Russian forces hit Ukrainian attack drone warehouses, drone operator sites — top brass.TASS has compiled the main information on the special military operation progress over the past 24 hours.

The Russian military struck Ukrainian infrastructure over the past day, the Defense Ministry reported.

"The Russian Armed Forces hit the infrastructure of Ukrainian military airfields, attack drone warehouses and drone operator sites, ammunition and fuel depots, as well as enemy temporary deployment sites in 157 areas," the ministry said.

TASS has compiled the main information on the special military operation progress over the past 24 hours.
Battlegroup West

The Russian Armed Forces have liberated the Novolubovka settlement in the Lugansk People's Republic, the Defense Ministry reported.

"As a result of decisive actions of the battlegroup West, the Novolubovka settlement in the Lugansk People's Republic has been liberated," it said.

According to the ministry, over the past 24 hours, the battlegroup defeated the manpower and equipment of six Ukrainian brigades, eliminating over 200 enemy servicemen and destroying a tank and a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier.
Battlegroup South

The servicemen on the battlegroup South have defeated Ukraine’s Foreign Legion units in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the Russian military reported.

"The battlegroup South has taken more favorable lines and positions, defeating the manpower and equipment of six Ukrainian brigades and the Foreign Legion units. The battlegroup also eliminated up to 220 Ukrainian servicemen," the statement said.

The ministry added that the Ukrainian military also lost an infantry fighting vehicle, nine vehicles and six field artillery guns, including a US-made 155 mm M777 howitzer, an electronic warfare station and an ammunition depot.
Battlegroup Center

Russia’s battlegroup Center has improved its tactical positions, eliminating over 375 Ukrainian servicemen, the Defense Ministry said.

"The battlegroup Center defeated the manpower and equipment of 17 Ukrainian brigades. The enemy lost over 375 servicemen," the statement emphasized.

The Ukrainian military also lost four armored combat vehicles, including a US-made MaxxPro armored vehicle, five vehicles and seven field artillery guns, including a US-made Paladin 155 mm howitzer, the ministry added.
Battlegroup East

The battlegroup East eliminated up to 160 servicemen and destroyed a German-made Leopard tank over the past 24 hours, the ministry pointed out.

"The battlegroup East continued to advance deep into the enemy's defense, defeating the manpower and equipment of five Ukrainian brigades. The enemy lost up to 160 servicemen, two tanks, including a German-made Leopard, three vehicles and two field artillery guns," the statement said.
Battlegroups North, Dnepr

The battlegroups North and Dnepr wipes out up to 125 Ukrainian servicemen over the past 24 hours, the military said.

The enemy also lost an armored personnel carrier, six vehicles, two artillery guns and four electronic warfare stations, as well as an ammunition depot.
Ukrainian equipment downed and destroyed

Russian air defenses have downed a Ukrainian Air Force’s MiG-29 jet, two Hammer bombs, two HIMARS rockets and 58 fixed-wing drones over the past 24 hours, the ministry pointed out.

According to it, a total of 656 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 44,190 drones, 596 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,698 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, 1,521 multiple rocket launchers, 21,948 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 32,033 special military vehicles have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation.

Trump says Russia-US meeting in Riyadh was ‘very good’, confident of stabilization, US President stating that his confidence in the settlement in the Ukraine crisis has grown.

US President Donald Trump has described the Russian-American talks held in Riyadh as positive, stating that his confidence in the settlement in the Ukraine crisis has grown.

"Much more confident, they were very good," he told reporters after signing a number of his new executive orders in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

"Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism," he added.

On February 18, Russia and the US held talks in Riyadh, which lasted 4.5 hours. Russia was represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) head Kirill Dmitriev. The US was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and the US leader’s special envoy for the Middle East Steven Witkoff.

According to Ushakov, the delegations talked at length about everything on the agenda, including bringing the positions of Russia and the United States together and contacts on Ukraine. Lavrov called the conversation with US officials very constructive and reported that Russia and the United States had agreed to ensure the earliest possible appointment of ambassadors in both capitals. In turn, the US Department of State noted that Lavrov and Rubio agreed on creating negotiating teams on Ukraine as well as on future cooperation on shared geopolitical interests.

U.S. presented #Ukraine with a document to access its minerals but offered almost nothing in return.

— Ukrainian President #Volodymyr #Zelenskyy says he directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals because the document was too focused on U.S. interests.

The proposal, which was a key part of Zelenskyy’s talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks.

Zelenskyy’s decision not to sign a deal, at least for now, was described as “short-sighted” by a senior White House official.

“I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday in Munich.

The proposal focused on how the U.S. could use Kyiv’s rare earth minerals “as compensation” for support already given to Ukraine by the Biden administration and as payment for future aid, current and former senior Ukrainian officials said, speaking anonymously so they could speak freely.

Ukraine has vast reserves of critical minerals that are used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries. The Trump administration has indicated it is interested in accessing them to reduce dependence on China but Zelenskyy said any exploitation would need to be tied to security guarantees for Ukraine that would deter future Russian aggression.

“For me is very important the connection between some kind of security guarantees and some kind of investment,” the Ukrainian president said.

Zelenskyy did not go into details about why he instructed his officials not to sign the document, which was given to Ukrainian officials on Wednesday by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bassent on a visit to Kyiv.

“It’s a colonial agreement and Zelenskyy cannot sign it,” the former senior official said.

White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes did not explicitly confirm the offer, but said in a statement that “President Zelenskyy is being short-sighted about the excellent opportunity the Trump administration has presented to Ukraine.”

