The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 21st, 2025: Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire In Jeopardy & American Hostage Freed From Taliban's Clutches

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, Kyiv and the Kremlin traded accusations on Friday of terrorism and deceit over the destruction of a Russian gas transit station near Ukraine��s border, in the latest sign that even a limited ceasefire between the two warring parties will be difficult to maintain despite the Trump administration’s optimism about peace. Later in the show, following negotiations with the Trump administration and Qatari officials, the Taliban has released an American hostage after holding him for more than two years in Afghanistan. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. It's Friday, the 21st of March. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world's stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, the Trump administration's hopes for a limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine appear to be at risk, as Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of sabotaging a Russian gas facility, and the Kremlin continues its attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure. Later in the show, following negotiations with the Trump administration and Qatari officials, the Taliban has released an American hostage after holding

it for more than two years in Afghanistan. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Keeve and the Kremlin traded accusations on Friday of terrorism and deceit over the destruction of a Russian gas pumping station near Ukraine's border in the latest sign that even a limited ceasefire between the two will be difficult to maintain, regardless of the Trump administration's stated optimism about peace. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, both Russia and Ukraine tentatively agreed this week to adhere to a 30-day partial ceasefire halting attacks on energy infrastructure. But the details of the proposal still need to be ironed out next week in Saudi Arabia, where the U.S. will hold separate peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials. While questions remain

about how it could be formally implemented and enforced, both Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said earlier this week that they had instructed their militaries to cease attacks on energy sites. But both countries have already accused each other of failed. willing to uphold their word. The latest incident came Friday when the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Keeves' forces blew up a critical Russian gas transit station during their retreat from the Kursk region, that's according to a report from Reuters. Video emerged Friday of a massive blaze at the Sudza facility that's located inside Russia just several hundred meters from the Ukrainian border. Russia's investigative committee said that they had opened a criminal investigation

calling the gas transit facility's destruction a, quote, active terrorism. Well, now, that, of course, is a rather incredible statement since it's coming from the country that invaded and occupied another country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, apparently in an attempt to show even less self-awareness than the Russian investigative committee, later accused Ukraine of violating the moratorium on energy infrastructure attacks, claiming it was proof that Keeve couldn't be trusted to operate in good faith when it comes to peace talks. But leaders in Kiev quickly hit back, accusing Russian forces of deliberately shelling the energy station in what they described as a false flag

provocation. A statement from the Ukrainian Army General Staff said, quote, the Russians continue to produce numerous fakes and seek to mislead the international community. President Zelenskyy's chief of staff later added, quote, Russian attempts to deceive everyone and pretend that they are adhering to the ceasefire will not work, as to fake news about the strike on the gas station will not work." While details of the incident at the Sutsa facility are still hard to verify, it comes after Russia launched a massive drone and missile bombardment early Wednesday morning that struck two Ukrainian hospitals and an energy substation in the eastern Denedsk region, and that was

less than 24 hours after Putin claimed he'd given the orders to his military to cease attack on Ukrainian energy sites. Ukrainian officials say the Russian strongman is talking out of both sides of his mouth and is trying to manipulate current diplomatic talks with the U.S. to gain an advantage on the battlefield. At an EU summit in Oslo on Thursday, Zelensky said they, quote, nothing has changed since President Trump's phone call with Putin on Tuesday. He told the conference, quote,

Yesterday evening, another Russian strike hit our energy infrastructure. We in Ukraine face this every day, night, despite Putin's words about allegedly being ready to stop the attacks, end quote. Still, President Trump has maintained optimism regarding next week's peace talks in Riyadh, telling reporters Thursday, quote, I believe we'll get it done, we'll see what happens. But soon after his remarks, Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, hitting multiple civilian targets, injuring three people and triggering multiple fires. Following the attack, Tzolensky reiterated his skepticism regarding Putin's motivations for engaging in diplomacy with the U.S., saying, quote,

the relentless aerial attacks exposed to the world Russia's true attitude towards peace. Coming up next, the Trump administration secures the release of an American hostage held for more than two years in Afghanistan by the Taliban. I'll be right back. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switched to Verizon we can get four phones for $0,000, plus four, lines for $25 a line. Call me back. Me again. That's just $100 a month for four lines on Unlimited welcome. Plus four phones, no trade in needed. Call me. It's mom. America's Best Network, Verizon. That's the one we're talking about. I'll send you text. America's Best Network based on Route Metrics, Best Overall Mobile Network Performance, U.S. second half 2025. Four new lines on a limited

welcome and auto pay. See Verizon.com for details. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. in a bit of good news. And we could all use some good news, right? An American citizen who spent more than two years being held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban was released on Thursday and returned to the U.S. to be reunited with his family. Sixty-five-year-old George Glesman, who worked as a Delta airline's mechanic, was abducted while visiting Kabul as a tourist, yeah, tourism, on December 5th, 2022. That's roughly 16 months after the Taliban seized power in the country, and he languished in a Taliban detention facility for more than 800 days. Officials said he was held in a nine-foot-by-nine-nine-foot cell and would often be placed in solitary confinement underground for months at a time. That's according to

our report from Fox News. His release followed several weeks of negotiations led by Katari mediators and U.S. hostage envoy, Adam Bowler. Now, the U.S. does not have any diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, having closed the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in August of 2021 after the Taliban's takeover. Instead, the U.S. relies on Qatar to serve as an intermediary. As mentioned, Qatari mediators have been holding discussions with Taliban officials for weeks to secure Glezman's release, but the breakthrough in negotiations reportedly only came after Austin Chonvoy Boler met in person with the Taliban earlier on Thursday at Kabul International Airport. He traveled to the country alongside Qatar mediators and former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan,

Zalme Khalilzad. It was the first known time that the U.S. is directly engaged with Afghanistan's interim government since the group seized power. A spokesman to Qatar's prime minister told Fox News, quote, that was the first meeting of its kind and opened the door for a lot of dialogue on lots of issues, including the issues of detainees. Now, Glezman is the third U.S. citizen. him to be freed from Afghanistan this year, following the release of Ryan Corbett and William McKenzie in a prisoner exchange in early January during the final days of the Biden administration. But this release differed in its diplomatic significance, with former Ambassador Khalilzad saying, quote, the Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to the U.S.

President and the American people, end quote. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marker Rubio praised Qatari officials for their assistance, saying they have, quote, consistently proven to be a reliable partner and trusted mediator facilitating complex negotiations. Upon landing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Friday, Glezman embraced his wife and thanked the Trump administration for working to free him, saying, quote, I feel born again. Well, welcome home. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Friday 21st of March. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please. reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

And don't forget to set your alarms for 10 p.m. tonight. It's Friday night when the latest episode of our extended weekend show, the PDB situation report, hits the airwaves on the first TV. You can also catch it, of course, and previous episodes, on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief, as well as podcast platforms everywhere. Great guests this weekend include Art Arthur from the Center on Immigration Studies and Bill Rocio from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

We're talking U.S. deportation policies, attacks on Yemen's Khuddi rebels, the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, and more. It's chock full of insight and information and, frankly, witty repartee. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.