Ukraine accuses Russia of shooting two POWs
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Ukraine’s army has accused Russian forces of shooting two prisoners of war and posted a grainy video shot from the air that they said showed the incident.
In the video, two soldiers labelled as Ukrainians run towards another labelled as Russian in a trench.
The Russian soldier then grabs them and shoots numerous times until they stop moving, before turning back. The two men do not appear to have resisted capture.
“This morning... the Russians once again showed their attitude to international humanitarian law by shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war,” the ground forces wrote on Telegram and said the incident happened in the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia group of troops, which operates on the eastern front.
Russia and Ukraine have several times accused each other of violating international humanitarian law by killing prisoners-of-war since Russia invaded.
The Telegraph could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video or the location.
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04:56 PM GMT
That’s all for today
Thank you for following our coverage. The key developments from the day were:
The bruised body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been found in a hospital morgue in the Arctic, two days after he died in a nearby prison.
Denmark’s prime minister announced her country is handing over all of its shells to Ukraine as she urged other European states to provide more weapons.
Volodymyr Zelensky invited Donald Trump to tour the front lines as the former US president’s supporters stalled on signing off a vital aid package.
Ukraine’s army accused Russian forces of shooting two prisoners of war and posted a grainy video shot from the air that they said showed the incident.
China’s foreign minister insisted to his Ukrainian counterpart that his country does not sell lethal weapons to Russia for its ongoing war.
Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas dismissed a warrant issued by Russia for her arrest, saying it was just an attempt to intimidate her amid speculation she could get a top European Union post.
Russian troops have established full control over the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and have advanced 8.6 km (5.3 miles) in that part of the front line, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry.
A prominent rights group says more than 400 people have been detained in Russia while paying tribute to Alexei Navalny.
04:51 PM GMT
Denmark handing over all its shells to Ukraine
Denmark’s prime minister has announced her country is handing over all of its shells to Ukraine as she urged other European states to provide more weapons.
“We decided to donate our entire artillery,” said Mette Frederiksen at the Munich Security Conference, suggesting that other European nations should follow suit.
“I’m sorry to say friends, there is still ammunition in stock in Europe. This is not only a question about production because we have weapons, we have ammunition, we have our defences that we don’t have to use at the moment, that we should deliver to Ukraine,” she said. “We have to do more.”
Earlier this month, Denmark also said it is reviewing its existing military funding due to the increasing threat of the Kremlin.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rattled nerves throughout the Nordics. Sweden and Finland applied for Nato membership in May 2022, swiftly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
04:47 PM GMT
Navalny's wife to attend EU foreign affairs council on Monday
The wife of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony on Friday, will attend the European Union foreign affairs council on Monday, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Sunday.
“On Monday, I will welcome Yulia Navalnaya at the EU Foreign Affairs Council. EU Ministers will send a strong message of support to freedom fighters in Russia and honour the memory of Alexi @navalny,” Borrell said in a statement on X.
04:29 PM GMT
Pictured: School destroyed in Donetsk region
03:55 PM GMT
More on Ukraine's claims that Russian forces shot two POWs
Ukraine’s army on Sunday accused Russian forces of shooting two prisoners of war and posted a grainy video shot from the air that they said showed the incident.
In the video, two soldiers labelled as Ukrainians run towards another labelled as Russian in a trench.
The Russian soldier then grabs them and shoots numerous times until they stop moving, before turning back. The two men do not appear to have resisted capture.
AFP reported the news but could not verify the authenticity of the video or the location.
“This morning... the Russians once again showed their attitude to international humanitarian law by shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war,” the ground forces wrote on Telegram.
They said the incident happened in the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia group of troops, which operates on the eastern front, without giving a more precise location.
Ukrainian media reported it happened northeast of the village of Vesele in the Donetsk region, citing the Khortytsia group’s press service.
Khortytsia’s troops were not involved in the withdrawal from the town of Avdiivka in the region, which Russia claimed Saturday to fully control.
Russia and Ukraine have several times accused each other of violating international humanitarian law by killing prisoners-of-war since Russia invaded.
03:08 PM GMT
Russia will not intimidate me, Estonia's Kallas says
Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas on Sunday dismissed a warrant issued by Russia for her arrest, saying it was just an attempt to intimidate her amid speculation she could get a top European Union post.
Once ruled by Moscow but now a member of both the European Union and NATO, Estonia has been a supporter of Kyiv and Ms Kallas has been one of Moscow’s most vocal critics since the Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Russian police placed her and several other Baltic politicians on a wanted list on Feb 13 for destroying Soviet-era monuments.
“It is meant to intimidate and make me refrain from the decisions that I would otherwise make,” Ms Kallas told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
“But it’s Russia’s playbook. It’s nothing surprising and we are not afraid.”
The Baltic politicians risk being arrested only if they cross the Russian border, otherwise declaring them wanted has no real consequences.
Ms Kallas’s high profile in pushing the EU to do more to support Ukraine has led to speculation in Brussels that she could take on a senior role after the next EU parliamentary elections in June, possibly as foreign policy chief.
She said that speculation was also contributing to Russia’s aggression towards her.
“It’s hard to be popular,” she said ironically. “The Russians have also seen that, and that’s why they issued the arrest warrant to really emphasise the biggest argument against me, that I am a provocation to Russia.
