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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 02-14-2025 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Munich Security Conference – Day 1
The events and public statements leading to the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) that began Friday in the Bavarian capital could not have been more alarming to the Ukrainian leadership and population as a whole.
Starting Wednesday, US official remarks regarding the future of the Russo-Ukrainian war were coming down as fast as the relentless snowflakes on the first day of the MSC.
With years of experience advising U.S. national security agencies, Pfarrer provides a sharp analysis of what he says is Russia’s unraveling position.
The Ukrainian prime minister’s said Ukraine’s battlefield experience can be the basis of a new European army.
Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, proposed the creation of a singular European army based on Ukraine’s war lessons.
Shymal said Ukraine’s experience – particularly with drones – could greatly bolster European defenses and “become the backbone of a unified European army,” as “no other country in the European community has such modern military experience.”
Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visited Kyiv and presented the first draft of the agreement.
Ukraine has handed over a draft proposal to the United States outlining a possible deal that could grant Washington access to Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for ongoing American support, a member of the Ukrainian delegation at the Munich Security Conference told the RBC-Ukraine media outlet on Friday.
“Ukraine has handed over the document,” said a member of Kyiv’s delegation. The US has requested time to study the proposal before making any decisions.
In stark contrast to Washington’s nomination of mostly novice mediators for forthcoming peace talks, the Kremlin is reportedly putting together a team of seasoned high-level negotiators.
On Wednesday US President Donald Trump announced his negotiating team tasked to mediate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine on his Truth Social site:
“I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.”
Russia finalizes a rare military deal with Sudan, securing a naval base on the Red Sea.
Sudan and Russia have reportedly finalized an agreement to establish a naval base on the Red Sea coast, Financial Times reported Friday.
This reported deal marks a rare success for Moscow, which is seeking to expand its military presence in the region.
The Belarusian opposition leader said peace talks on Ukraine should not just concern Russian troops in Ukraine but also those in Belarus.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ opposition leader in exile, called for Russian troops’ withdrawal from Belarus as part of a potential peace settlement in Ukraine.
Tsikhanouskaya said during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Friday that if Ukraine is to make concessions in future peace talks, it would only strengthen Minsk and Moscow in the region.
The German president said he is “concerned” by how some business elites are “rewriting the rules of democracy,” seemingly hinting at billionaire Elon Musk and his previous comments.
In an apparent allusion to billionaire Elon Musk’s influence over the US government and his connections with Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he is “concerned” that some business elites are “rewriting the rules of democracy.”
During his opening remarks at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Steinmeier went as far as criticizing some unspecified business elites for being contemptuous of democratic institutions.
These aircraft bring new air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities, forcing Russia to rethink its strategy.
He also said Donald Trump had not finalised his plan for how he wants to end the conflict, two days after the US President held phone calls with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he was ready for direct talks with Russia once Kyiv reached a common position with the United States and Europe on how to end the three-year war.
He also said Donald Trump had not finalized his plan for how he wants to end the conflict, two days after the US President held phone calls with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia was suspended from what was then the G8 after it illegally “annexed” Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would “love” to have Russia rejoin the G7, arguing that removing the country from the group in 2014 was a mistake. Russia was suspended from what was then the G8 after it invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
“I think it was a mistake to throw him out,” Trump said, referring to Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. He blamed then-President Barack Obama for leading the decision to exclude Russia from the world’s top industrialized economies.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Munich that Ukraine needs 1.5 million troops to effectively fend off Russia for an estimated cost of $60 billion per year.
Without NATO, Ukraine would need to build and finance a 1.5 million-strong military to fend off Russia effectively, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference in Munich on Friday.
During the conference, Zelensky said it would also cost $60 billion to maintain an army of that size per year.
The exchange of prisoners and return of their remains is one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Kyiv said Friday it had received the bodies of hundreds of Ukrainian troops killed in battle with Russian forces, in one of the largest such repatriations since Russia invaded.
The exchange of prisoners and return of their remains is one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
86 years ago Europe appeased a German dictator and threw Czechoslovakia under the bus. Now Donald Trump’s men are in Munich hoping Ukraine will give Putin what he wants for “peace.”
A US-led initiative to end the Russo-Ukraine War is meeting in Munich Germany over the weekend.
More than a few readers of European history have recalled that in 1938 big powers sold out Ukraine’s neighbor Czechoslovakia in an attempt to rein in German dictator Adolf Hitler. That deal was a disaster and became the 20th century’s most notorious case of appeasement and short-sighted diplomacy.
