Here are the latest updates as of Saturday, February 15:
Fighting
A Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Saturday evening killed an elderly woman and damaged residential buildings, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
A Russian civilian was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a border region on Saturday, according to Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz.
Ukrainian forces also launched a “massive drone attack” on a village in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine, injuring at least 19 people, Russia’s TASS news agency reported on Saturday, citing local officials.
Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, injuring at least one person, according to TASS.
Ukrainian forces also struck the Russian border city of Belgorod, injuring two people, TASS reported on Saturday.
Russia has suffered “horrific losses” in Ukraine, losing around 65,000 soldiers in the past two months, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said. He also said in a media roundtable at the Munich Security Conference that the NATO alliance is strong enough that Russia would not attempt to attack it now.
Russia is losing between 7,000 and 8,000 soldiers per week in the ongoing war in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Munich.
Russian strikes across Ukraine have destroyed all of the country’s power plants, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “slave to war.”
(Image: Mourners slowly lower a coffin at a funeral on Friday for a father, his twin sons, and a daughter, who were killed in a Russian drone attack on February 11 in the Kharkiv region.)
Ceasefire Talks
President Zelenskyy said he had spoken by phone with US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, ahead of the next round of ceasefire talks in Geneva, posting on X.
Earlier in Munich, Zelenskyy said he was hopeful that substantive progress could be made at the Geneva talks, but added that the US was asking Ukraine for concessions “too many times.” He also said he wants to hear what compromises Moscow is willing to accept.
Zelenskyy said he feels “a little” pressure from Trump, who recently stated that Ukraine should not miss the “opportunity” for peace with Russia as soon as possible and urged him to “move quickly.”
He also accused Moscow of trying to delay decision-making by changing its chief negotiator — from military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov for the Abu Dhabi talks to Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky for the Geneva round.
US negotiators told Ukraine that Russia had promised to quickly end the war if Ukrainian troops withdrew immediately from the eastern Donetsk region, which is controlled by Russia, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine rejected that proposal and said it was open to discussing a US-proposed free trade zone in the region while freezing the remaining 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) front line.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said Kyiv would only accept one of two options: either maintaining the current line of control or establishing a free trade zone.
Zelenskyy said he wants the US to remain engaged in talks and wants Europe to have the opportunity to play a larger role. “Europe is not actually participating in the negotiations,” he said.
c* told an audience in Munich that he agreed with Zelenskyy’s assessment that Europe should be more involved in efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy added that Russia must accept ceasefire monitoring missions and prisoner exchanges. He estimated that around 7,000 Ukrainian troops are currently stationed in Russia, while over 4,000 Russian troops are held in Kyiv.
He also suggested that Moscow opposes the deployment of troops from France and the UK — which Paris and London have expressed willingness to do — to Ukraine after the war, because Russian President Putin “wants a chance to return.”
Politics & Diplomacy
Some G7 nations have expressed willingness to move forward with a ban on maritime services for Russian oil, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, adding that France is “fairly optimistic that a deal can be reached.” He said the EU is currently preparing its 20th round of sanctions against Moscow.
Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to soften some conditions of a new $8.2 billion loan program, including sensitive tax increases, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said.
The EU should “activate” the mutual defense treaty enshrined in its founding treaties, given the new threats the bloc faces from Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Munich.
Olympics
President Zelenskyy awarded the highest state honor to Olympic skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Italian Winter Olympics for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in Russia’s war. Speaking in Munich, Zelenskyy said he has great respect for “all Olympians who support you and your stance.”