Russia-Ukraine War: List of Key Events, Day 1,454

Why It Matters

Territorial gains and amplified drone warfare shift battlefield dynamics, while Geneva negotiations and anti‑corruption actions influence the war’s political and economic trajectory.

Key Takeaways

• Ukraine reclaimed 201 sq km amid Russian Starlink outage.
• Russia downed 345 Ukrainian drones; launched 62 strike drones overnight.
• Czech-supplied ammunition bolsters Ukrainian artillery capabilities.
• Geneva talks intensify with US, Russia, Ukraine negotiating teams.
• Corruption probe detains former Ukrainian energy minister, Galushchenko.

Pulse Analysis

The latest battlefield data underscores a subtle yet meaningful shift in the Russia‑Ukraine conflict. Ukraine’s ability to retake 201 sq km demonstrates how electronic‑warfare disruptions, such as the recent Starlink outage affecting Russian command‑and‑control, can create exploitable windows for ground offensives. Simultaneously, the surge in drone activity—Russia claiming 345 enemy drones shot down and deploying over 60 strike drones—highlights the growing reliance on unmanned systems for both reconnaissance and kinetic strikes, reshaping traditional artillery engagements.

On the diplomatic front, Geneva has re‑emerged as a focal point for cease‑fire negotiations, drawing in the United States, Russia, and Ukraine’s negotiating team led by Rustem Umerov. The talks aim to broaden the agenda beyond immediate hostilities, tackling territorial concessions, humanitarian corridors, and energy security. Parallel diplomatic maneuvers, such as Hungary’s pledge to host a peace summit and the contentious Druzhba pipeline dispute, illustrate how regional actors are leveraging the conflict to advance broader geopolitical interests while navigating EU sanctions and Russian oil dependencies.

Internally, Kyiv’s anti‑corruption drive gained prominence with the detention of former energy minister German Galushchenko on money‑laundering allegations, signaling a commitment to clean governance amid wartime pressures. Complementing this, Czech‑facilitated delivery of 4.4 million rounds of large‑calibre ammunition strengthens Ukraine’s artillery capabilities, addressing a critical supply gap. Meanwhile, external pressures on Russian oil output—driven by U.S. and EU restrictions—threaten to erode the Kremlin’s war financing. Together, these military, diplomatic, and governance developments shape the conflict’s evolving landscape and its broader economic ramifications.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,454

By News Agencies · Published On 17 Feb 2026 · Here is where things stand on Tuesday, February 17:

Fighting

• Ukraine recaptured 201 sq km (78 sq miles) of its territory from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday last week, taking advantage of a Starlink communications shutdown experienced by Russian forces, according to an analysis of battlefield data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) conducted by the AFP news agency.

• Ukrainian intelligence believes that more Russian attacks on the country’s energy sector are in store and that such tactics will make it more difficult to reach an agreement on ending the nearly four‑year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his nightly video address on Monday.

• Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 62 long‑range strike drones and six missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight.

• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that it took down 345 Ukrainian drones over the previous 24 hours. It also said it had captured two settlements – Pokrovka and Minkivka – in eastern Ukraine, Russian state media reported.

• Officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region reported that a fire had broken out and was extinguished at the Black Sea port of Taman, which handles oil products, grain, coal and commodities. The port was damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday.

Military aid

• Ukraine has received 4.4 million rounds of large‑calibre ammunition under a plan involving Czech arms producers and funding from foreign donors, the Czech Republic’s president, Petr Pavel, told a local news website.

Ceasefire talks

• Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team, arrived in Geneva for the next round of trilateral talks with the US and Russia. In a Telegram post, Umerov said he is looking forward “to constructive work and substantive meetings on security and humanitarian issues” on Tuesday.

• Russian news agencies reported the departure of Moscow’s delegation to the talks in Geneva, which is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin.

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the main focus of the Russian negotiating team is “to discuss a broader range of issues”, including questions about territory, “and everything else related to the demands we have put forward”.

• Peskov said Russian military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Galuzin would also take part in the Geneva talks, while Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, would engage in a separate working group on economic issues.

• Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban said that he assured US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his country still backs US peace efforts in Ukraine and that Budapest was still open to hosting a peace summit.

Politics and diplomacy

• Hungary and Slovakia have asked Croatia to help them secure Russian oil following a disruption to flows through Ukraine, which the two countries have blamed on Kyiv. Hungary and Slovakia have exemptions to European Union sanctions on Russian oil that is still piped through Ukraine.

• In response to the allegations of disrupting Russian oil flows, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha posted a photo on X of firefighters battling what he said was a fire at the Druzhba pipeline. In the post, he accused Hungary of not publicly commenting on the incident for two weeks because its ally, Russia, was to blame for the attack on the oil pipe.

• The Kremlin said on Monday that it agreed with the statement of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who a day earlier accused Ukraine of delaying the reopening of the Druzhba pipeline to try to pressure Hungary to drop its opposition to Ukraine’s potential future EU membership.

• Ukraine’s anticorruption police accused the country’s ex‑energy minister, German Galushchenko, of helping launder kickbacks and stashing millions offshore, a day after he was detained trying to leave the country. Ukraine’s anticorruption agency, NABU, said it was working with 15 foreign jurisdictions to expand its corruption probe.

Ukrainian former Energy Minister German Galushchenko, centre, leaves after a court hearing over his detention, amid allegations of money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation. He was detained by law enforcement while attempting to leave Ukraine, authorities said [Serhii Okunev/AFP].

• Russian oil producers could be forced to sharply cut output in the coming months as pressure from the US and European powers restricts Moscow’s exports and storage tanks fill up. Such a development could dent the Kremlin’s war chest, which funds its war on Ukraine, according to Reuters.

• France has agreed to grant safe haven to the anti‑Kremlin Russian activist couple Alexei and Nadezhda Ishimov, who were both detained by US law enforcement. Nadezhda, however, was prevented from leaving the US because she was using a temporary travel permit instead of a passport. The couple left Russia in 2022 as the Kremlin ramped up a crackdown on opponents following its invasion of Ukraine.