[Korrespondent] 22:14 Zelensky commented on the results of the second day of the conference in Munich in an evening video message: "Not just the Ukrainian topic, but the topic of the Ukrainian victory that we are bringing closer, today obviously dominated the discussions at the conference. There are important statements by world leaders in support of our state, there are and signals about strengthening weapons for our defense. This concerns, in particular, long-range missiles, other weapons, long-term support for Ukraine."
21:35 The UK has already begun to train Ukrainian pilots on NATO aircraft, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said during a speech at the Munich Conference: "I think this is important. And when we talk about a long-term way to improve the security of Ukraine, this is what we started to do already". He added that London would support allies who decide to send their fighters to Ukraine: "If there are countries that can immediately provide aircraft to Ukraine, the United Kingdom will gladly support them in this."
21:18 The Netherlands is expelling about ten Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage. From February 20, the Netherlands will also close its consulate general in St. Petersburg, but the embassy in Moscow will continue to operate.
20:59 Finland is preparing the 13th package of defense assistance to Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at the Munich Conference. In her speech, she assured of Ukraine's full support: "We need to make sure that the message we are now sending to Russia is that this help does not end. As long as Ukraine needs our help, we will help."
20:46 Kuleba said that he had met with the leadership of the German defense concern Rheinmetall, with whom he discussed steps to increase defense production for Ukraine, as well as extensive projects to increase the number of tanks and armored vehicles in both the short and long term. Rheinmetall assured that it is ready to strengthen cooperation.
19:15 Atypical shelling of the territory of Ukraine with a small number of rockets, as it is today, is probably connected with a lack of weapons and an attempt by the Russian Federation to keep Ukrainians on their toes before the anniversary of a full-scale invasion, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: “If they could have hit more, they would definitely have hit harder and a large number of missiles, this is obvious. Everyone is now talking about the approaching "sacred dates" - February 23 and the next day, the anniversary of the invasion of our land. The enemy is now escalating the situation."
18:23 Despite the sanctions, Russia continues to import civilian Chinese DJI drones through its distributors and from the Gulf countries, writes The Wall Street Journal. In particular, Russia received part of the DJI drones from the UAE, having paid for the delivery through the sanctioned state-owned Sberbank. Some of the drones and their parts were also delivered from the EU. The Pentagon is concerned that these drones not only help Russia in its war against Ukraine, but also allow China to gather critical intelligence from the battlefield that could boost Beijing's war readiness.
17:19 Washington has officially established that Russian troops in Ukraine have committed crimes against humanity, US Vice President Kamala Harris said at the Munich Conference: "We have studied the evidence. We know the legal standards. And there is no doubt that these are crimes against humanity."
According to Harris, the Biden administration will continue to help Kiev investigate war crimes: "I tell everyone who committed these crimes, and their leadership involved in these crimes, you will be held accountable."
15:56 Russia has accumulated 450 aircraft and 300 helicopters in the west of the country, but a massive airstrike on Kiev is unlikely, Andrei Yusov, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, told the Kyiv Post. He clarified that they are located at least 200 km from the border, concentrated in different places, but beyond the reach of Ukrainian forces. Yusov noted that these planes are unlikely to be simultaneously used for a massive air attack, but they can be used to support an offensive in the Donbass.
15:33 The Russians fired at the Kupyansky and Chuguevsky districts of the Kharkiv region today: one person was killed, two were injured, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said.
15:07 British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, speaking at the Munich Conference, called on the allies to double their military support for Ukraine and provide Ukrainians with the "advanced NATO-standard capabilities that they need for the future": "We must demonstrate that we will remain on their side and are able to help "They have to defend their country. When Putin started this war, he believed that our resolve would be shaken. Even now, he is betting that we will lose our nerves."
Sunak also said that London would transfer long-range ammunition and an air defense system to Ukraine.
13:41 During today's morning attack, the Russians delivered two blows to Khmelnitsky. According to the head of the OVA Sergei Gamaly, there is a hit in a military facility, there is also another hit near a public transport stop. The blast wave damaged civilian houses, three educational institutions, 11 cars. Two local residents were injured.
