Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 02-22-2025

Alnur Mussayev, former head of Kazakhstan’s security service, who rose up the ranks of the Soviet KGB, claims Moscow groomed Trump under pseudonym “Krasnov” in 1987.

US President Donald Trump was groomed 37 years ago as a potential Soviet asset, according to Alnur Mussayev, the former head of Kazakhstan’s security services, who had been a KGB officer in Moscow at the time.

In a Facebook post, Mussayev tried to shed light on Trump’s often baffling willingness to mollify Putin: “In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the USSR KGB in Moscow,” Mussayev wrote on Feb. 20, explaining how “the most important direction of the work of the 6th Administration was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries.”

Tuesday’s meeting between US and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia’s capital was ostensibly to prepare the ground for developing a “peace plan” for Ukraine despite Kyiv’s absence.

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, diplomats from Moscow and Washington’s sat around the table in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to discuss a “peace plan” for Ukraine, without Ukraine being at the table.

The key figures in these talks were Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State; Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump; and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.

A star-studded line-up of female artists presented a cover of David Bowie’s hit ‘Heroes’ to draw attention to Ukrainians heading into the fourth year of the full-scale war launched by Russia.

In an initiative to elevate awareness and support for war-torn Ukraine, an extraordinary coalition of Ukraine’s leading female artists have reimagined David Bowie’s timeless anthem “Heroes” in a powerful new music video

The all-star ensemble features Grammy performer Mika Newton, Eurovision stars Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil, DakhaBrakha, KLER, KOLA, Olga Shapovalova, and David Bowie’s longtime pianist Mike Garson. The video is directed and produced by Grammy winner Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata, The Fog) for Adore Creative alongside Ukrainian/American journalist Zorianna Kit and edited by President Zelensky’s longtime film collaborator, David Dodson. The track was produced by Ukrainian producer Kostiantyn Sukhonosov.

In an uncharacteristic turn, the tabloid most supportive of Trump in his native city appears to be reproaching the president for claims about Zelensky that are clearly untrue.

President Donald Trump has always had a friend and ally in The New York Post, the city’s conservative tabloid. Best known for its brash and sensationalist headlines, the publication chronicled Trump’s rise to fame as a young real estate mogul in the 1970s and 1980s.

Throughout Trump’s political career, the newspaper has consistently backed his often untenable – at least for liberal New Yorkers – positions and hyperboles.

US officials reportedly said they would pull Starlink from Ukraine – essential for the military – if Zelensky does not sign a deal exchanging Ukraine’s mineral resources for US security guarantees.

The US has threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink – the global satellite network that has proven essential on the battlefield – if Kyiv does not accept the White House’s deal to exchange its rare earth minerals for continued security guarantees, according to anonymous sources.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has so far rejected demands from US President Donald Trump‘s team to sign over its mineral wealth in exchange for security, but Zelensky said on Friday that the two countries were continuing to work on an agreement and would likely announce a deal soon. 

The Russian President once again extolled the “unequalled properties” of the “Hazelnut” missile and how cutting-edge material allow its warheads to cope with the high temperatures “re-entry” imposes.

Speaking at the Technologies of the Future” forum in Moscow on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to claim that the Oreshnik missile represented a development in missile technology unmatched anywhere else. He claimed that the use of new materials developed by Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy corporation, allowed its warheads to withstand temperatures equivalent to the surface of the sun.

During his speech Putin said development of the system began in the 1980s but it is only recently that Russian scientists have produced materials capable of putting the concept into practice. He said this was yet another example of how Russian innovation was giving the country the technological edge over its enemies.

Trump’s administration breaks ranks and refuses to call Russia an aggressor responsible for the war and occupant of Ukrainian territory.

The US urged UN members to back its “simple, historic” resolution on the Ukraine war, which diplomatic sources said omits mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia.

Washington’s proposal, seen by AFP, appears to rival a separate draft resolution produced by Kyiv and its European allies -- countries that US President Donald Trump has sought to sideline from talks on the future of the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.

People everywhere are gathering in solidarity with Ukraine this weekend in commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of the full-scale invasion as peace negotiations between the US-Ukraine-Russia carry on.

Supporters around the world are gathering in solidarity with Ukraine this weekend ahead of the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion and in protest of the actions of US President Donald Trump, who verbally attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week and blamed him for the war. 

A march for American supporters of Ukraine is scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Washington DC, from 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm, in cooperation with the US Embassy of Ukraine and the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Trump fired the US’s top military leader and five other officials at the Pentagon in a Friday night purge that pitted White House politics against the country’s longstanding national security network.

US President Donald Trump has fired the country’s most senior military officer in a politically motivated purge of the Pentagon with little precedent. 

Trump unceremoniously dismissed Gen. Charles Q. “CQ” Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chosen by former President Joe Biden in 2023, on a TruthSocial post on Friday. 

In the early days of the war, had three generations of females in Yuriy Hlodan’s family – wife, daughter and mother-in-law – were killed by a Russian missile attack on Odesa.

As they saw in the New Year of 2022, life had never been better for Yuriy Hlodan and his wife, Valeria. Their first child was due any day and they were both hugely excited about starting a family.

Furthermore, Yuriy was thriving in his new job, having taken the unusual step of swapping his role as a talented lawyer for his first love of cooking, working as a chef. There was so much to look forward to in the months and years ahead for the young couple who had met as students.

Sidebar Stories – In the vein of “literature is news that stays news,” Kyiv Post presents some not necessarily factual narratives that offer added insight into Ukraine’s realities.