Trump’s announcement of peace talks with “high-ranking” Russian officials at today’s conference in Germany looks to have fallen at the first hurdle – Moscow has not applied for accreditation.
US President Donald Trump said during a Thursday press conference that high-level Ukrainian, Russian and US officials would meet during the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a claim that was denied by Kyiv. He seems to have overlooked one thing – Russia will have no representatives at the conference.
Trump said “There will be a meeting in Munich tomorrow, Russia will be there with our people. Ukraine is also invited, by the way. I’m not sure who will represent which country. But [they will all be] high-ranking officials.”
The discovery of the remains of a Russian Shahed kamikaze drone at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant could have far reaching implications.
On the morning of Feb. 14, a Russian strike drone which carried an explosive warhead hit the protective structure that was built over the ruined number 4 reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. This is the same reactor that exploded in 1986, a disaster that was re-enacted in the 2019 HBO series Chernobyl.
The ruin is protected by two unique constructions. The first protective Sarcophagus was built in 1986, but according to nuclear engineers, it was little more than a crude and hastily built “steel shed,” which soon displayed cracks and openings. It may have protected the destroyed reactor from the weather but could not prevent radioactive emissions.
Ukraine’s defense minister said most of the 19 F-16 warplanes donated by Denmark are already in Ukraine, plus an unspecified number donated by the Netherlands.
“Most of the promised F-16s” from Denmark already made it to Ukraine, with the remaining ones set to arrive this year, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Thursday evening.
Umerov did not specify the number of warplanes in his Facebook update that detailed the outcomes of the Ramstein format meeting a day prior.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed cooperation with the US, European security, and thanked the UK and Spain for supporting Ukraine on the international stage.
Over the phone Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly thanked UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for Britain’s ongoing support and its leadership in international affairs.
Zelensky informed Starmer about his recent conversation with US President Donald Trump. He emphasized the importance of joint efforts between Kyiv, Washington, and European allies.
US Vice President JD Vance signaled possible stronger sanctions on Russia, did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, and suggested a deal that could “shock many.”
US Vice President JD Vance stated that Washington is prepared to increase sanctions pressure on Russia and does not rule out sending American troops to Ukraine if Russian leader Vladimir Putin refuses a peace deal that ensures Ukraine’s long-term independence.
Vance said the option of sending US troops to Ukraine if Moscow failed to negotiate in good faith remained “on the table,” striking a far tougher tone than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on Wednesday suggested the US wouldn’t commit forces.
The world in focus, as seen by Canadian leading global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw in a quick review of the biggest news in international media today.
His remarks on Russia and China mark a seismic shift after more than a decade of US policy which had increasingly cast Moscow into the cold and largely viewed both it and Beijing as adversaries.
Donald Trump unveiled an extraordinary vision of a shake-up to the world order Thursday, eyeing a three-way summit with the Russian and Chinese leaders just a day after saying he had agreed with Vladimir Putin to start Ukraine peace talks.
With Kyiv and European capitals still stunned by Trump’s surprise call with Putin, the US president also said he would “love” to have Russia back in the G7, from which it was suspended in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
US President Donald Trump said he wants to talk with China and Russia to cut defense spending by half after the dust settles in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to slash US defense spending by half and engage in denuclearization and arms control talks with Beijing and Moscow.
Speaking to reporters in Thursday’s Oval Office question-and-answer session, Trump said the arms control talks would happen “when things settle down,” likely referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Europe’s press sees Kyiv and Europe being relegated to the sidelines following Donald Trump’s phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
US President Trump talked on the phone with Russian leader Putin on Wednesday. According to Trump the two agreed that peace talks to end the war in Ukraine would be resumed ‘immediately’. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed Moscow’s willingness to negotiate. Trump then also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Europe’s press sees Kyiv and Europe being relegated to the sidelines.
If what has been leaked about Trump’s purported solution is true, it would constitute a major break with the West’s policy to date, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) writes:
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Senator Whitehouse warned that “throwing Ukraine under the bus” would only give Putin exactly what he wants.
Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse didn’t hold back in the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Feb. 13, as he spoke out against President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel. Whitehouse warned that Patel’s appointment would put the country at risk, especially when it comes to Russian threats.
Trump can cut deals with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, with or without the rest of Europe.
It’s now official. For all the blather of recent years about ‘strategic autonomy’ and a ‘Geopolitical Commission’, we discovered this week just how small Europe really is on the world stage.
That’s clear by looking at whom Donald Trump didn’t call this week: Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz. Hell, he didn’t even call Giorgia Meloni – the one major European leader he supposedly likes.
