BBC: Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete under their nations' flags at the upcoming Winter Paralympics.

Axios: The Ukrainian people would reject a peace deal that involves Ukraine unilaterally withdrawing from the eastern Donbas region and turning it over to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios in an interview Tuesday.

AFP, Al Arabiya: Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in the area surrounding Sweden, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence told AFP on Tuesday.

Bloomberg: The EU’s attempt to penalize foreign ports and banks that Russia uses to illicitly sell oil is running into opposition, threatening to weaken the bloc’s latest sanctions package (archive).

Reuters: Ukrainian drones hit the Taman oil terminal in Russia's southern Krasnodar region and a chemicals plant in the Perm region near the Ural mountains overnight, Ukraine's SBU domestic security service said on Tuesday.

United24 Media: Units of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have struck Russian military infrastructure in occupied territories, destroying a storage site for an Iskander missile system and a remote piloting point of the “Rubikon” unit.

RBC-Ukraine: Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have sent their representatives to the third round of Ukraine-Russia-US talks in Geneva, La Repubblica reported on Feb. 17.

Reuters: Russian forces pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure before a new round of peace talks, killing three energy workers and leaving tens of thousands of people without power and heat, officials said on Tuesday.

The Kyiv Independent: Three workers at the Sloviansk Thermal Power Station in Donetsk Oblast were killed, and another was injured on Feb. 17 when a Russian FPV drone struck their car, the Energy Ministry said.

United24 Media: Ukrainian service members with frontline combat experience are expected to begin training soldiers of Germany’s armed forces in the near future, focusing on drone operations, counter-drone tactics, and battlefield coordination systems.

Reuters: French authorities have let the seized oil tanker GRINCH leave territorial waters after the company owning the vessel had to pay a penalty worth "several million euros," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.

NV: Russian forces advanced near Platonivka and in the city of Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast, while Ukrainian Defense Forces cleared an enemy incursion area near Bilytske in the Pokrovsk district, the DeepState reported on Feb. 17.

Reuters: Russia could deploy its navy to prevent European powers from seizing its vessels and may retaliate against European shipping if Russian ships are seized, Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of Putin, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

France 24: PM Fico, who is close to Putin and opposes sending military aid to Ukraine, insists Slovaks have nothing to fear from Russia. But with the war uncomfortably close to home, his government has vowed to double the capacity of the Cold War-era nuclear fallout shelters.

FT: Poland is preparing a reparations claim against Russia for atrocities committed during Soviet dominance of the country, echoing its demand for €1.3tn in compensation from Germany for second world war crimes (archive).

Russia to hike cargo rates to support rail monopoly amid mounting losses

Russa-Ukraine Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Do you think your friend or colleague should know about this newsletter? Forward it to them, please.They can also sign up here

Here are my: Telegram & Socials

Please consider supporting my work