UNITED24 Media Telegram Highlights
"We have nothing to shoot down missiles with. At 5 a.m., the commander calls me and says: 'There are eight targets approaching, but we have no air defense missiles,'" said President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Twenty European countries and Canada agreed in Paris to continue supporting Ukraine, DW reports.
βοΈ[on 18th Feb] Russia asked the US to unblock billions of dollars in frozen assets during negotiations, β The Moscow Times
Enough talk β time to act. Lithuanian President Gitanas NausΔda has proposed a five-point European plan for Ukraine:
β’ NATO membership should remain on the negotiating table.
β’ Russia must be held accountable for military actions, and sanctions should remain until the aggression stops.
β’ Urgent financing of weapons and 10 billion euros for the Ukrainian defense industry.
β’ Seizure of frozen Russian assets and introduction of tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus.
β’ Accelerated accession of Ukraine to the EU, with a target date of 2030.
Zelenskyy had a βgood and meaningfulβ conversation with NATO Secretary General Rutte.
US Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg, who is currently visiting Ukraine, has already met with Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi, as well as the heads of intelligence and special services. The President said his meeting with General Kellogg is scheduled for today.
A new phase of arms deliveries from the DPRK to Russia is expected by the end of March 2025, Daily NK reports.
It includes hundreds of thousands of 122-mm and 152-mm shells and hundreds of ballistic missiles.
In particular, Russia will receive:
β’ 600-mm KN-25 multiple launch rocket systems with a range of up to 400 km.
β’ Hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles, including additional KN-23 ballistic missiles.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hagsett has ordered plans to cut the defense budget by 8% annually for the next five years, The Washington Post reports.
Options for reducing military spending must be submitted by February 24. The memorandum lists 17 categories for potential cuts, including operations on the US southern border, nuclear weapons modernization, missile defense, and the purchase of ammunition and drones.
Less than 30,000 troops from EU countries are expected to be deployed in key cities, ports, and critical infrastructure in Ukraine, excluding the eastern territories, according to The Times editor Lisa Brown on the Western plan for a peacekeeping mission.
The plan includes technical monitoring of the border through intelligence, satellite surveillance, and aerial reconnaissance to ensure a complete picture of the situation.
Airspace protection, the restoration of commercial flights, and the capability to track and neutralize air attacks are also planned.
US aircraft based in Romania and Poland will serve as a defensive mechanism, ready to respond to threats, while ground forces will be reinforced along the eastern border.
βοΈOfficial! The State Border Service does not confirm Putinβs statement about the alleged βbreakthroughβ of the Russian Armed Forces from the Kursk region.
βIn the areas where the border units are located, no attempts to break through have been recorded,β spokesman Demchenko told journalists.
The negotiation process will involve both Russia and Ukraine, and no one is excluding Ukraine, Putin said.
More statements from the Russian dictator:
βͺοΈ He would be happy to meet with Trump, but the meeting must be prepared. He is not yet ready to say when it will take place.
βͺοΈ Trump promised to quickly resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but after receiving data on the presidency, he changed his position, which is natural.
βͺοΈ Relations between Russia and the United States are such that a simple meeting over coffee is not enough.
βͺοΈ Russia has never refused dialogue with Europe or Ukraine. Europeans stopped contacts with Moscow themselves, and Kyiv even banned itself from negotiating with Russia.
βͺοΈ Mediators in the dialogue between Russia and the United States are not needed. On the American side, βcompletely different peopleβ participated in the negotiationsβwithout bias or condemnation.
βͺοΈ The purpose of the US-Russia meeting in Riyadh was to build trust. Without increasing trust between Russia and the US, resolving the βUkrainian crisisβ is impossible.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine conducted a successful special operation. Explosions occurred in the Russian Armed Forces while pilots were using FPV drone glasses.
Intelligence officers purchased a large batch of these glasses, planted explosives in them, and equipped them with a remote detonation function. The glasses were delivered to the troops through Russian volunteers.
Dozens of Russian pilots were injured. The sender of the parcels left the Russian Federation.
Vision correction in Ukrainian.
Zelenskyy thanked world leaders and politicians for their support after Trumpβs statement about a βdictatorβ:
β’ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: Denying Zelenskyyβs democratic legitimacy is wrong and dangerous. The impossibility of holding elections during the war fully aligns with Ukraineβs Constitution and legislation.
β’ Finnish President Alexander Stubb: We support the Constitution of Ukraine and the democratically elected President Zelenskyy.
β’ Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr StΓΈre: Trumpβs statement about Zelenskyy being a dictator is deeply unfair.
β’ Czech President Petr Pavel: Calling the president of a country fighting for its survival a dictator is the height of cynicism.
β’ British Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch: Zelenskyy is not a dictator; he is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine.
β’ US Senator Chuck Schumer: It is disgusting to see an American president openly speaking out against an ally and siding with a thug like Putin.
βRussia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion, taking hundreds of thousands of lives,β officials remind Trump one by one who the killer is and who the victim is.
Former U.S. Vice President during Trumpβs first term, Mike Pence, also defended Ukraine after Trumpβs statements, saying that βpeace must be built on truth.β
Ukraine will held elections as soon as this war ends.