The Trump administration has grown weary of sending additional U.S. aid to Ukraine and Hughes said a minerals deal would allow American taxpayers to “recoup” money sent to Kyiv, while growing Ukraine’s economy.

Hughes added that the White House believes “binding economic ties with the United States will be the best guarantee against future aggression and an integral part of lasting peace.” He added: “The U.S. recognizes this, the Russians recognize this, and the Ukrainians must recognize this.”

U.S. officials in discussions with their Ukrainian counterparts in Munich were commercially minded and largely concentrated on the specifics of exploring the minerals and how to form a possible partnership to do that with Ukraine, the senior official said.

The potential value of the deposits in Ukraine has not yet been discussed, with much unexplored or close to the front line.

The U.S. proposal apparently did not take into account how the deposits would be secured in the event of continuing Russian aggression. The official suggested the U.S. did not have “ready answers,” to that question and that one of their takeaways from discussions in Munich will be how to secure any mineral extraction operation in Ukraine involving people and infrastructure.

Any deal must be in accordance with Ukrainian law and acceptable to the Ukrainian people, the senior Ukrainian official said.

“Subsoil belongs to Ukrainians under the Constitution,” Kseniiia Orynchak, founder of the National Association of Mining Industry of Ukraine, previously told the AP, suggesting a deal would need popular support.

Zelenskyy and Vance did not discuss the details of the U.S. document during their meeting Friday at the Munich Security Conference, the senior official said. That meeting was “very good” and “substantive,” with Vance making it clear his and Trump’s main goal was to achieve a durable, lasting peace, the senior official said.

Zelenskyy told Vance that real peace requires Ukraine to be in a “strong position” when starting negotiations, stressed that the U.S negotiators should come to Ukraine, and that the U.S., Ukraine and Europe must be at the negotiating table for talks with Russia.

But Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, all but cut Europeans out of any Ukraine-Russia talks, despite Zelenskyy’s request.

“You can have the Ukrainians, the Russians, and clearly the Americans at the table talking,” Kellogg said at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon at the Munich Security Conference. Pressed on whether that meant Europeans won’t be included, he said: “I’m a school of realism. I think that’s not going to happen.”

Ukraine is now preparing a “counter proposal” which will be delivered to the U.S. in “the near future,” the official said.

“I think it’s important that the vice president understood me that if we want to sign something, we have to understand that it will work,” Zelenskyy told the AP.

That means, he said, “it will bring money and security.”

74% of Europeans don’t want to visit Israel.

Ukrainian army controls 20% of Chasov Yar in DPR — expert
The expert added that this figure is declining

#Prisoner swap building up confidence between US, Russia -— Trump’s special envoy Witkoff.

He also suggested that the exchange that just took place, will probably "pay some large dividends in the future".

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East Steven Witkoff expects build-up of confidence between Washington and Moscow after Russian national Alexander Vinnik was released in exchange for US national Marc Fogel.

"We had a really good back channel, and it turned out to be very, very credible and enormously helpful. And that led to, I think, a lot of trust building candidly between the Trump administration and President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin," Witkoff said in an interview aired by the Fox News TV channel.

He also suggested that the exchange that just took place, will probably "pay some large dividends in the future," including in settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

Earlier, Witkoff visited Russia. He departed Russian airspace with Fogel, who had been serving a prison sentence in the country for drug smuggling. Witkoff was also among those representatives of Washington who Trump mentioned as negotiators with Moscow on the issue of the Ukrainian conflict settlement.

#BREAKING: Trump says he discussed ending Ukraine war with Russia’s Putin

#Israel to resume #Gaza hostilities if Hamas fails to release hostages by February 15 — PM
Benjamin Netanyahu did not specify the number of hostages Israel demands be released.

The Israeli army will resume hostilities in the Gaza Strip if the radical Palestinian movement Hamas does not release Israeli hostages by noon on February 15, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after a four-hour war cabinet meeting.

"The unanimous decision that I passed in the cabinet is as follows: if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end the Israel Defense Forces will resume intense fighting until the final defeat of Hamas.," the Prime Minister's Office quoted Netanyahu as saying.

At the same time, he did not specify the number of hostages Israel demands be released by Saturday.

Speaking about the war cabinet meeting, Netanyahu noted that all participants "expressed outrage over the shocking state" of the three Israeli hostages released on February 8. "We all welcomed [US] President [Donald] Trump's demand to release our hostages by Saturday noon as well, and we all welcomed the president's revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza," the prime minister added, commenting on the US leader's proposal to relocate Palestinians from the enclave to other countries.

Netanyahu also said that following Hamas' announcement to suspend the hostage release process, he ordered the Israeli army last night to "amass forces inside - and surrounding - the Gaza Strip." "This action is being carried out at this hour and will be completed very soon," he said, accusing the radicals of violating the agreement.

Russian economy in 2024 not only survived, but showed high resilience — Deputy PM Novak, Alexander Novak also said that Russia is now in a period of "controlled economic cooling"

🚨#BREAKING : Tax Changes in Rwanda Amid Sanctions Concern according to Minister Murangwa

Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Murangwa Yusuf, announced several key tax changes:

🔴 Increased Taxes on Alcohol and Cigarettes – The government has raised taxes on these products.

🔴 VAT Reintroduced on Technological Devices – Phones, computers, and other tech gadgets will now be subject to VAT. This tax was previously removed to encourage digital adoption in Rwanda, but officials believe the exemption was misused.

🔴 New Tax on Foreign Digital Services – Rwandans will now be taxed on subscriptions to foreign digital services such as Netflix, Amazon, and others.

Minister Murangwa said these changes are meant to help Rwanda deal with decreasing financial support from the west