Listed below are the important thing developments on the 1,088th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Right here is the scenario on Sunday, February 16:
Preventing
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated he wished United States President Donald Trump’s particular envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, to go to his nation’s jap entrance line to report again to Trump on the realities on the bottom.
- “It is vitally necessary for me that he sees this,” Zelenskyy stated on the Munich Security Conference. “I actually need him to deliver all this to President Trump… To indicate him, inform him”.
- Russian army advances in December and January south and southwest of Pokrovsk metropolis – positioned northwest of Donetsk within the east of Ukraine – have slowed over the past two weeks, US-based defence suppose tank the Institute for the Examine of Conflict (ISW) stated.
- The slowing advance round Pokrovsk could point out that Russia’s army command will prioritise offensive operations towards Kostiantynivka – the southernmost level of Ukraine’s entrance line in Donetsk – within the hotter months later this yr, the ISW stated.
NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to create circumstances to border Putin because the victor over US President Donald Trump in negotiations. ⬇️
Zelensky said throughout his deal with on the Munich Safety Convention on… pic.twitter.com/aABmX5Tcui
— Institute for the Examine of Conflict (@TheStudyofWar) February 16, 2025
- The ISW additionally stated the advances could also be slowing as a result of front-line Russian units degraded by battle and intense Ukrainian drone operations within the space.
- Ukraine additionally not too long ago superior on Russian forces close to Pokrovsk in Ukraine, whereas Russian troops not too long ago superior close to Toretsk and Velyka Novosilka in Russia’s Kursk area, which is held by Ukrainian forces, ISW stated.
- Belarus has denied plans to rearm and assault Ukraine, after Zelenskyy warned of such a state of affairs on the Munich convention. “We don’t pose a risk to anybody, we aren’t growing the variety of troops or weapons methods – in contrast to our neighbours, the Poles and the Baltics, who’re specializing in militarisation,” Secretary of the Nationwide Safety Council in Belarus Alexander Wolfovich stated.
US plans for Ukraine
- Senior officers from Trump’s administration will begin talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia within the coming days, the Politico information outlet reviews, citing sources conversant in the plan.
- However Europe will not have a seat on the desk for Ukraine peace talks, the US’s Kellogg stated.
- European leaders scrambled to drive their strategy to the desk for any speak as Washington introduced {that a} group of senior US officers is planning to satisfy in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Nationwide Safety adviser Mike Waltz and Center East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for the talks, US officers stated, with out giving particulars on when the assembly would occur.
- NATO chief Mark Rutte stated Europe needed to provide you with “good proposals” for securing peace in Ukraine if it wished to be concerned within the US-led talks.
- European leaders at the moment are planning to carry a particular summit concerning the battle in Ukraine in response to Trump’s plans.
- France will host the summit, Poland’s International Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will attend.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rubio mentioned the scenario in Ukraine in a name on Saturday, in addition to the removing of “unilateral obstacles” to the normalisation of relations.
- Through the name, which was initiated by Washington, Lavrov and Rubio agreed to work on restoring “mutually respectful interstate dialogue” according to the tone set by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian International Ministry stated.
- Talking in Munich, Zelenskyy additionally known as for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent might now not rely on Washington. “We are able to’t rule out the chance that America would possibly say no to Europe on points that threaten it,” he stated.
- The US has requested European nations what they’ll contribute when it comes to safety ensures for Ukraine, Finland’s president stated.
- Zelenskyy has introduced that he blocked a deal that will have given the US entry to huge quantities of Ukrainian pure sources because it lacked “safety ensures” from Washington for Kyiv.
- Poland’s International Minister Sikorski stated the US’s “credibility” as an ally trusted the end result of the struggle in Ukraine.
- The overseas ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) main industrialised nations reaffirmed their “unwavering help for Ukraine”. G7 nations have offered army and monetary help to Kyiv, together with by making obtainable to Ukraine Russian state belongings frozen within the West.
- United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated Europe “should tackle a larger function in NATO” and work with the US to “safe Ukraine’s future” amid “the risk we face from Russia”.
- Ukraine’s International Minister Andrii Sybiha and Zelenskyy’s chief of employees, Andriy Yermak, stated they mentioned Kyiv’s imaginative and prescient of a path to peace in Ukraine with China’s International Minister Wang Yi.
- Wang informed the Munich convention on Friday that China believes all stakeholders within the Russia-Ukraine battle ought to take part within the peace talks, underscoring Europe’s function.
Navy assist
- A Czech-led initiative to provide Ukraine with large-calibre ammunition has delivered 1.6 million shells and can proceed, Czech President Petr Pavel stated.
Regional developments
- The ISW reviews that Russian cargo vessels have continued to evacuate Moscow’s army belongings from the port of Tartous as Russia negotiates its continued presence in Syria with the brand new interim authorities, following the autumn of the Bashar al-Assad regime – Moscow’s former ally.
