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Morning Headlines
Reuters: South Korea has asked the Russian embassy in Seoul to take down a large banner reading "Victory will be ours", its foreign ministry said, just ahead of this week's fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine.
AP News: Business owners in Russia interviewed by The Associated Press described a steady decline in demand for their goods and services, a sudden increase in costs as suppliers adjust to the tax reform, and a tax burden that’s now tens of times higher. Some said they downsized to keep operating, while others closed.
The Kyiv Independent: Explosions were reported overnight on Feb. 23 in Russia’s Belgorod, where officials said a large-scale missile strike caused significant damage to local infrastructure, as reports also emerged of attacks targeting energy and oil infrastructure elsewhere in Russia.
ISW: Russia is likely escalating a sabotage campaign intended to degrade Ukrainians’ trust in their security and destabilize Ukrainian society.
22.02.2026
Reuters: Iran agreed a secret 500 million euro arms deal with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Ukrinform: The Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, operating in the Oleksandrivka sector of the front, have already neutralized Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the area of more than 300 square kilometers and restored control over eight settlements.
The Kyiv Independent: The explosions that killed one police officer and injured 25 other victims in western Ukraine's Lviv on Feb. 22 were part of a terrorist attack planned by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address.
Euractiv: Hungary has pledged to block the EU’s 20th sanctions package on Russia, threatening to derail Brussels’ efforts to ramp up pressure on Moscow ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine hit an oil depot in Russian-occupied Luhansk and destroyed two Tor air defense systems in occupied Donetsk Oblast in an overnight strike on Feb. 22, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces confirmed.
Reuters: Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of strike drones and ballistic and cruise missiles, focusing on energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian military and local officials said on Sunday. The overnight strikes hit Kyiv and the region around the capital, the Black Sea port Odesa and central Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: A Russian drone attack in northeastern Ukraine's Sumy Oblast killed two brothers and a married couple, while a missile strike damaged a production facility belonging to U.S. multinational company Mondelez, authorities reported Feb. 21.
ISW: Available open source evidence indicates that Ukrainian forces have liberated multiple settlements around Dnipropetrovsk-Zaporizhia Oblast administrative border in recent weeks.
21.02.2026
CNN: Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as “ultimatums and blackmail” by the governments of Hungary and Slovakia on Saturday, after they threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restarts flows of Russian oil.
AFP, Barrons: Around one thousand took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to show their "massive support" for Ukraine, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine’s armed forces struck Russian ships, planes, and artillery units in Russian-occupied Crimea and the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff announced on Feb. 21.
United24 Media: Russia sharply increased its imports of unmanned aerial vehicles from Thailand in 2025, with the shipments largely consisting of Chinese-made drones routed through Thai intermediaries, Bloomberg reported.
Reuters: Ukraine's domestically produced Flamingo missiles hit a Russian plant manufacturing ballistic missiles in Russia's remote southern region of Udmurtia overnight, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday.
Ukrinform: The Czech project Dárek pro Putina (The Gift for Putin) has raised almost 1.5 billion crowns (over $72 million) for Ukraine in nearly four years of existence, mainly for weapons.
Ukrainska Pravda: Kyiv has proposed that the EU use alternative elements of Ukraine's oil transport network, particularly the Odesa-Brody pipeline, to deliver crude to Hungary and Slovakia following damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline caused by a Russian attack.
InformNapalm: Russian drone operators are using Belarusian civilian infrastructure to attack Ukraine — and even test routes toward NATO countries.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia injured at least fifteen people in overnight and morning attacks across Ukraine after launching missiles and drones at civilian targets, as peace talks between the two sides go nowhere.
ISW: The Kremlin continues to crack down on former pro-Russian proxy forces and separatist leaders who criticized the Kremlin to consolidate control over the Russian information space.
20.02.2026
AFP, Yahoo News: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP on Friday that his country is not losing its war against Russia, has taken hundreds of square kilometres in a new counteroffensive, and that European troops should deploy right on the front line after any ceasefire.
United24 Media: An apparent smuggling ring exposed by an email server mishap has moved at least $90 billion of Russian oil and played a central role in funding the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to the Financial Times.
The Kyiv Independent: France will renew its Ukraine Fund after a successful first round, allocating 71 million euros to foster investment from French companies in Ukraine next year.
Reuters: Hungary will block a 90 billion euro European Union loan for Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline resumes, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday.
NY Times: Hundreds of Ukrainian women and girls have reported sexual violence by Russian troops during the nearly four years of full-scale war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities and aid groups. The actual number of victims, advocates say, is most likely far higher (archive).
Euronews: The European Union's new round of sanctions against Russia is still up in the air after ambassadors failed to reach a deal during a meeting on Friday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine struck multiple Russian military command posts and logistics hubs in Russian-occupied territories, the General Staff reported on Feb. 20.
Reuters: Britain and European allies including France, Germany, Italy and Poland will work together to develop new low-cost air defence weapons to protect the continent's skies, a statement from the UK's ministry of defence said on Friday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ten people were detained in Moldova and Ukraine for allegedly plotting contract killings of prominent Ukrainians on Russia's orders, the Security Service of Ukraine said on Feb. 20.
Reuters: American financier Gentry Beach, who has ties to Trump's family, signed an agreement with Russia’s energy giant Novatek last autumn to develop natural gas in Alaska amid Western sanctions against Russia, the New York Times reported on Friday. In August, Trump and Putin met in Alaska for talks aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
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