Russia said it is ready to halt strikes on Ukraine for a single day of voting and floated UN-backed "temporary external governance," after Zelensky said elections could be held following two months of a ceasefire.

Nearly four years after Russia's expulsion from the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has launched a new platform for dialogue with exiled Russian forces. The move is a major shift in how Europe engages with Russian opposition figures at a time when Moscow remains isolated from the continent's main human rights body and the war in Ukraine continues with no clear end in sight. The 15 participants of the Russian PACE platform published their first joint statement on Feb. 6, wh

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur examines how Ukraine appears in recently released Jeffrey Epstein files. The files reference flight arrangements for models linked to Kyiv agencies, a failed real estate deal in Lviv, and brief mentions of Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election.

Former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko was detained while attempting to cross the state border, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said on Feb. 15.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Feb. 15 that Russia launched around 1,300 drones, more than 1,200 guided bombs, and 50 mostly ballistic missiles at Ukraine over the past week, targeting energy infrastructure and residential areas.

Russia has lost around 1,253,270 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Feb. 15, 2026.

Ukraine carried out strikes on an oil terminal in southern Russia and a Russian air defense system in Crimea overnight on Feb. 14–15, according to Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR).

The Alpha unit of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) destroyed half of Russia's stockpile of the coveted Pantsir air defense system, the SBU announced Feb. 14.

"There were three attacks on the energy infrastructure of Azerbaijan in Ukraine, and there were also three attacks on the Azerbaijani embassy in Ukraine," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the independent outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

Zelensky and Rubio discussed supporting Ukraine with air defense missiles during the winter and the possibility of future talks with the presidents of Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia to "resolve the most problematic issues."

"The U.K., Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin," the countries' governments said in a joint statement. "Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him."

"It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine – just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a greater war," Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference.

After its largest winter mass attack on Feb. 3, Russia's Defense Ministry said the strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure were carried out "in response to terrorist attacks by Kyiv on civilian objects" in Russia. Some state media described the attack as "another act of retribution." It's an old story — the first mass Russian strike on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure in October 2022 was framed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as retaliation for Kyiv's first successful strike against the

"(W)e have to find a solution to bridge the gap between the current methodology and the geopolitical challenges. We cannot wait any longer," European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said.

According to Svyrydenko, the program will be considered at the next meeting of the IMF Executive Board, while there has been "much discussion about how this will be done."

The General Staff reported that Russia's BK-16 landing vessel, a high-speed landing craft for coastal operations and troop transport, was "successfully hit" on Feb. 12 in Russian-occupied Crimea.

"In a time of headlines heralding the end of the Transatlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish, because for us Americans, our home may be in the western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe," Rubio said.

Russia launched 112 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force said.

The number includes 1,070 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 177,433 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

The attack targeted the Vyshhorod district of Ukraine's national capital region, which is located on the northern outskirts of Kyiv. Regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk reported that a man and a woman were hospitalized with injuries stemming from the attack.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect details on the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling on Feb. 13, which upheld the disqualification. Wearing a helmet commemorating Ukrainian athletes killed by Russia is not allowed, the  International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled on Feb. 12. Vladyslav Heraskevych, Ukraine's skeleton racer, was scheduled to compete in his third Olympic Games on Feb. 12. He was barred from taking part in the competition after refusing to change his helmet

President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Reza Pahlavi, Iranian opposition figure and exiled son of the country's last monarch, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 13.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipped a Berlin Format Ukraine meeting at the Munich Security Conference, raising concerns among European officials amid broader transatlantic tensions, the Financial Times reported Feb. 13.

"Russia wants to make a deal and Zelensky is going to have to get moving, otherwise he's going to miss a great opportunity," Trump claimed when speaking to reporters on Feb. 13. "He has to move."

Key developments on Feb. 13 * Ukraine's battlefield lessons drive UK to spend over $545 million on hypersonic, long-range weapons in 2026 * Using Starlink ruse, Ukrainian cyber forces trick Russian soldiers into revealing positions, donating to armed forces * 'Modern Ukrainian technology, battle-tested' — Zelensky unveils 1st drone produced by German-Ukrainian joint venture * Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces release footage of strikes on Russian airfield in Crimea, other targets in occupie

The group received $5,870 from Russian soldiers seeking to restore connectivity which it is donating to fundraising efforts for Ukrainian drones.

"Let's have this discussion, with one baseline: full membership comes only after full reforms," Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, said on Feb. 13 in Tallinn.

Editor's note: This article is a shortened on-site version of KI Insights' public newsletter, The Week Ahead, covering events from February 16-22. Sign up here to start your week with an agenda of Ukraine-related events delivered directly to your inbox every week. Audio version of The Week Ahead is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. The next round of trilateral negotiations will take place on 17–18 February in Geneva. According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the Rus

Ukraine struck a Russian 55Zh6U "Nebo-U" long-range radar station, estimated to cost around $100 million, near Yevpatoriia in occupied Crimea, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Feb. 13. The Nebo-U is a strategic early-warning radar designed to detect aerodynamic and ballistic targets at long distances and forms part of Russia’s layered air defense architecture. Similar systems have previously been targeted by Ukrainian forces in an effort to weaken Russia’s surveillance an

The facility is expected to produce up to 10,000 drones within a year, all of which will be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia appeared to confirm on Feb. 13 the existence of a sweeping U.S.-Russia economic proposal known in Kyiv as the "Dmitriev package," days after President Volodymyr Zelensky first disclosed it publicly. The Ukrainian president said on Feb. 6 that intelligence had briefed him on what he described as a roughly $12 trillion framework for large-scale economic cooperation between Moscow and Washington. "Intelligence showed me the so-called 'Dmitriev package' that he presented in the U.S. — it am