Here are the key developments on the 1,088th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Sunday, February 16:
Fighting
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wanted United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, to visit his country’s eastern front line to report back to Trump on the realities on the ground.
- “It is very important for me that he sees this,” Zelenskyy said at the Munich Security Conference. “I really want him to bring all this to President Trump… To show him, tell him”.
- Russian military advances in December and January south and southwest of Pokrovsk city – located northwest of Donetsk in the east of Ukraine – have slowed over the last two weeks, US-based defence think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.
- The slowing advance around Pokrovsk may indicate that Russia’s military command will prioritise offensive operations against Kostiantynivka – the southernmost point of Ukraine’s front line in Donetsk – in the warmer months later this year, the ISW said.
NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to create conditions to frame Putin as the victor over US President Donald Trump in negotiations. ⬇️
Zelensky stated during his address at the Munich Security Conference on… pic.twitter.com/aABmX5Tcui
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) February 16, 2025
- The ISW also said the advances may be slowing due to front-line Russian units degraded by battle and intense Ukrainian drone operations in the area.
- Ukraine also recently advanced on Russian forces near Pokrovsk in Ukraine, while Russian troops recently advanced near Toretsk and Velyka Novosilka in Russia’s Kursk region, which is held by Ukrainian forces, ISW said.
- Belarus has denied plans to rearm and attack Ukraine, after Zelenskyy warned of such a scenario at the Munich conference. “We do not pose a threat to anyone, we are not increasing the number of troops or weapons systems – unlike our neighbours, the Poles and the Baltics, who are focusing on militarisation,” Secretary of the National Security Council in Belarus Alexander Wolfovich said.
US plans for Ukraine
- Senior officials from Trump’s administration will start talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, the Politico news outlet reports, citing sources familiar with the plan.
- But Europe will not have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks, the US’s Kellogg said.
- European leaders scrambled to force their way to the table for any talk as Washington announced that a team of senior US officials is planning to meet in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv.
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for the talks, US officials said, without giving details on when the meeting would happen.
- NATO chief Mark Rutte said Europe had to come up with “good proposals” for securing peace in Ukraine if it wanted to be involved in the US-led talks.
- European leaders are now planning to hold a special summit about the conflict in Ukraine in response to Trump’s plans.
- France will host the summit, Poland’s 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 in a call on Saturday, as well as the removal of “unilateral barriers” to the normalisation of relations.
- During the call, which was initiated by Washington, Lavrov and Rubio agreed to work on restoring “mutually respectful interstate dialogue” in line with the tone set by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
- Speaking in Munich, Zelenskyy also called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington. “We can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” he said.
- The US has asked European nations what they can contribute in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine, Finland’s president said.
- Zelenskyy has announced that he blocked a deal that would have given the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked “security guarantees” from Washington for Kyiv.
- Poland’s Foreign Minister Sikorski said the US’s “credibility” as an ally depended on the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
- The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialised nations reaffirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine”. G7 countries have provided military and financial support to Kyiv, including by making available to Ukraine Russian state assets frozen in the West.
- United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Europe “must take on a greater role in NATO” and work with the US to “secure Ukraine’s future” amid “the threat we face from Russia”.
- Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said they discussed Kyiv’s vision of a path to peace in Ukraine with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
- Wang told the Munich conference on Friday that China believes all stakeholders in the Russia-Ukraine conflict should participate in the peace talks, underscoring Europe’s role.
Military aid
- A Czech-led initiative to supply Ukraine with large-calibre ammunition has delivered 1.6 million shells and will continue, Czech President Petr Pavel said.
Regional developments
- The ISW reports that Russian cargo vessels have continued to evacuate Moscow’s military assets from the port of Tartous as Russia negotiates its continued presence in Syria with the new interim government, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime – Moscow’s former ally.
