Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Kyiv’s forces make enormous positive aspects on battlefield forward of Geneva peace talks | EUROtoday

Ukraine is claiming that Russia launched 396 drones and 29 missiles in a single day, representing a current excessive.

The Air Force introduced in its morning report that 4 ballistic missiles and 18 drones struck 13 totally different targets throughout the nation.

It mentioned Ukrainian forces shot down 25 missiles and 367 drones.

Vladimir Putin is changing into more and more reliant on overseas fighters to combat his battle in Ukraine, defence secretary John Healey mentioned.

Russia is going through extra losses than it could possibly exchange with mobilising extra troops, he mentioned, talking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

The mounting losses are forcing Russia to rely extra on 1000’s of overseas fighters, together with recruits from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Cuba, Nigeria and Senegal, he mentioned.

They are “often recruited under false pretences and press-ganged under pressure without necessarily realising that they’re destined for the Russian meat machine on the front line of Ukraine,” Healey said.

His remarks come after Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov told his European counterparts that Kyiv was able to inflict more Russian casualties than the Kremlin was able to recruit over the last two months.

Healey added that North Korean troops committed to fighting for Russia are estimated to be around 17,000.

“Putin likes to provide the impression that they’re making relentless and inevitable progress however he’s weaker than he’s been and extra reliant than he’s been on overseas fighters,” Healey mentioned.

The high-stakes peace talks to finish the battle in Ukraine are set to start in Geneva at this time. Here’s what we all know concerning the officers heading there to take part within the talks.

Ukrainian General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of workers, posted {a photograph} on Telegram exhibiting himself standing subsequent to a prepare with different members of the negotiating staff, which is because of be led in Geneva by Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s nationwide safety and defence council chief.

Entering or leaving Ukraine entails a protracted overland journey, even for VIPs, because the nation’s airspace is closed due to the battle.

Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who headed Moscow’s staff of negotiators within the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022 and who has forcefully pushed Putin’s battle objectives, is returning to guide Moscow’s delegation.

Medinsky has written a number of historical past books that concentrate on exposing purported Western plots in opposition to Russia and denigrate Ukraine.

Igor Kostyukov, the top of Russian navy intelligence, and deputy overseas minister Mikhail Galuzin, together with different officers, will even be within the delegation, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned.

Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev will even journey to Geneva for separate talks with the US on financial cooperation, in line with Peskov.

Moscow and Kyiv are eager to supply future enterprise alternatives to Washington.

It just isn’t clear which American officers could be in Geneva. At current talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the Trump administration was represented by envoys Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Ukraine has sanctioned not less than 10 Russian athletes who’ve actively supported Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned.

The sanctions will apply to sports activities figures who visited occupied Ukrainian territories, publicly defended Russia’s invasion and occupation, raised funds for Russian forces, or organised occasions for Ukrainian kids forcibly kidnapped by Russia, the presidential workplace mentioned.

“This Ukrainian sanctions package should be a signal to others around the world – a signal that one cannot simply turn a blind eye to support for aggression,” Zelensky mentioned.

“When Ukrainians at the Olympics are forbidden to even mention the victims of Russian aggression, that is clearly a global rollback of justice. We will restore justice,” he added.

Representatives of Ukraine and Russia ⁠are set to satisfy in Geneva in a couple of hours’ time for a recent spherical of US-mediated peace talks that the Kremlin ⁠says are prone to give attention to land, the primary sticking level.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine cede the remaining 20 per cent of the jap area of Donetsk that Moscow has did not seize – one thing Kyiv refuses to ​do.

“This time, the idea is to discuss a broader range of issues, including, ⁠in fact, the main ones. The main issues concern ⁠both the territories and everything else related to the demands we have put forward,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on ⁠Monday.

The ‌venue has switched to the Swiss lakeside city after Abu Dhabi hosted two rounds of talks that both sides described as constructive but which failed to reach any major breakthrough.

Authorities in Poland have temporarily closed airports in Rzeszow and Lublin because of military aviation operations, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) said this morning.

Polish commanders said military aviation operations began in the country’s airspace due to strikes by Russia’s long-range air forces on Ukrainian territory.

Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to reach a deal with Russia ahead of the US-brokered talks in Geneva today.

“It’s easy… Ukraine better come to the table, fast,” the US president mentioned, chatting with the reporters onboard Air Force One whereas en path to Washington.

Officials in Kyiv confirmed a Ukrainian delegation was heading to Geneva on Monday for another round of talks with Russian officials, ahead of next week’s fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Trump’s remarks did not call for action from the Russian side, which has been seeking Ukraine’s territory and political concessions from Kyiv without budging from its demands.

Moscow wants Ukraine to cede the entirety of the Donbas area, including areas it has failed to capture by force.

Ukrainian soldiers have been able to make dramatic battlefield gains in the war-hit country’s east after Russian troops lost access to Starlink satellite internet, a US-based think tank said.

Ukrainian forces managed to recapture 201 sq km (78 sq miles) from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday, equivalent to the Russian gains for the entire month of December, the ISW’s data showed.

This is the most land retaken by Kyiv’s forces in such a short period since a June 2023 counteroffensive. The territory secured by Ukraine is mostly to the east of Zaporizhzhia city, where Russian troops have made significant progress since mid-2025.

“These Ukrainian counterattacks are likely leveraging the recent block on Russian forces’ access to Starlink, which Russian milbloggers (military bloggers) have claimed is causing communications and command and control issues on the battlefield,” the ISW said.

Starlink internet terminals used by Russian troops in Ukraine were deactivated earlier this month, dealing what one official said was a big setback for Moscow that had disrupted assault operations.

Russian forces have made unauthorised use of thousands of satellite-based Starlink internet connections for secure communications since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kyiv says.