Here are the main developments of the 1,088th day of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia.
Here is the situation on Sunday, February 16:
Struggle
- The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that he wanted the special envoy of the United States Donald Trump in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, visited the eastern front of his country to report to Trump on realities in the field.
- “It is very important to me that he sees this,” said Zelenskyy at the Munich security conference. “I really want him to bring all this to President Trump … to show him, to tell him”.
- Russian military progress in December and January south and southwest of Pokrovsk City – located north -west of Donetsk in the east of Ukraine – have slowed down in the past two weeks, said the reflection group of the American defense, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
- The advance of slowdown around Pokrovsk can indicate that Russia’s military command will favor offensive operations against Kostiantynivka – The southernmost point of the Ukraine front line in Donetsk – in the hottest months later This year said the ISW.
New: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to create conditions to supervise Putin as the winner of US President Donald Trump in negotiations. ⬇️
Zelensky said during her speech to the Munich security conference on … pic.twitter.com/aabmx5tcui
– Institute for the study of war (@thestudyofwar) February 16, 2025
- The ISW also said that progress could slow down due to front -line Russian units degraded by the battle and intense Ukrainian drone operations in the region.
- Ukraine has also recently progressed on Russian forces near Pokrovsk in Ukraine, while Russian troops recently advanced near Totretsk and Velyka Novosilka in the Kursk Russia region, which is owned by Ukrainian forces, said Isw .
- The Belarus denied the plans to rearm and attack Ukraine, after Zelenskyy warned of such a scenario at the Munich conference. “We do not threaten anyone, we are not increasing the number of troops or weapons systems – unlike our neighbors, the Poles and the Balts, who focus on militarization,” said the National Security Council of the National Security Council Bélarus, Alexander Wolfovich said.
American plans for Ukraine
- High officials of Trump administration will start talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, reports the political media, citing sources familiar with the plan.
- But Europe will not have a seat at the table for peace talks in Ukraine, Kellogg said in the United States.
- European leaders rushed to make their way to the table for any conversation when Washington announced that a team of senior US officials planned to meet in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and kyiv.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will go to Saudi Arabia for talks, said US officials without giving details at the time where the meeting would occur.
- NATO chief Mark Rutte said that Europe should offer “good proposals” to ensure peace in Ukraine if it wanted to be involved in the United States talks.
- European leaders now plan to hold a special summit on the conflict in Ukraine in response to Trump’s plans.
- France will host the summit, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will attend.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and US Secretary of State Rubio discussed the situation in Ukraine during an appeal on Saturday, as well as the elimination of “unilateral obstacles” to the normalization of relations.
- During the call, which was initiated by Washington, Lavrov and Rubio agreed to work on the restoration of “mutually respectful interstate dialogue” in accordance with the tone given by Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, said the Russian ministry Foreign Affairs.
- Speaking in Munich, Zelenskyy also called for the creation of a European army, arguing that the continent could no longer count on Washington. “We cannot exclude the possibility that America can say no to Europe on questions that threaten it,” he said.
- The United States has asked European nations what it could contribute in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine, the president of Finland said.
- Zelenskyy announced that he had blocked an agreement that would have given access to the United States to large quantities of Ukrainian natural resources because she lacked Washington “security guarantees” for kyiv.
- Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski said that American “credibility” as an ally depended on the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
- The Foreign Ministers of the Group of seven (G7) of the first -rate industrialized nations reaffirmed their “unshakable support to Ukraine”. The G7 countries have provided military and financial support in kyiv, in particular by providing Ukrainian Russian assets frozen in the West.
- The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, said that Europe “should play a greater role in NATO” and work with the United States to “secure the future of Ukraine” in the middle of “The threat that we are confronted with Russia”.
- The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha and the chief of staff of Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, said he discussed the vision of kyiv of a path to peace in Ukraine with the Chinese Minister of Business foreigners Wang Yi.
- Wang told Munich on Friday that China thought that all stakeholders in the Russian-Ukraine conflict should participate in peace talks, stressing the role of Europe.
Military aid
- An initiative led by Czechs to provide Ukraine with large caliber ammunition has delivered 1.6 million shells and will continue, said Czech President Petr Pavel.
Regional developments
- The ISW reports that the Russian cargo ships continued to evacuate the military assets of Moscow from the port of Tartelas while Russia negotiates its continuous presence in Syria with the new interim government, after the fall of the Bashar al -Assad regime – The former ally of Moscow.
