Monday, February 10
Russia’s war against Ukraine
Servicemembers of the 155th Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces operate a French-made CAESAR 155mm self-propelled howitzer on the front line near Pokrovsk on Feb. 9, 2025. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
Trump says he spoke with Putin about ending war in Ukraine, New York Post reports. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine but declined to say how many times they had spoken, the New York Post reported on Feb. 8.
Ukraine to launch ‘Drone Line’ project to enhance battlefield operations. The project seeks to enhance combat effectiveness by expanding the use of drones within elite units of the Ground Forces and the State Border Guard Service.
‘We need to recoup those costs’ — Mike Waltz on future of US aid to Ukraine. U.S. aid to Kyiv “is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their rare earths, their natural resources, and their oil and gas, and also buying ours,” Trump’s national security adviser said on Feb. 9.
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Kursk incursion stopped Russian invasion of Zaporizhzhia, Zelensky claims. The president said the cross-border offensive was “one of our most successful operations” and that it forced Russia “to give up their military units from the Zaporizhzhia direction.”
Ukraine gas imports remain high after infrastructure attacks, Reuters reports. Ukraine is maintaining high levels of gas imports from the EU after a series of Russian missile attacks on its gas facilities, according to a Reuters report on Feb. 9.
70 Russian drones shot down overnight, Air Force reports. Ukrainian air defense shot down 70 Russian drones across the country overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Feb. 9.
Read our exclusives
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv says Russian Su-25 warplane downed in Donetsk Oblast, 70 Russian drones shot down overnight
“One more Russian attack aircraft has been lost in the Toretsk direction thanks to our air defense troops,” the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade said on Telegram.
Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
Human cost of war
Russian drone strike injures 2 in Nikopol, governor says. A Russian kamikaze drone injured two men in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on Feb. 9, Governor Serhii Lysak reported on Telegram.
General Staff: Russia has lost 849,320 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. Russia has lost 847,860 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Feb. 9.
International response
German military investigates unidentified drones flying over German military bases where Ukrainians train, media reports. Germany’s Bundeswehr is investigating potental espionage after unidentified drones were spotted flying over a sensitive German military base six times in January where Ukrainians have been training, Der Spiegel reported on Feb. 9.
Musk calls for shutting down US-funded outlets Radio Free Europe, Voice of America. “Yes, shut them down. Europe is free now (not counting stifling bureaucracy). Nobody listens to them anymore. It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money,” Musk wrote.
Musk to reveal fraud, slash ‘billions’ at Pentagon, Trump says. “We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump said on Feb. 9 in an interview with Fox News.
EU should consider ‘full trade embargo’ on Russia, Estonian president says. The EU “should boost independence even further and end all Russian energy imports,” Karis said on Feb. 9. “We should even seriously consider a full trade embargo on Russia.”
Thousands of North Koreans taking construction jobs in Russia, media reports. The move represents an apparent violation of U.N. resolutions prohibiting North Korea from sending its citizens to work overseas, which the Security Council passed after Pyongyang’s intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
In other news
Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland gives more details on Volyn exhumation plans. Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, said on Feb. 8 that the preparations for the exhumation of remains of Polish victims of the Volyn massacre are underway.
Explosion on oil tanker at Russian port prompts investigation. The tanker, built in 2023 and sailing under the Antigua and Barbuda flag, had arrived at Ust-Luga on Feb. 6, according to ship-tracking data from Vesselfinder. Russia’s Baza Telegram channel reported that the vessel was carrying 130,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.
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