13:22 Ukraine offers Western partners to conclude the Kiev Security Treaty as an intermediate stage before joining NATO , Yermak said during a discussion panel at the Munich Conference. According to him, this is a comprehensive, fast and effective mechanism for ensuring the security of Ukraine, covering a wide range of aspects of guarantees: military, economic, political, sanctions, information, etc.
"Undoubtedly, the best guarantee of the security of any state is the ability to effectively defend itself. Depriving the aggressor of the ability to prepare and carry out aggression is also a powerful means of maintaining peace ... It is necessary to deprive Russia of military potential and money. All other options will only lead to Interbellum 2.0. That is, simply put the war on pause," the head of the President's Office stressed.
13:15 Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Wang Yi said at the Munich Conference that Beijing would prepare a document with a "statement of position" on a political settlement of the situation in Ukraine by the end of February. Wang Yi denounced the new "cold war mentality", saying that Beijing will stand on the side of peace and dialogue.
"This war cannot continue," Wang Yi said. According to him, China's position is to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries.
12:36 Military intelligence of Ukraine is monitoring Russian troops on the territory of Belarus around the clock and Russia's attempts to involve Belarusians in the war against Ukraine, Andrei Chernyak, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said in a comment to ITV News: "We see that Belarus seems to support Russia, and at the same time time is trying by all means to refrain from joining the war. We also see how much Russia is pressing them. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the Belarusian military will be forced to obey orders from Lukashenka and may be involved in the invasion of Ukraine, however, in the next two to three weeks, no The Russians have no forces or means to invade from the territory of Belarus."
12:27 Biden, as part of his visit to Poland on February 21, will make a statement in which he intends to send a signal to Putin, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby. Also, according to him, during his speech, Biden will make it clear that the United States will continue to support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression.
11:39 Energoatom said that during today's missile attack, two Russian missiles flew dangerously close over the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
11:03 Sean Penn's film Superpower about Ukraine premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. It tells about the war for independence, the Russian invasion, which Sean Penn himself met in Kyiv, so he saw with his own eyes the first day of the outbreak of a full-scale war.
11:00 On Saturday, February 18, Russia launched four Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea in Ukraine. Two missiles were destroyed, the Air Force command said.
10:53 Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the German authorities have frozen Russian assets in the amount of 5.32 billion euros, the German Finance Ministry said. The agency clarified that the punitive measures affected not only the funds of individuals and companies included in the lists of EU sanctions, but also the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
10:49 During the morning missile attack by the Russians, preventive shutdowns were applied to minimize possible consequences, and now the power system is already returning to normal operation, Ukrenergo reported. There is no shortage of power in the energy system and it is not predicted, electricity is not imported.
Network restrictions still apply in Odessa, hourly outage schedules apply. In the Kyiv region on February 17, due to network restrictions, consumption restrictions were applied at certain hours.
10:17 British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on the sidelines of the Munich conference that the Russian army is suffering huge losses, showing no signs of improving its "meat grinder" tactics, and its offensive "is advancing, if at all, advancing by meters, not kilometers." According to him, since the beginning of the war, more than 180,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded.
Wallace also emphasized that so far there is no evidence of a large concentration of Russian forces, similar to the attack on February 24, 2022. He confirmed that Ukraine lacks weapons, but this is "not a strategic disadvantage."
The head of the British Ministry of Defense also said that Kyiv would receive modern fighters, such as the Eurofighter, only after the end of the war.
09:26 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, three people were killed - two in Bakhmut and one in Ivanopol. Another five people in the area were injured.
As a result of the shelling of the village of Dvurechnaya, Kupyansky district, Kharkiv region, one person was killed, another was wounded in Pervomaisky, Kharkiv region.
In the Kherson region over the past day, one person was killed and three wounded due to Russian shelling, according to regional military administrations.
09:22 In the Lugansk region, the Wagnerites are ending - basically, mobilized Russians who have completed a two-month course of a young fighter are now at the front, said the head of the OVA Serhiy Gaidai.
He also said that the most difficult direction in the Luhansk region is Kremenskoe. There are no significant enemy advances there, but the number of attacks and shelling has increased. In addition, the Russians have installed a powerful electronic warfare system in this area, which makes it difficult to use quadcopters and drones. Novoselovskoye, Makeevka and Kuzemovka were completely defeated by the Russians.
