Here are the key developments on the 1,080th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Here is the situation on Saturday, February 8:
Fighting:
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korean troops have returned to the front line in Russia’s Kursk region after reports emerged that Moscow had withdrawn them due to heavy losses. “There have been new assaults in the Kursk operation areas … the Russian army and North Korean soldiers have been brought in again,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Friday. He added that a “significant number” of opposing troops had been “destroyed”, saying: “We are talking about hundreds of Russian and North Korean soldiers.”
Moscow’s forces have seized the key eastern Ukrainian mining town of Toretsk, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Friday. Kyiv denied Russia had full control of the city.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have increased. Russian state news agency Tass quoted Grossi – speaking after meeting with Alexei Likhachev, head of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom – as saying it was not possible to determine which side was carrying out the attacks. Russian forces took control of the plant in eastern Ukraine soon after the war broke out in 2022.
Three people were killed by a Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, Kyiv’s Prosecutor General Office said in a statement. The attack late on Thursday destroyed a residential building in the village of Myropillya, the prosecutor’s office said.
Diplomacy and politics
Lithuania has disconnected its electricity system from Russia’s, as part of a plan in which the three Baltic states will integrate with European Union networks in order to boost energy security. Latvia and Estonia will follow suit. The grid was the final energy link to Russia for the three former Soviet states.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “probably” meet Zelenskyy next week. The Ukrainian president, in turn, said he appreciated working with Trump. Asked where the meeting would take place, Trump replied that it “could be Washington – well, I’m not going there,” referring to Kyiv. Zelenskyy said “talks” were planned but did not confirm a meeting. He wrote on X: “We’re also planning meetings and talks at the teams’ level. Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details.”
European foreign ministers will discuss the war at a meeting in Paris next week, France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said on Friday. Ministers from France, Germany, Poland, Britain, Spain and Italy would take part in the talks on Wednesday, just ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the ministry stated, amid reports that US envoys could also attend. The meeting aims to “show continued support to Ukraine”.
The Kremlin said on Friday there had been a lot of inaccurate reports on US plans for ending the Ukraine war and called for patience.
Ukraine said it hoped the International Criminal Court (ICC) would continue to prosecute Russian war criminals, despite the sanctions announced by Trump this week. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said: “We hope that they [sanctions] will not affect the court’s ability to achieve justice for the victims of Russian aggression.”
Ukraine is looking forward to a visit this month by Trump’s special envoy for the region. “The Ukrainian side is looking forward to the visit of the US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, in February to provide comprehensive information on Russian aggression against our country,” Andriy Yermak, who heads the Office of the President of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram.
