12:35 p.m
Medvedev: If we push ourselves to the 1991 borders, it will lead to a global war
“Attempts to bring Russia back within the borders of 1991 will lead to only one thing: a global war with Western countries using the entire strategic arsenal of our state” against “Kiev, Berlin, London, Washington and against all other beautiful historical ones “Places” that have long been among the targets of our nuclear triad.” This was written by Vice President of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram.
12:10 p.m
Putin: ready for dialogue with Ukraine
“We are ready for dialogue with Ukraine. Without the West's position, the fighting in Ukraine would have stopped a year and a half ago.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said this in an interview quoted by Interfax. “The Russian Federation tried to end the conflict even after the start” of the special operation, but Ukraine did not want this,” he added.
When asked “why Russia did not launch the special military operation earlier,” the Kremlin chief said: “We hoped for the decency of our partners” and referred to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. “Moscow didn’t know that the Europeans wouldn’t implement them,” Putin said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, Ria Novosti reports.
11:30 a.m
American F-16 fighter jets over Ukraine in June
Ukraine is set to receive the first American F-16 fighter jets in June, two European officials told US magazine Foreign Policy. “I think we will see them in Ukraine in June,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said, citing a timeline confirmed by another European official in Munich. The Ukrainian government expects that twelve pilots will be trained in combat aircraft by September, the newspaper recalls.
09:08
Donetsk, two dead and two injured
Two people were killed and two others injured by Russian attacks yesterday in the Donetsk region (east), the head of the regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, announced on Telegram, Ukrinform reports. “On February 17, the Russians killed two residents of the Donetsk region in Kramatorsk. Two more people were injured in the region,” Filashkin wrote. In total, 1,865 people have died and 4,577 have been injured in the Donetsk region since the start of the war.
08:57
Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian fighter-bomber
Ukrainian air defense forces shot down a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber this morning: this was announced by the commander of the Kiev Air Force, Suspilne reported. In addition, 12 Russian drones and a Kh-59 guided missile were destroyed during the night. Yesterday the Ukrainian army shot down a Su-35 fighter and two Su-34 fighter-bombers. The Air Force announced on Telegram that Russian forces fired six S-300 anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine during the night from the occupied territory of the Donetsk region (east), three Kh-22 cruise missiles from the Russian city of Voronezh, one guided missile Kh -59 from the occupied territory of the Zaporizhia region, as well as 14 drones from Russian territory (Prymorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk).
08:55
An attack on Zaporizhia was repelled
Ukrainian forces repelled an offensive by Russian troops towards Zaporizhia yesterday, killing about 70 enemy soldiers. This was announced by the Western operational command, as Rbc-Ukraine reported. The Russians tried unsuccessfully 13 times to attack Ukrainian positions west of Verbovoy and Robotyny in the Zaporizhzhia region, but were forced to retreat to earlier positions, the army says.