These are important developments since day 1,461 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Published February 24, 2026
Here’s what happened on Tuesday, February 24th.
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A man detonated an explosive next to a police patrol car in central Moscow’s Saviyolovsky Station Square, killing one policeman and injuring two others, Russia’s Interior Ministry said on its Telegram message platform. Five people, including a child, were injured in a Russian drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) said. Ukraine’s emergency services say two people were killed and three others injured in a recent drone attack in the southern region of Odessa. Ukraine’s Reconstruction Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said Russia attacked Odessa’s port infrastructure.
Seven police officers were injured in an explosion in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, two of them seriously, National Police Chief Ivan Vihivsky announced. Wihowski wrote in a Facebook post that the attack, the second involving police in three days, was “not a coincidence” and was carried out “intentionally” to kill a police officer.
An explosion also occurred at a police station in the southeastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, breaking windows and damaging furniture inside. No injuries were reported and police would not comment on the cause of the explosion.
Ukrainian drones have attacked a Russian pumping station serving the Druzhba oil pipeline, which is being installed to supply Russian crude oil to Eastern Europe, Ukrainian security officials announced. The airstrike caused a fire at the Kaleikino station near the city of Almetyevsk in Russia’s Tatarstan region, the official added.
Ukraine’s military has “regained control” of more than 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) of territory along its southern front, top commander Oleksandr Shirsky said in an unprecedented announcement that Ukraine would advance against Russian forces in the coming months.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a speech in Berlin that Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression had been more effective than widely believed, citing unexpected territorial gains in February. He also added that Russia’s economy is “creaking under the weight of sanctions and war.”
politics and diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on Ukraine to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to give a speech to mark the anniversary on Tuesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Hungary on Monday maintained its veto over new European Union sanctions on Russia and huge loans to Ukraine amid a dispute with Kiev over oil supplies, dealing a blow to Europe’s pro-Ukrainian consensus.
In response, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha wrote in X that any “ultimatum” by Hungary and Slovakia should be addressed only to the Kremlin, adding that the two countries “cannot hold the entire EU hostage.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalas told reporters that Hungary’s veto was a setback after European countries had failed to approve the 20th round of sanctions against Russia.
European Council President Antonio Costa has called on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to honor the EU agreement on a 90 billion euro ($106.11 billion) loan to Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Behind closed doors in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó has faced harsh criticism from his EU colleagues, with some ministers accusing Orbán’s government of exploiting the energy issue for political gain ahead of a tough election in April, four diplomats in Brussels told Reuters.
Kirillo Budanov, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told Ukrainian media that another round of talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine could be held this weekend.
Valery Zarzhny, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and current ambassador to the UK, dismissed questions about his presidential ambitions as “pub talk” and said he would not discuss his political future until martial law ends in Ukraine.
The EU has imposed sanctions on a new group of eight people suspected of serious human rights violations and undermining the rule of law in Russia. Names added to the sanctions list include Alexei Valizer, head of the Russian penal colony, and St. Petersburg judges Eva Gunther and Andrei Sivakov.
The World Bank, the United Nations, the European Commission and the Ukrainian government have said rebuilding Ukraine’s economy will cost an estimated $588 billion over the next 10 years.
President Zelensky said Kiev stands ready to continue supporting the release of political prisoners in Belarus and is already hosting prisoners on its territory who were released in US-brokered exchanges.
Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Moscow War, South Korea has asked the Russian embassy in Seoul to remove a large banner reading “Victory Will Be Ours,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. The ministry said in a statement that it had conveyed its concerns to the embassy.
energy
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Roberto Fico announced that the country’s power grid operator will deny Ukraine’s requests for emergency supplies until oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline from Russia through Ukraine to Central Europe resume. Ukraine’s state electricity company Ukrenergo said Slovakia’s refusal to extend emergency power supplies to Ukraine in response to demand will not affect the country’s electricity system.
Slovakia’s Economy Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine has notified Slovak oil pipeline system operator Transpetrol that it will resume crude oil transport through the pipeline on Wednesday, February 25.
