"To be clear, there are no political or security issues on the agenda. Ukraine is not on the agenda," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in an email to Reuters. U.S. and Russian officials will meet in Istanbul on Feb. 27.
"I will meet with President Trump," Zelensky said in his evening address on Feb. 26. "It is important for me and all of us in the world that America's assistance is not stopped."
Key developments on Feb. 26: * Trump says he will meet Zelensky on Feb. 28 in Washington to sign agreement on minerals * No security guarantees in US minerals deal, to be discussed later, Zelensky says * US, Russia to meet again tomorrow in Istanbul, Lavrov says * No sanctions relief for Russia pre-deal
The joint operation targeted the Saky and Kacha military airfields in occupied Crimea and Russia's Tuapse oil refinery, the military claimed on Feb. 26.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 26 that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO as part of a future peace agreement with Russia and ruled out lifting sanctions on Moscow before a deal is reached.
In January, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov had been appointed deputy chief of the General Staff.
According to Ukraine's National Police, a 47-year-old woman and four men — aged 56, 57, and 75, with one more yet to be identified — were killed in the attack.
While it does not contain any concrete security guarantees, the agreement states the U.S. government "supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace."
"It's now confirmed, and we're going to be signing an agreement which will be a very big agreement," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 26 during a White House cabinet meeting.
Vitalii Kokoshko, a Ukrainian director of commercials and veteran of the Ukrainian advertising industry, was killed in Russia's war, his daughter Olha Kokoshko wrote on Facebook on Feb. 25.
The company expects to finalize and announce the deal within the next two months, with most potential partners based in the U.S.
This figure includes not only direct damage but also indirect damage from disrupted logistics, increased fertilizer and fuel costs, expenses for land reclamation and demining, and occupied territories, Agriculture Minister Vitalii Koval said.
The Kyiv Independent has obtained from a source in the Ukrainian government, the full text of the mineral deal agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine.
Tetiana Kulyk was a journalist at the Ukrinform news agency and host of "the Nation of the Invincibles" program.
Earlier on Feb. 26, Russia's Defense Ministry said 128 Ukrainian drones had been downed over the country, 83 of them in Krasnodar Krai.
Kotlyne and Pokrovsk are connected by the T 0406 highway, which also leads to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The first round of talks on Feb. 18 in Saudi Arabia marked the first direct negotiations between the U.S. and Russia since Moscow's full-scale invasion began.
Editor’s Note: The following is a translated transcript of the address delivered by Roman Shvartsman, the chairman of the Odesa Association of Jews and a Holocaust survivor, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Special Gathering hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2025, marking
Russian forces launched 177 drones from the Russian cities of Orel, Bryansk, Kursk, Shatalovo, Millerovo, and Primosk-Akhtarsk at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
Residents reported explosions in the cities of Tuapse and Anapa in Krasnodar Krai, while the airport in Sochi was closed due to a drone attack.
This number includes 1,170 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
The Slovak National Party has demanded that Prime Minister Robert Fico immediately apologize for supporting a UN resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Czech news outlet Denik N reported on Feb. 25.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski confirmed on Feb. 25 that Poland has ordered 5,000 Starlink terminals for Ukraine.
Trump said Zelensky would visit the White House on Feb. 28 to sign the deal, which gives Ukraine "military equipment and the right to fight on." He also said the U.S. was open to signing a minerals deal with Russia.
These exemptions would extend beyond the U.S. waiver for "life-saving" programs and would allow Ukraine to receive funding for demining, narcotics control, and civil society projects.
There is "no definitive agreement" as to how the U.S. will provide security assurances for peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, a French official said.
The victory of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Friedrich Merz was met with relief in Ukraine. The conservative leader has long criticized the supposedly cautious Ukraine strategy of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose government collapsed last November, triggering the snap vote. Merz's likely coalition with the Social
Key developments on Feb. 25: * Ukraine, US reach agreement on minerals deal * Russia's war objectives 'not yet achieved,' Kremlin's ambassador says * Reclaiming occupied territories possible but 'not easy' for Ukraine, Trump claims * Ukraine needs $524 billion for recovery, reconstruction after 3 years of Russia's full-scale war * Russia's Ryazan oil
Russian forces have ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s logistic networks in Kursk Oblast, further hampering the Ukrainian effort to hold on to the Russian territory it controls ahead of potential peace talks, analysts and soldiers on the ground told the Kyiv Independent. “The Russians have been on the offensive
One Ukrainian startup has rebuilt the humble walkie-talkie to weather the waves of modern electronic war with Russia. With thousands of Ukrainian soldiers already using their handheld comms devices, NATO is tuning in. Himera, the walkie-talkie startup in question is about to get a new layer of encryption that founder
"The constitutional territories of Russia have not been liberated," Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said on Feb. 25.
According to the Financial Times, Ukraine secured more favorable terms and framed the deal as a way to strengthen ties with the U.S.
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