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It's Friday, the 21st of March, welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world 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. Kiv 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

...