09:16 An air alert has been declared throughout Ukraine. The Russian army uses tactical aircraft, including in the airspace of the occupied territories, and launches missiles, Yermak said. Missile launches from the Black Sea have also been confirmed, said the head of the Nikolaev OVA, Vitaly Kim. DTEK applies emergency power cuts in a number of areas due to the threat of a missile attack.
08:57 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of February 18.
- personnel - about 142,270 (+1010) people liquidated,
- tanks - 3303 (+5),
- armored combat vehicles - 6533 (+13),
- artillery systems - 2326 (+4),
- MLRS - 469 (+2),
- air defense systems - 243 (+2),
- aircraft - 298 (+0),
- helicopters - 287 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 2016 (+3),
- cruise missiles - 871 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 5196 (+9),
- special equipment - 223 (+2).
08:33 The Russian army is focusing its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Kupyansky, Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Miner directions, the General Staff said in the morning summary . Over the past day, the Defense Forces repelled the attacks of the occupiers in the areas of the settlements of Gryanikovka and Sinkovka in the Kharkiv region; Stelmakhivka, Chervonopopovka and Kremennaya - Luganskoy and Vyemka, Fedorovka, Dubovo-Vasilyevka, Razdolovka, Paraskoveevka, Berkhovka, Bakhmut, Ivanovskoye, Chasov Yar, Veseloe, Vodyanoye, Maryinka, Pobeda, Novomikhailovka and Ugledar in the Donetsk region.
08:05 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes that Russia is using elements of the Belarusian military-industrial base to re-equip its armed forces. Lukashenka said at a meeting with Putin on February 17 that the Belarusian aerospace industry is ready to produce Su-25 attack aircraft for the Russian Armed Forces, but additional Su-25s are not a decisive factor for the success of the Kremlin's long-term military operations, analysts say.
However, they say the Kremlin could requisition Belarusian factories and retool them to produce the critical hardware the Russian military needs. The Russians may also try to repurpose factories that are currently active or adapted to produce Su-25s and trucks. In addition, Russian troops are using Belarusian training grounds and instructors to train mobilized Russians to compensate for Russia's degraded training capabilities.
The ISW believes that Lukashenko is likely paying for his rejection of Putin's more serious demand for Belarusian troops to join the invasion of Ukraine by making small concessions.
05:50 Ukraine will soon be able to receive additional Caesar self-propelled guns, as France has accelerated the production of weapons, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at the Munich Conference. In her opinion, all European countries should adapt their economies to the accelerated production of weapons.
04:47 Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, PMC Wagner has lost more than 30 thousand people in Ukraine, including about 9,000 dead, said John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. According to the US, 90% of the Wagnerites liquidated in Ukraine in December alone were from among the prisoners. At the same time, half of them have died since mid-December against the backdrop of intensifying fighting in the Bakhmut area.
Kirby noted that after several months of fighting in the past few days, the Wagnerites had succeeded at "a devastating price" in making gains at Bakhmut. "Perhaps they will eventually succeed in Bakhmut, but it will not bring them any real benefit, because there is no real strategic value," he added. According to Kirby, Wagner uses the militants, mostly prisoners, as "cannon fodder" and throws them into the "meat grinder" without training or equipment.
04:21 The United States will directly threaten firms that help Russia to circumvent sanctions with serious consequences, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said: “We are going to directly address these companies and say very clearly: take your pick. You can continue to do something that is beneficial to Russia, and give it tangible support, but then you risk losing access to the European economy, the US economy, the UK economy. The choice is yours. We are ready for such actions."
He noted that the US government is particularly concerned about companies from the UAE, Iran, Turkey and some of Russia's immediate neighbors in this regard. Washington will also ask banks operating in the United States, the European Union, Britain and Japan to warn customers that they risk losing access to financial services in these countries if they are caught complicit in circumventing sanctions against Russia.
03:24 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius believes that Russia will not conduct major offensives in Ukraine in the near future. In his opinion, Russia is playing for time and wants to continue the war of attrition.
00:18 Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki advocated the creation of an “absolutely new”, accelerated process of Ukraine's accession to the EU: “We cannot compare what is happening in Ukraine with a normal or almost normal accession process. You need to think outside the box. We live at a turning point in history, we have to change almost everything in Europe, and therefore we have to create a new process for Ukraine. The fast track is synonymous with it."