Their bunker was three stories below ground level in what was, before the war, a downtown car park. When people drove to their cars to their jobs and then to their kids’ soccer practice; when there was a normal.

The windowless space was half a football field long and tightly packed with rows of IKEA desks, lines of laptops, joy sticks in various shapes and sizes, spare electronic components, small pliers and screwdrivers, green motherboards half dismantled, headphones, and tangles of cables. Dim blue light from the dozens of digital screens covering each wall numbed the place.

After this Sunday’s election, Germany will have the opportunity to reassert its commitment to Ukraine and the future security of a galvanized Europe.

Despite the shock of the recent Trump-Putin telephone call, a peace deal can neither be implemented without Ukraine nor without the EU’s participation. However, the future of Europe depends to a great degree on Germany’s evolving position towards Ukraine and Russia. Any new German government should use the historical chance this weekend’s federal elections bring to renew the country’s commitment to Ukraine and put its foundation on a fresh and rooted footing.

This would be wise, pragmatic, and far-sighted as the German-Ukrainian relationship will be central to Europe. It will have a shaping impact on the future European security order. In addition, it can be a way to demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin the limits of his escalation game.

As the world appears on the verge of following Donald Trump into an authoritarian detour, Ukraine stands firm for freedom and democracy. It has no choice.

Three years ago, Vladimir Putin. His Russian invasion of Ukraine is the largest European conflict since World War II, and arguably the first major war to be covered in real time by social media. People throughout the world have watched with incredulity as the Kremlin’s armed forces have marched into Ukraine, reducing entire cities to rubble and displacing millions of people. For 36 months this advancing disaster has dominated global news headlines.

Not many expected Ukraine to reach this grim milestone. Truthfully, prior to Russia’s carefully planned, unprovoked full-scale invasion, oddsmakers agreed any organized Ukrainian resistance would probably collapse within a matter of days. On reflection, it is quite obvious that both Vladimir Putin and a huge majority of international onlookers were uniformly guilty of incorrectly judging and underestimating Ukraine.

The signing by the UK and Ukraine of the Centennial Partnership Agreement underlines the central role that Kyiv plays in protecting Euro-Atlantic security that future NATO membership would reinforce.

The signing of the Centennial Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the United Kingdom on Jan. 16, is a transformational moment of Euro-Atlantic integration.  This, despite the fact that the UK is no longer a member of the EU.

According to the provisions of the Agreement: “The Parties will develop areas whose importance to Euro-Atlantic peace and stability goes far beyond war, recognizing Ukraine’s important role in protecting Euro-Atlantic security and paying particular attention to interoperability and Ukraine’s contribution as a future NATO ally.”

Everyone wants the war to stop so peace can return. But it seems Trump is willing to push a ceasefire even if it condemns the victims and denies them rectitude.

I’m an American who has been volunteering in Ukraine for nearly two and a half years, first by helping to deliver humanitarian aid and then by raising funds to buy equipment for frontline defenders. I do this not because I’m an adrenaline junkie or because I have any Ukrainian roots, but simply because, like many Americans, I have a soft spot for the underdog. Many, but not all.

Here in Odesa, where I’m based, there’s real dismay about Donald Trump’s apparent sell-out of this country. Nobody knows the precise terms being discussed by Washington and Moscow, but the Ukrainians I talk to are increasingly worried that in the realpolitik rush to stop the fighting, a little thing called justice will get lost. They ask questions about matters that are unlikely to get much attention from the important Americans and Russians sitting across from one another at long polished conference tables. Questions about the victims of this pointless, unnecessary war. 

Almost two years after Ukrainian volunteer engineers started work on the Trembita “people’s” missile drone, the final version was unveiled at Ukraine’s 2025 Defense Tech Innovations Forum on Friday.

On Feb. 21, the 2025 Defense Tech Innovations Forum, hosted by Brave-1, held a large-scale exhibition of defense technologies including drones, electronic warfare, missiles and military training systems.

Among various equipment displayed was the Trembita surface-to-surface cruise missile, first reported on by the Militarnyi website back in April 2023.

In yet another attempt to mollify Putin at the outset of negotiation, the Trump administration proposed a resolution that would cut out references to “occupied territories” in Ukraine.

The United States proposed a United Nations resolution Friday regarding the Russia’s war against Ukraine that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Washington’s proposal comes amid an intensifying feud between US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky, which has seen Trump claim it was “not important” for his Ukrainian counterpart to be involved in peace talks.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian state media and Kremlin officials appear to be leveraging select statements from US officials alongside long-standing Russian narratives to create tension between the United States and Ukraine and undermine faith in America’s commitment to Ukraine.
• US officials continue to reiterate their support for Ukraine and a lasting and just resolution of the war.
• Russian forces recently eliminated the Ukrainian pocket west of Kurakhove amid continued reports that the Russian military is redeploying elements of the Russian Southern Military District’s (SMD) 8th Combined Arms Army (CAA) from the Kurakhove direction to the Toretsk direction.
• Russian forces are attempting to leverage the seizure of Velyka Novosilka to advance further north of the settlement toward the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast administrative border.
• Ukrainian officials continue to highlight the growth of Ukraine’s defense industrial base (DIB) through significant expansion in the domestic production of key military equipment.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin promoted Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Commander Sergei Pinchuk to the rank of Admiral and Eastern Group of Forces Commander Andrei Ivanayev to the rank of Colonel General on February 21.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Kurakhove and Velyka Novosilka and in Kursk Oblast.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reportedly falsely designating former penal recruits as having abandoned their units without authorization (SOCH) to avoid paying them amid continued indicators that Russian authorities are concerned about the war’s strain on the Russian economy.