil and social enterprises – unrelated to the military-industrial complex, using drones and multiple rocket launchers. Over the past week, I must reiterate, more than 150 civilians, including one child, have been affected. Twenty-two people have lost their lives. I always substantiate these facts with concrete examples.

• Kherson Region. On February 23, a local resident was killed in the village of Lyubimovka due to artillery shelling of a residential area. On March 2, the AFU struck an office of Russian Interior Ministry in Golaya Pristan. According to confirmed reports, five officers were killed, and six were injured. Over the past weekend in the region, five people died, and 15 – including, once again, one child – were wounded due to Ukrainian UAVs and barrel artillery.

• Belgorod Region. On February 24, in the village of Chaiki, Belgorod District, a driver from the Prioskolye agricultural enterprise was killed by an AFU drone strike. On February 28, in the village of Rozhdestvenka, Graivoron District, two people were injured when a munition landed on the grounds of a private home. On March 1, in the village of Tserkovny, Belgorod District, a drone attack on a local agricultural complex left three workers wounded. On March 2, a resident of the village of Golovchino, Graivoron District, was killed by the detonation of a UAV.

• Incidentally, Western journalists are also witnessing the Kiev regime’s outright hunt for civilians in Russian regions. This was the experience of Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent for the British television channel Sky News. He travelled to film the situation in the residential community of Shebekino, Belgorod Region. The crew’s vehicle was attacked by an AFU kamikaze drone laden with explosives. The munition miraculously failed to detonate on impact. Notably, the British journalist, who repeatedly mentioned the phrase “Russian aggression” during his report, later naively questioned why their car had become a target for a Ukrainian UAV. Because the Kiev regime is hunting journalists. It is a special item on the menu at Bankovaya Street. Do not believe it? Then take a look at the Mirotvorets extremist website. See how many journalists are listed there. Yes, that’s what they have marked as targets. And it is not just Russian journalists. It is all journalists who do not serve the Kiev regime. Or even those who, as they say, do not “go against the grain of Bankovaya” but are deemed insufficiently loyal by the Kiev regime. The incident was, by the correspondent’s own admission, a “terrifyingly close illustration of the everyday dangers” faced by local residents. At least he acknowledged that much. Yes, it is indeed a terrifyingly close illustration of the everyday dangers. I would add the word “tragedy”– one that has not just unfolded but has been unfolding at full throttle, unfortunately, for many years before our very eyes. It’s just that British journalists, primarily, somehow failed to notice.

• Zaporozhye Region. On February 23, a drone strike damaged the building of Dneprorudnoye District Hospital, harming its therapeutic department. On March 1, on the Vasilyevka– Berdyansk motorway in the Chernigov Municipal District, two women were injured in an AFU terrorist attack, one of whom died.

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🎙Statement by President of Russia Vladimir Putin at a meeting on the situation in the global oil and gas markets (March 9, 2026)

Key points:

• Russia has repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East would inevitably put the global fuel and energy sector under pressure, drive up oil and gas prices, restrict supplies of these resources worldwide, and disrupt long-term investment plans. Judging by what is happening now, this is precisely what we are witnessing.

• Oil production linked to the use of the Strait of Hormuz risks coming to a complete halt as early as within the next month. It has already begun to decline, while storage facilities in the region are filling up with oil that cannot be exported, or can only be exported with great difficulty or at extremely high cost. It is obvious that a full rerouting of Middle Eastern oil supplies without using the Strait of Hormuz is unrealistic – at least for the time being.

• A similar situation is unfolding on the global gas market. Supplies of liquefied natural gas from the Middle East have sharply declined. Production capacity in the region has fallen, and restoring it will take weeks, if not months. It is impossible to quickly compensate for the missing volumes. As a result, global gas prices are also rising – in my view, even faster than oil prices.

❗️ I would like to emphasize – under the current conditions, competition among buyers for energy suppliers and for stable, predictable deliveries of oil and gas is intensifying. In this context, I cannot but stress that Russian energy companies have always been distinguished precisely by their reliability and stability.

• We will certainly continue supplying oil and gas to those countries that themselves remain reliable counterparties. I mean not only our partners in the Asia-Pacific region but also states in Eastern Europe, such as Slovakia and Hungary.

• I would like to remind you that the countries of the EU plan to introduce additional restrictions on purchases of Russian hydrocarbons, including liquefied natural gas, from April 25, up to a full ban on such supplies by 2027.

👉 In this regard, the Russian Government has already been tasked with assessing the possibility and feasibility of terminating supplies of our energy resources to the European market – rather than waiting for the door to be demonstratively slammed in our face. Instead, we should consider doing this now and redirect these volumes from the European market to more promising destinations.

• If European companies and European buyers were to reconsider and ensure long-term, stable cooperation with us – free from political fluctuations – then of course we remain open to working with European partners. We have never refused such cooperation. But we need signals from them that they are also ready and willing to work together and will ensure stability and predictability in our relations.

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#KievRegimeCrimes

⚡️ Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik:

💬 The number of civilians injured by the actions of Ukrainian militants over the past week has exceeded 180 people, including 10 children. This is the highest number of civilian casualties recorded since the beginning of 2026.

Among the victims are entire families. In the DPR, a family of four, including a 7-year-old boy, was killed in a drone strike. In the Zaporozhye Region, parents were killed, while their 6-year-old son was injured.

The largest number of civilian casualties was recorded in the Belgorod, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, as well as in the DPR. In these regions, civilian infrastructure and the civilian population were subjected to drone, missile and artillery strikes by Kiev’s militants.

From March 2-8, a total of 183 civilians were affected by shelling carried out by Ukrainian forces: 153 people were injured, including 9 minors, while 30 people were killed, including one child.

Over the past seven days, Ukrainian militants fired at least 3,563 munitions at civilian targets on Russian territory.