These are important developments since day 1,462 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Published February 25, 2026
Here’s what happened on Wednesday, February 25th.
finding
According to the United Nations Observatory for Human Rights in Ukraine, at least 15,172 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 41,000 injured since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, on February 24, 2022.
The actual extent of civilian casualties is believed to be significantly higher, as many reports of civilian casualties cannot be verified due to large numbers and lack of access to the relevant areas.
Two people were killed and five others injured in a Russian attack on the Pokrovske region in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanza, wrote on the Telegram message platform. In Ukraine’s frontline Zaporizhzhya region, Russian forces launched 918 attacks against 36 settlements, killing one person and wounding six, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote in a telegram. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian troops shelled Ukraine’s Kherson region, killing one person and wounding five others, and also damaged two high-rise residential buildings and a gas pipeline. The Ukrainian Air Force announced on Telegram that the Russian military launched 133 drones and Iskander-M ballistic missiles into Ukraine in a nighttime attack that continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning. The air force added that Ukrainian forces shot down 111 Russian drones. One person was killed and two others injured in a Ukrainian military attack in the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported, citing Russian-appointed official Volodymyr Sardo. According to TASS, Ukrainian forces also killed one person in Russian-occupied Luhansk. In Russia, the TASS news agency announced that Ukrainian forces had killed two people in Belgorod and Bryansk regions. In Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a “massive” missile attack by the Ukrainian military had caused “significant damage to energy infrastructure” and residents “suffered from power outages, water and heating outages.” Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that Russian forces shot down 152 Ukrainian drones in a nighttime attack that continued into Tuesday morning, TASS reported.
politics and diplomacy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday thanked the 107 members of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly who voted in favor of passing a non-binding resolution supporting “lasting peace” in Ukraine. The United States was among 51 countries that abstained, while Russia was among 12 countries that voted against the resolution. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that Ukraine and its allies are “pushing themselves to the edge” in their determination to defeat Moscow and said he “regrets” his actions. Putin also accused Ukraine of blackmailing Russia’s energy pipelines with the help of Western intelligence services seeking to sabotage peace talks. Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, Olha Stefanishina, said the U.S. State Department had advised Ukraine to “refrain from attacks on U.S. interests” after expressing displeasure that Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Novorossiysk port in the Black Sea affected U.S. oil interests. “This contact was not about encouraging Ukraine to refrain from attacking Russia’s military and energy infrastructure. It was about the very fact that U.S. economic interests are influencing it,” Stefanishina told reporters in Washington, D.C. During a visit to Kyiv, European Council President Antonio Costa said Ukraine could expect “significant progress” towards joining the European Union in the near future. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also visited Kiev on Tuesday, promised to disburse the 90 billion euros ($106 billion) in loans “in one form or another”, but EU member states Hungary and Slovakia have blocked this. As he departed for a visit to Beijing, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said China had a “grave opportunity” to influence Russia over the war against Ukraine. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that Russia’s war against Ukraine remains a “stain on our collective conscience” and reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire in remarks by UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Rosemary Di Carlo. “With the United States as a strong and committed partner, President (Donald) Trump remains committed to achieving a negotiated settlement and lasting peace that guarantees an independent and prosperous future for Ukraine,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement. Ukraine has dismissed Russian claims that Kiev is trying to obtain nuclear weapons with help from Britain and France. “Russian officials, known for their impressive record of lies, are once again trying to fabricate the old ‘dirty bomb’ nonsense,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tikihi told Reuters.
sanctions
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Yvette Cooper announced that the UK has announced nearly 300 new sanctions against Russia’s energy revenues, including oil exports and military suppliers. The Australian Sanctions Bureau said in a statement that Australia had imposed sanctions on imports of Russian-origin energy products, including oil gas, crude oil and refined petroleum products, with the aim of “reducing Russia’s ability to finance its illegal and immoral war against Ukraine”.
