February 26, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 02:43 Kuleba on Taurus: “I want everyone to know that we need this weapon” +++
Ukraine is again asking the federal government to supply Taurus cruise missiles. “The final decision lies with Germany,” says Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to the Germany editorial network. “But I want everyone to know that we need this weapon.” The politician rejects fears that a delivery of Taurus cruise missiles could drag Germany further into the war with Russia: “I think that this fear has been allayed since the first delivery of Leopard tanks. Since then, the argument has been escalation off the table.”
+++ 01:16 Voting for Russian presidential election begins in remote regions +++
Early voting for the March presidential election has begun in remote regions of Russia. According to the authority, employees of the Russian election commission used helicopters and snowmobiles to enable voting in parts of Siberia, among other places. Four voters voted in a difficult-to-reach tribal area in the Siberian Arctic. Early voting also begins in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Russian soldiers can vote there. Incumbent Putin has no real competition in the election in mid-March; real opposition candidates are not allowed.
+++ 23:50 Russians fire on Dnipro, four injured +++
The city of Dnipro is attacked with drones and missiles in the evening. The head of the military administration, Serhii Lysak, speaks on Telegram of a “noisy evening” in Dnipro. According to initial findings, there are four injured. Residential houses, several cars and a truck were also damaged. The air defense shot down three cruise missiles and three drones.
+++ 22:48 Ukraine expects a Russian offensive from the end of May +++
According to Ukraine, Russia is preparing for a new offensive at the end of May or in the summer. But his country will prepare for this, said Ukrainian President Zelenskyj during his two-hour press conference in Kiev: “We will prepare for their attack.” In addition, Ukraine has its own, clear battle plan. Cohesion with the Western allies is important. There are “two difficult months” ahead, which will be followed by a new Russian attack.
+++ 21:52 Again Ukrainian agricultural products spilled from freight train in Poland +++
Previously unknown perpetrators gained access to several wagons of a freight train in Poland and dumped the agricultural products transported in them. In the incident in Kotomierz in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, corn was scattered on the tracks from eight wagons, a police spokeswoman told the PAP agency. It is not clear when exactly the crime occurred. The background is likely to be the protests by Polish farmers against cheap Ukrainian agricultural imports. It was not the first incident of this kind. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Olexander Kubrakow writes on X that 160 tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were destroyed on the way to the port city of Gdansk (Danzig).
+++ 21:21 Russians are said to have executed at least seven Ukrainian soldiers +++
Russian troops have apparently killed at least seven Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, the incident is said to have occurred on Saturday near Bakhmut in the east of the country. “From the video footage we were able to obtain, it can be seen that Ukrainian soldiers surrendered as prisoners of war: their hands were raised in the air, indicating that they were unarmed and did not pose a threat,” he writes on Telegram. The exact number of Ukrainians executed is unclear, it is said. In addition, the responsible Russian unit has already been identified. The killing of prisoners of war violates the Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime.
+++ 20:48 “On the Kremlin desk”: Zelenskyj talks about failed counteroffensive +++
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine has a clear plan for a new counteroffensive. “There is a plan, the plan is clear, but I can’t give you any details,” Zelenskyi said in Kiev. The plan is related to the recent change in military leadership. The president had previously said that plans for a counteroffensive were leaked last year and ended up “on a desk in the Kremlin” before the operation even began. Zelenskyj leaves it open how this leak came about.
You can read all previous developments here.