Listed here are the important thing developments on the 1,091st day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Right here is the state of affairs on Wednesday, February 19:
Combating
- Russia stated its air defences downed 21 Ukrainian drones within the house of an hour in a single day, most over Russia’s western Bryansk area. One drone was additionally downed over Russian-annexed Crimea.
- Kyiv’s forces stated they knocked out a North Korean self-propelled howitzer artillery cannon on the jap entrance in Ukraine. Kyiv stated it was the primary time because the begin of the battle with Russia {that a} North Korean М-1978 Koksan howitzer had been hit by a Ukrainian drone.
- Ukraine and Western navy specialists say as much as 12,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in southern Russia’s Kursk area together with their navy gear and alongside Russian forces.
- Ukrainian forces engaged in 144 clashes with Russian troops on Tuesday, repelling a number of assaults throughout completely different entrance strains, in line with the Ukrainian navy, Turkiye’s official Anadolu information company reviews.
- Kyiv additionally stated that Russian forces launched two missile strikes and 72 air strikes, and used 1,024 kamikaze drones, together with 4,200 artillery assaults that focused Ukrainian positions and settlements, AA reviews.
- In Ukraine’s Kharkiv area, Ukrainian forces stated they prevented Russian advances in direction of Mala Shapkivka and Topoli, whereas Moscow’s troops launched 16 assaults in Ukraine’s Kupiansk area, with Kyiv’s forces claiming to have repelled 14, as battles proceed, Anadolu reviews.
- Russia stated oil flows by means of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a significant route for supplying Kazakhstan and exporting to the worldwide market, have been lowered by 30 to 40 p.c after a Ukrainian drone assault on a pumping station.
- The Caspian pipeline, which ships greater than 1 p.c of day by day world oil provides, stretches over 1,500km (939 miles) and carries crude oil from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield on Russia’s northeastern shores of the Caspian Sea in addition to from Russian producers.
- Freedom in Russia and the tip of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authorities depends upon Ukraine successful the warfare, former chess world champion and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov stated. “There isn’t any freedom of Russia, no finish of the Putin regime, with out Ukrainian victory,” stated Kasparov, 61, who retired from chess in 2005 to concentrate on political activism, and has lived in exile in New York for the previous decade.
US plans for Ukraine
- Russia and america agreed to ascertain groups to barter a path to ending Moscow’s warfare on Ukraine after talks that drew a robust rebuke from Ukraine over its exclusion from the assembly between Washington and Moscow officers in Saudi Arabia.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed his nation’s exclusion from the Riyadh talks, saying negotiations to finish the warfare must be “truthful” and contain European international locations, together with Turkiye – which has supplied to host future discussions.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed on the Riyadh talks to “appoint respective high-level groups to start engaged on a path to ending the battle in Ukraine as quickly as potential”, the US State Division stated.
- Washington stated the 2 sides had agreed to “set up a session mechanism” to handle “irritants” to the US-Russia relationship, noting the edges would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.
- Rubio later briefed counterparts from France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the European Union with reviews that the US instructed its European allies that it will have a seat on the negotiating desk “in some unspecified time in the future”.
- US President Donald Trump instructed reporters he was far more assured of a deal to finish the Ukraine warfare after the talks, saying: “I feel I’ve the ability to finish this.”
- Trump then chided Europe and Kyiv for complaining about being reduce out of the discussions with Moscow. “At present, I heard, ‘Oh, nicely, we weren’t invited’. Nicely, you’ve been there for 3 years,” Trump stated, referring to the warfare. “It’s best to have by no means began it. You may have made a deal… A half-baked negotiator may have settled this years in the past with out the lack of a lot land, little or no land, with out the lack of any lives,” Trump stated, echoing his frequent declare that he may have prevented Russia’s full-scale invasion.
- Trump additionally stated he would “most likely” meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier than the tip of the month, however didn’t elaborate.
- Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s international coverage aide, stated it was “troublesome” to debate a date for a possible assembly between Trump and Putin.
- Moscow’s financial negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, stated that Western makes an attempt to isolate Russia had “clearly failed”.
- The EU’s international coverage chief, Kaja Kallas, urged the US to not stroll into “traps” set by Russia because it makes an attempt to divide the West. “By working along with the US, we will obtain a simply and lasting peace – on Ukraine’s phrases,” Kallas stated.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that he had acquired US assurances that Washington wouldn’t cut back its troop presence in Poland and elsewhere alongside NATO’s jap flank.
Army assist & defence spending
- EU lawmakers demanded that Europe “double down” on bolstering its defences and supporting Ukraine. “Europe can not absolutely depend on america to defend our shared values and pursuits, together with continued help for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the European Individuals’s Social gathering, Socialists and Democrats, Renew and Greens stated in an announcement.
- French President Emmanuel Macron stated he would host one other assembly on Ukraine after the talks US-Russia talks in Riyadh. In an interview with French regional newspapers, Macron once more appeared open to the concept of sending troops to Ukraine however emphasised this might happen solely in probably the most restricted vogue and away from battle zones.
- Trump stated he wouldn’t oppose Europeans in the event that they need to ship peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to offer safety ensures within the occasion of a peace deal.
- Latvia will additional enhance its defence spending to 4 p.c of gross home product (GDP) subsequent 12 months and 5 p.c within the following years, Germany’s DPA information company reviews. Latvia, which is each an EU and NATO member, lies on NATO’s jap flank and borders Russia.
- European defence shares have surged as governments face stress to extend navy spending within the area, the Reuters information company reviews.
Diplomacy
- Zelenskyy has postponed a deliberate go to to Saudi Arabia to not give “legitimacy” to the assembly between US and Russian officers in Riyadh, two sources acquainted with the matter instructed Reuters.
- Addressing a joint information convention in Ankara with Zelenskyy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated his nation could be a perfect host for potential upcoming conferences between Russia, Ukraine and the US to finish the warfare.
- Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov held talks in Turkiye on strengthening defence cooperation with Ankara, and assembly with the nation’s Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Land Forces Commander Common Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, Anadolu reviews.
- China’s Overseas Minister Wang Yi instructed the United Nations Safety Council that Beijing helps all efforts conducive to peace talks in Ukraine.
- Slovak police deported a 59-year-old Ukrainian saying investigations had discovered that the unnamed individual was concerned in organised crime in Ukraine and was linked to Ukraine’s intelligence companies.
Sanctions
- Turkiye’s largest oil refiner Tupras has stopped shopping for Russian crude oil due to US sanctions introduced on January 10 towards Russian power firms and tankers carrying Russian oil.
- The Reuters information company stated it was not clear if Tupras, which has grow to be one of many largest importers of Russian crude oil since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, would cease refined product imports from Russia. Russian oil represented 65 p.c of Turkiye’s whole oil imports in January-November 2024.
