Three years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, deadly attacks and drone strikes continue on a daily basis.
More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the beginning of the war, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, and tens of thousands more injured.
A recent US diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Kyiv and key allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that won’t be favourable to them.
With Ukraine left on the outside looking in, the war-torn country’s citizens continue to deal with the reality of a war that is very much still ongoing.
Follow updates from the frontline in Ukraine below:
Friday 28 February
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 107 out of 208 drones launched by Russia overnight. They said another 97 drones had been “lost” and did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures.
It did not specify what happened to the remaining four drones.
Russia’s state news agency RIA reported that three civilians, including a woman and child, were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on an ambulance in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.
They claimed the incident occurred in the village of Mala Leptykha, near the frontline between Russia and Ukraine controlled parts of the region.
Thursday 27 February
North Korea provides more soldiers for Putin
South Korea’s spy agency has said that North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to Russia, after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a brief statement it was trying to determine exactly how many more troops had been provided.
The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an address on February 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there. North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last autumn it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials.
Another drone attack and recaptured settlement
The Ukrainian military said it shot down 90 out of 166 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 72 drones were “lost”, the military said, likely referencing its electronic warfare countermeasures.
Russian forces have recaptured the settlement of Nikolsky in the country’s western Kursk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday, though this has not been independently verified.
Wednesday 26 February
An overnight Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region killed one person, injured at least two and set several houses on fire, Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, said on Wednesday.
The body of a civilian was found in a residential house that caught fire as a result of the attack, Kalashnyk wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
“My condolences to the family and loved ones,” he said.
The Emergency Service of Ukraine said that two people, born in 2005 and 1981, were injured in the Russian attack on the Bucha district of the Kyiv region and were receiving medical assistance. The emergency service posted several photos and video on Telegram of firefighters battling flames at night in what appeared to be residential buildings and garages.
Throughout the night, witnesses said they heard blasts in and around Kyiv and what sounded like air defence systems in operation.
Ukraine’s air defences shot down 110 of 177 drones launched in the latest assault, the air force said. Sixty six other drones were “lost”, which means Ukraine was able to redirect them.
Tuesday 25 February
Russian attack kills one and injures 14 in eastern Ukrainian town
A Russian attack on the town of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s east on Tuesday killed one and injured at least 14, including four children, Ukrainian national police said.
Russian fire hit a residential district, damaging 17 houses, the police added on the Telegram app.
Kramatorsk, part of the Donetsk region, is about 17 kilometres from the active combat line and remains a constant target of Russian military attacks.
Poland scrambles aircraft after Russia launches strikes on Ukraine
NATO member Poland scrambled aircraft early on Tuesday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched air strikes targeting western Ukraine, the Operational Command of the Polish armed forces said.
“The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the regions bordering the areas at risk,” the Command said on X.
Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Sumy were reportedly among the Russian targets.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts starting at around 0350 GMT after Ukraine’s Air Force warned of Russian missile attacks.
Ukraine says it shot down six missiles and 133 drones launched by Russia
The Ukrainian military said Russia launched an attack using seven missiles and 213 drones overnight.
Kyiv’s air force shot down six missiles and 133 drones, the military said. Another 79 drones did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare.
Russian air attack on Ukraine injures four in Kyiv region
A Russian attack wounded four people and damaged residential buildings across Ukraine overnight, local officials said on Tuesday.
Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, said one woman was injured in the attack which also damaged 12 private residences.
“She received wounds to her leg, she has been hospitalised,” Kalashnyk said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Two more people were injured in the northeastern region of Sumy and one woman was hospitalised after the attack on the central region of Zhytmoyr.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts starting at around 3.50am after the country’s air force warned of a Russian missile attack that also forced NATO-member neighbouring Poland to scramble aircraft to ensure air safety.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately clear. There was no comment from Russia.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, which Russia launched three years ago on its smaller neighbour and has since killed thousands, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
Monday 24 February
Russian forces capture another settlement in eastern Ukraine, RIA reports
Russian forces captured the settlement of Topoli in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported on Monday, citing the Russian defence ministry. Reuters has been unable to verify the report.
Sunday 23 February
Russia captures two more villages in Ukraine
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had taken control of the villages of Ulakly and Novoandriivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Saturday 22 February
Russian forces capture another village in eastern Ukraine, RIA reports
Russian forces have captured the village of Novolyubivka in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, the RIA state news agency reported on Saturday, citing the Russian defence ministry.
The defence ministry said Russian forces had hit Ukrainian military airfields, drone storage sites and ammunition and fuel storage facilities, Russian state agencies reported.
Friday 21 February
Russia claims it has taken control of two more east Ukrainian villages
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the villages of Nadiivka and Novosilka, both of which are in the southern part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Thursday 20 February
Russia claims to be advancing in all directions
Russian forces have taken back more than 309sq miles of territory from Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia, or about 64 per cent of the total taken by Ukraine since an incursion began last year, a top Russian general said.
Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, head of the General Staff’s main operational directorate, told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper that Russia was advancing in all directions and Ukraine had been pushed into a defensive stance since February 2024 amid a major Russian offensive that took back considerable territory.
Rudskoi said Russia now controlled 75 per cent of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and more than 99 per cent of the Luhansk region.
He said the four regions are now legally part of Russia and will never be returned to Ukraine.
“Last year was a turning point in achieving our goals. The Kyiv regime will no longer be able to significantly change the situation on the battlefield,” Rudskoi said.
“The enemy has largely lost the ability to produce the necessary weapons, equipment and ammunition. Mobilisation is usually forced.”
Rudskoi said the future of the conflict no longer depended on Ukraine but on whether or not the West would agree to craft a new European security architecture which took into account Russia’s interests.
Wednesday 19 February
Russian attack on Odesa injures four, leaves residents in freezing cold
Russia launched a barrage of drones on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, hitting energy infrastructure and leaving at least 160,000 people without heating in sub-zero temperatures, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
The drone attack injured four people, including a child, and caused widespread power cuts, interrupting heating supplies to about 500 apartment buildings, 13 schools, a kindergarten, and several hospitals, officials said.
The temperature in the Black Sea port is currently about -6C.
“Rescue operations are underway in Odesa after another Russian attack on the energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said.
“It is civilian energy facilities against which the Russian army has not spared neither missiles nor attack drones for almost three years.”
The Ukrainian military said that Russia launched 167 drones during overnight attacks on the southern Odesa region and other regions across the country. Air defence units and mobile drone hunting groups shot down 106 of them, the military said.
Tuesday 18 February
Russia claims control of Yampolivka
Russian forces took control of the settlement of Yampolivka in eastern Ukraine, the RIA state news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Defence Ministry.
Large Russian drone attack injures civilians in central Ukraine, official says
A Russian overnight drone attack on the city of Dolynska in central Ukraine injured a mother and her two children and forced the evacuation of people from 38 flats after their apartment building was damaged, a regional official said on Tuesday.
“A difficult night for the Kirovohrad region,” Andriy Raikovych, governor of the Kirovohrad region said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “An enemy drone hit a high-rise building in Dolynska.”
The mother and one of the children were hospitalised, Raikovych added. He posted photos of flames bursting out of windows of a high-storey apartment building.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in their attacks in the war, that Russia started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine nearly three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
The attack took place as top Russian and U.S. officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks – without the participation of Kyiv or its European allies – on how to end the war in Ukraine.
