Weekly Russia-Ukraine war summary: AFU counterattacks near Pokrovsk, Russia’s “psychological assault” in Kursk, battles for Kostyantynopil

Russian forces also intensified their offensive north of the former Vremivka salient. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the capture of Novosilka, while the pro-war channel Voin DV (lit. “Far Eastern Warrior”) released footage of Russian flags raised in Novoocheretuvate. DeepState noted active Russian assaults in this area, which resulted in heavy losses, including of armored vehicles.

During the initial U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, both sides agreed to establish negotiation teams focused on Ukraine and to work to restore diplomatic staffing levels. Despite Donald Trump’s criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine and the U.S. appeared to make progress toward an agreement on mineral resource control. Zelensky also described his meeting in Kyiv with Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, by saying that their talk had “restored hope.”

Mutual strikes and sabotage

Throughout the week, the Ukrainian Air Force reported (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) the downing of 500 drones, including Shahed UAVs and other unidentified types, out of a total of 1,021 launched against Ukrainian territory. An additional 409 drones were reported as “radar-lost.” The Ukrainian military also reported at least 17 missile launches by Russian forces, intercepting one Kh-59/Kh-69 guided missile.

Notable Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure included:

Feb. 16: A drone attack on a thermal power plant in Mykolaiv left 46,000 people without electricity.
Feb. 18: An 80-year-old man was killed in an artillery strike on Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia Region.
Feb. 18: A mass drone attack on Odesa left at least 160,000 residents without heating or electricity.
Feb. 19: Four glide bombs struck Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, killing one person and injuring seven.
Feb. 19: Two people were killed and five injured (1, 2) in artillery strikes in Kharkiv Region’s Kupiansk district and in the city of Kupiansk.
Feb. 20: Four people were killed in airstrikes and artillery shelling of Kostiantynivka, while two others died after artillery strikes on Nikopol.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the destruction of 198 Ukrainian UAVs over Russia and Crimea. In response, Ukrainian forces struck several key targets:

According to volunteers from the open source (OSINT) intelligence project Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), at least 43 civilians were killed and 209 injured due to strikes on civilian infrastructure on both sides of the front line between Feb. 13 at 8:00 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 8:00 p.m.

Casualties

The BBC Russian Service, in collaboration with the independent exiled Russian media outlet Mediazona and a team of volunteers, has updated its count of Russian soldiers killed in the invasion of Ukraine to 95,026. The calculations, based on verified open-source data, have seen an additional 5,007 names added to the overall tally since Jan. 24, 2025. According to an unnamed NATO official, Russian losses in 2024 alone are estimated at a total of 530,000 killed and wounded, bringing overall casualties since the start of the war to 837,000.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed in an interview with NBC News that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the full-scale war, with tens of thousands more captured or missing. Previous estimates by The Economist placed Ukrainian losses at between 60,000 and 100,000.

An investigation by the Financial Times identified a Russian soldier allegedly involved in the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to the report, Oleg Yakovlev, a native of Uralsk, Kazakhstan, along with fellow servicemen from Russia’s 30th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, executed six Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered. Yakovlev denied any involvement while claiming that the Russian soldier seen in the execution video “did not kill those men without reason.”