Key developments on Feb. 15-16:
- US wants to get 50% of Ukrainian minerals, may deploy its troops to guard them, NBC reports
- Almost 250,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine war, Zelensky says
- Russia must withdraw to at least pre-2022 front line, Zelensky says
- Europe quietly developing plan to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, AP reports
- Russian drone strikes hit power plant in Mykolaiv Oblast, leaving over 100,000 Ukrainians without heat
The U.S. seeks to obtain 50% of Ukraine's rare minerals and has signaled openness to deploy American troops to guard them if there is a deal with Russia to end the war, NBC reported on Feb. 15, citing unnamed American officials.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a draft of the agreement to President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv on Feb. 12.
Zelensky refused to sign the agreement after Bessent's presentation, saying he needed to study it and consult with others, NBC reported, citing eight U.S. officials briefed on the meeting.
At the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said on Feb. 14 that his lawyers would examine the document handed over by Bessent in Kyiv and make some changes to it. He called the U.S. proposal "a memorandum," not a security agreement.
Following up on his earlier proposition of ensuring U.S. support for Ukraine in exchange for rare earth minerals, Trump claimed that Kyiv has "essentially agreed" to a deal on a $500 billion resource deal.
Ukraine has already signaled it is open to developing a partnership in resource extraction with the U.S. and other partners in exchange for security guarantees, but details on such a deal remain murky.
Asami Terajima
Almost 250,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine war, Zelensky says
The Russian army has lost almost 250,000 soldiers in the war against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 15 during his speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Zelensky claimed that Moscow lost nearly 20,000 soldiers in the battles for Russia's Kursk Oblast alone.
In addition, a total of over 610,000 Russian troops have been wounded since Feb. 24, 2022, according to the president.
Zelensky's estimate of Russian losses matches that of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. According to the military, Russia has lost 856,660 troops in Ukraine since 2022.
"We completely destroyed the North Korean units that (Vladimir) Putin had to bring in because his own forces weren’t enough to hold back our counteroffensive," Zelensky said, speaking of Ukraine's Kursk operation.
"For over six months now, Ukrainians have been holding a foothold inside Russian territory, even though it was Russia that wanted to create a 'buffer zone' inside our land," he added.
Up to 12,000 North Korean troops were deployed to Kursk Oblast last fall to support Russian forces in countering a Ukrainian incursion launched in early August 2024.
Zelensky previously said that North Korean troops fighting for Russia against Ukraine have suffered 4,000 casualties, two-thirds of whom have been killed.
Natalia Yermak
Russia must withdraw to at least pre-2022 front line, Zelensky says
Russia has to pull back its troops to at least the front line as it was before the full-scale invasion in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 15 in an interview with Newsmax.
Zelensky's comments come after earlier in the week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Ukraine was unlikely to restore its pre-2014 borders in any negotiations with Moscow on ending its war. Experts and officials in Ukraine and Europe have criticized Hegseth's comments for undermining Ukraine's leverage before peace talks with Russia have even started.
Zelensky told Newsmax that U.S. President Donald Trump could end Russia's war if Europe supports his plan.
"I think that he (Trump) needs, very much, the success, and, otherwise, everybody will say that (this) was the line of Biden and this is the line of Trump. I think he needs success, and we need success and trust him. I hope that he will be on our side," Zelensky added.
The president stressed that a peace deal "can only be about a plan to end the war," which should be agreed upon between Ukraine and the U.S. president and backed by both sides.
Zelensky said he was ready to meet with the Russian president only after a joint plan with Trump and the European Union was developed.
Kateryna Hodunova
Europe quietly developing plan to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, AP reports
A group of European countries is quietly developing a plan to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine due to concerns about changing U.S. priorities on security on the continent, The Associated Press reported on Feb. 14.
The news came amid ongoing discussions among Western countries about the possible deployment of peacekeeping forces if a ceasefire agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia. The U.S. has repeatedly said it wouldn't send its troops to Ukraine, pushing for Europe to take initiative.
France and Britain are leading the initiative of putting "boots on the ground" in Ukraine, according to the Associated Press.
Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevklur told the Associated Press that European allies are "in a very early stage" of developing the plan to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
Pevklur said that it is "critical" for the allies to understand the contact line in Ukraine before devising a plan.
According to Pevklur, if the Russian and Ukrainian armies reduce their forces to a "couple of thousand" on each side, it will not be a problem for Europe "to also be there." But implementing the plan will be much harder if there is a "boiling conflict."
Earlier reports from The Wall Street Journal indicated that U.S. President Donald Trump’s team is weighing a plan to delay Ukraine's NATO membership by at least 20 years in exchange for continued Western arms supplies and the deployment of European peacekeepers to monitor a ceasefire.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Jan. 18 that Germany may consider contributingforces to such a mission, while U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Jan. 16 that he had discussed the matter with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow has strongly opposed the idea. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned on Jan. 23 that deploying a NATO peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine could lead to "uncontrolled escalation."
Kollen Post
Russian drone strikes hit power plant in Mykolaiv Oblast, leaving over 100,000 Ukrainians without heat
Russian drone strikes in the early hours of Feb. 16 shook southern Ukraine, leaving over 100,000 residents in Mykolaiv Oblast without heat, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"This bears no relationship to military action and the situation on the front. This once again proves that Russians are fighting against our people, against life in Ukraine," Zelensky wrote of the strikes on his Telegram channel.
Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim wrote earlier in the day that the attack on the region included nine Shahed drones, with blasts and wreckage from the drones damaging five high-rise buildings and injuring one 64-year-old man.
"This was done deliberately to leave people without heat in below-zero temperatures and create a humanitarian catastrophe," wrote Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who said that as of shortly before 1 p.m. Kyiv time, 46,000 people were still without heat.
Radio Free Europe published video from parts of Mykolaiv affected, showing shopping centers with their walls demolished and stores with windows blown out.
Ukraine had recently seen some reprieve from Russia's continuous attacks on civilian energy infrastructure thanks to an unusually warm winter. Temperatures overnight are forecast to drop to -9° Celcius in Mykolaiv.
The same night, Russia launched a total of 143 drones, of which Ukraine's air force said it shot down 95. Forty others and two Russian ballistic missiles also missed their targets, per the official tally.
Several elderly civilians in Kherson and Kharkiv Oblasts were also injured in the broader Russian air campaign last night, according to local officials.
Note from the author:
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