Footage has shown an explosion on the sarcophagus covering the former nuclear reactor, with President Volodymyr Zelensky confirming the attack.
Russia reportedly landed a direct strike on the sarcophagus encapsulating reactor number four at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) using a drone in the early hours of Friday.
President Volodymyr Zelenksy announced the attack and shared footage of the attack on social media. He described the damage as “significant” though he said no radiation spike was detected.
As the US and its European allies meet at he Munich security conference, Europe must learn from its tragic history and oppose appeasement
Donald Trump’s appeasement of Vladimir Putin makes Neville Chamberlain look like a principled, courageous realist. At least Chamberlain was trying to prevent a major European war, whereas Trump is acting in the middle of one. Trump’s “Munich” (synonymous in English with the 1938 deal in which Britain and France sold out Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany) comes on the eve of the big security conference in today’s Bavarian capital, where his emissaries will meet Western allies.
That Munich security conference must be the beginning of a decisive European response, learning from our own tragic history in order to avoid repeating it.
Providing an explanation of Trump Administration of National Security Policy developments and why it matters.
I just wanted to do a quick review of the breaking news out of Secretary Hegseth’s visit to NATO for this conference around Ukrainian security. It’s probably going to fly under the radar.
It was a relatively quiet announcement, not in a major forum, but this is going to have major effects on U.S. security. What we have going on right now is Secretary of State Rubio attending the Munich Security Conference, kind of the world’s premier security conference, saying that the key topic of discussion will be ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump on Thursday announced plans to begin negotiations, saying he thought Putin “wants peace” in Ukraine and “would tell me if he didn’t”.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned against peace in Ukraine that would amount to “capitulation” in an interview with the Financial Times published Friday.
“Peace that is a capitulation” would be “bad news for everyone”, he said shortly after US President Donald Trump rattled Washington’s NATO allies by speaking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about holding talks on Ukraine.
Trump, speaking in Washington on Thursday, had announced a meeting in Munich on Friday, claiming it would include “high-level people” from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
Ukraine has ruled out participating in talks with Russian officials at the upcoming Munich Security Conference, despite a claim by US President Donald Trump.
Dmytro Lytvyn, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told reporters Thursday that no such discussions were planned.
Two cutting-edge Valdai radar complexes are designed to provide round-the-clock automatic detection and interception against UAV attack on Russia’s capital.
Two newly deployed 117Zh6 RLK-MC Valdai radar air defense systems were destroyed near Moscow using explosives, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported via Telegram on Feb. 13.
Bilateral agricultural trade between Ukraine and the EU reached a record $17 billion which represents around half of the country’s total farming sector exports.
In 2024, the value of two-way trade between Ukraine and European Union nations reached a record $17 billion in volumes, the Ukrainian National Scientific Center’s Institute of Agrarian Economics (IAE) reported.
This exceeded the 2022 $16.5 billion previous highest figure by 3% since the European Union - Ukraine Association Agreement came into effect in 2017, the press release wrote.
Russia attacked Ukraine instead of the Baltic countries because the Baltics are NATO members, Finnish Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho says
As the third anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine approaches, Finland’s Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho told Kyiv Post that NATO membership is why Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia have recently stayed out of Russia’s revanchist crosshairs.
“The only reason they invaded Ukraine and not the Baltic countries is because the Baltic countries are members of NATO and Ukraine is not or was not,” the speaker said.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from ISW:
Sybiha warns of dangers of negotiations without Ukraine present as US Secretary of State talks mineral rights. “All the natural resources they have,” Rubio says.
A day before representatives from Ukraine and the United States met at the Munich Security Conference, the two top diplomats from those countries exchanged ideas in separate interviews about what a lasting peace might look like once the Russians are invited to the table to end the now three-year full-scale war.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha expressed Ukrainian fears that negotiations between two oligarchic strongmen, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, could replay the Yalta Conference of early February 1945, exactly 80 years ago.
JD Vance reportedly won’t be meeting with German Chancellor Scholz in Munich, opting to sit down with his rival instead: “I can’t stand Scholz but he is still our chancellor,” noted one opponent.
When the US delegation to the Munich Security Council starts meeting with foreign leaders there on Friday, the German leader hosting the international event won’t be on their calendars, Politico reported on Thursday.
A German official told the political news website that US Vice President JD Vance does not plan to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the three-day event, even though Scholz represents the country with the second-highest level of military contributions to Kyiv, and Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine is the primary topic of that conference. It is also the country putting on the annual conference, which stars Friday at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in the Bavarian capital.
