Blinken on Ukraine's Independence Day: 'Russia will pay a high price for what it has done'

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.

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.

"(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."