Russia has canceled its international air show, MAKS, due to security concerns, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
In its regular update, the ministry theorized that recent drone attacks inside Russia contributed to the decision to cancel. Organizers were also aware of reputational damage if fewer international delegations attended, the ministry said.
MAKS, which is held near Moscow every other year, is Russia's flagship show demonstrating its civilian and military aerospace sectors and has become "key" to securing export customers.
The war and accompanying international sanctions have done a lot of damage to Russia's civil aviation and aerospace industries, while highly-trained specialists are encouraged to serve as infantry in the space agency Roscosmos's militia, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
The chief of the aerospace forces, Sergei Surovikin, has not been seen since the Wagner Group's one-day mutiny on June 24, presumed to have been arrested for siding with Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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Thursday, February 12
Short track speed skater Oleh Handei said his helmet bore a line from Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko: "Where there is heroism, there is no final defeat." It was banned from the Olympics on the grounds of being a "political slogan."
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According to the president, the negotiations would be hosted by the U.S. and will take place on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18. The talks, however, depend on Russia's agreement to take part, something that Ukraine and the U.S. have not yet received.
"I am absolutely confident that if ... there is no date, then Russia will do everything to block the process," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 11.
(Updated: )Elections
European countries stepped in to fill the gap, increasing military aid to Ukraine by 67% and non-military support by 59% in 2025, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
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A Russian strike on Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv Oblast, killed four people, including three toddlers, and injured two others, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported overnight Feb. 11.
The messages come a week after Ukraine's defense ministry agreed with Starlink's parent company, SpaceX, to introduce mandatory registration for the internet terminals in Ukraine, a move meant to prevent their use by Russian forces.
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Kyiv Independent reporters on the ground reported hearing two explosions around 2:50 p.m. local time.
"We have been discussing the training of Ukrainian soldiers, also on the soil of Ukraine," Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, said in Brussels on Feb. 11 before a meeting of EU defense ministers.
As global attention has shifted to Ukraine’s energy crisis, the fighting on the eastern front has not slowed. The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell speaks with Volodymyr Polevyi, head of public affairs for the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces, about the battle for Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast.
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Ukrainian drones targeted Russia's Volgograd oil refinery overnight Feb. 11, setting the site ablaze, local media reported.
