Here are the latest updates as of Tuesday, February 17:
Fighting
Ukraine recaptured 201 square kilometers (78 square miles) of territory from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday, taking advantage of a disruption in Russian military’s Starlink communication, according to an analysis of battlefield data by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), cited by AFP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his Monday night video address that Ukrainian intelligence believes Russia will launch further attacks on the country’s energy sector, a tactic that would make an agreement to end the nearly four-year war more difficult.
Russia launched 62 long-range attack drones and six different types of missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
Russia said it shot down 345 Ukrainian drones over the past 24 hours and that it had taken two more settlements in eastern Ukraine — Pokrovka and Minkivka, according to Russian state media.
A fire at the Black Sea port of Taman, which mainly handles oil products, grain, coal, and commodities, has been extinguished, officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region reported. The port was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday.
Military Aid
Ukraine has received 4.4 million large-caliber artillery rounds under a program involving Czech arms producers and funded by foreign donors, Czech President Petr Pavel told a local news website.
Ceasefire Talks
The head of Ukraine’s negotiation team, Rustem Umerov, has arrived in Geneva for the next round of trilateral talks with the US and Russia. Umerov posted on Telegram that he expects “constructive work and substantive meetings on security and humanitarian issues” on Tuesday.
The Moscow delegation has departed for the talks in Geneva, led by President Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky, Russian news agencies reported.
The main focus for the Russian negotiating team will be “discussing a wide range of issues,” including territorial matters, “and everything else related to the demands we have put forward,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said the head of Russia’s military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov, and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin will also participate in the Geneva talks, while Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev will join a separate working group on economic issues.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he has assured US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Hungary remains supportive of US peace efforts in Ukraine and that Budapest remains willing to host a peace summit.
Politics & Diplomacy
Hungary and Slovakia have asked Croatia to help secure their Russian oil supplies after flows via Ukraine were halted, an interruption the two countries have blamed on Kyiv. Hungary and Slovakia have an EU exemption to the bloc’s sanctions on Russian oil transported via Ukraine.
Responding to accusations of halting Russian oil supplies, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted a photo on X of firefighters tackling a blaze at the “Druzhba” oil pipeline, which he said was the cause. He accused Hungary of remaining silent for two weeks as its ally Russia attacked the pipeline.
The Kremlin on Monday said it agreed with statements by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who the previous day accused Ukraine of delaying the restart of the “Druzhba” pipeline to pressure Budapest into dropping its opposition to Ukraine’s future EU membership.
Ukraine’s anti-corruption police have accused the country’s former energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, of money laundering and hiding millions of dollars abroad, a day after he was detained trying to leave Ukraine. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said it is cooperating with 15 foreign jurisdictions to expand its corruption investigation.
(Image: Herman Halushchenko, former energy minister of Ukraine, center, leaves a court hearing after being detained on suspicion of money laundering and participation in a criminal organization. Authorities said he was detained by law enforcement while trying to leave the country.)
Russian oil producers may be forced to significantly cut output in the coming months as pressure from the US and major European powers restricts Moscow’s oil exports and storage tanks fill up. This situation could undermine the Kremlin’s war chest, which funds its war effort in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
France has agreed to grant asylum to Alexey Ishimov and Nadezhda Ishimova, a couple of Russian activists opposing the Kremlin, who were both detained by US law enforcement. However, Nadezhda is being prevented from leaving the US due to having a temporary travel permit instead of a passport. The couple left Russia in 2022 as the Kremlin intensified its crackdown on opposition following the invasion of Ukraine.