When asked whether she was interested in any future European role she said: “We are not there yet. I’m the prime minister of Estonia.”
03:00 PM GMT
Wife of jailed British-Russian dissident fears for husband’s life
The wife of jailed British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza has said she fears for her husband’s life following the death of Alexei Navalny.
Mr Kara-Murza, 42, has been a long-term critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has survived two poisonings since 2015, which have left him with a form of nerve damage called polyneuropathy.
He was jailed by a Moscow court in April 2023, leading the UK to sanction 11 individuals involved in his case.
His wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, has called on the international community to take further action to free political prisoners in Russia who she says are the only alternative to Mr Putin’s regime.
She told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that she had feared for her husband’s life since he was first poisoned in 2015 and now sleeps with her phone by her bed “dreading” a call with similar news.
She said: “I believe that my husband’s life is in danger, as are lives of many other political prisoners in Russian prisons, because these people are kept behind bars, very often with serious medical conditions with no proper medical treatment, and they are kept in such conditions in order to make their state of health deteriorate.”
02:35 PM GMT
Yulia Navalnaya posts photo of her late husband
Yulia Navalnaya has published a picture of her and Alexei Navalny on her Instagram account in what is her first social media post since her husband’s death.
The caption read: “I love you.”
02:17 PM GMT
Ukraine army accuses Russia of shooting two POWs
Ukraine’s army on Sunday accused Russian forces of shooting two prisoners of war, posting a grainy video showing a soldier shooting them numerous times after they run towards him in a trench, which was reported by AFP.
The ground forces said the incident took place Sunday morning, with Ukrainian media reporting it happened near the village of Vesele in the Donetsk region.
01:45 PM GMT
Pictures from February 18
01:33 PM GMT
Ukraine downs 12 Russian drones, air force chief says
Ukraine’s forces destroyed 12 Russia-launched attack drones overnight as well as one Kh-59 cruise missile and one SU-34 fighter-bomber, Ukraine’s Air Force chief said on Sunday.
“I want to thank Air Force units for their successful combat work!” Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Have a nice day everyone!”
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
01:15 PM GMT
Navalny’s body found bruised in Arctic morgue
The bruised body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been found in a hospital morgue in the Arctic, two days after he died in a nearby prison.
A paramedic told Russian opposition media that there were bruises on Navalny’s head and chest when his body was brought into the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital.
“Such injuries, described by those that saw them, appear from seizures,” the unnamed paramedic told the exiled Novaya Gazeta newspaper.
“The person convulses, they try to restrain him, and bruises appear. They also said that he also had a bruise on his chest. That is, they still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely, from cardiac arrest.”
Russian prison officials said that Navalny died on Friday after feeling ill during a short walk at IK-3, a notoriously brutal prison in the Russian Arctic.
Navalny’s mother failed to find his body at the morgue in Salekhard on Saturday and his colleagues at the Anti-Corruption Foundation accused the Russian authorities of a cover-up.
01:01 PM GMT
Zelensky invites Trump to front lines
Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to tour the front lines as the former US president’s supporters stall on signing off a vital aid package.
“If Mr Trump will come, I am ready to go with him to the front line. What does it mean, the real war, not Instagram, the real war,” the Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to keep fighting Russia.
President Joe Biden assured Mr Zelensky on Saturday that the US was committed to supporting Ukraine’s fight against “Russia’s brutal invasion”, to which Mr Zelensky said he was “grateful”.
But the $95bn foreign aid package approved by the US Senate earlier this week – which includes $60bn for Ukraine – still faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives, where Republican members seem unwilling to pass the measure.
Mr Zelensky’s statement comes after Ukrainian troops were forced to withdraw from the besieged eastern stronghold of Avdiivka due to ammunition shortages.
12:36 PM GMT
China tells Ukraine it 'does not sell lethal weapons' to Russia
China’s foreign minister has insisted to his Ukrainian counterpart that his country does not sell lethal weapons to Russia for its ongoing war, a statement said Sunday.
During a meeting on the sidelines of a major security conference in Munich on Saturday, Wang Yi told Dmytro Kuleba that China “does not take any advantage of the situation, and does not sell lethal weapons to conflict areas or parties to the conflict”, according to a foreign ministry readout.
12:12 PM GMT
Ukrainian foreign minister discusses peace prospects with China's Wang Yi
The Ukrainian foreign minister said on Saturday he had discussed the prospects for peace in Kyiv’s nearly two-year-old war against Russia with his Chinese counterpart, part of a long-running bid to bolster relations with Beijing.
“I met with my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss bilateral relations, trade, and the need to restore a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba wrote on X.
Mr Kuleba said he had discussed Ukraine’s plans for a global peace summit, which Switzerland has agreed to host. The two men, he said, “agreed on the need to maintain Ukraine-China contacts at all levels and continue our dialogue”.
China has attended at least one of the preparatory meetings that have taken place in anticipation of such a summit.
I met with my Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss bilateral relations, trade, and the need to restore a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
I informed Foreign Minister Wang Yi about Ukraine’s vision for the upcoming Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
We agreed on the need… pic.twitter.com/O6ZZOgjUVK— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 17, 2024
Mr Wang told Kuleba that China will continue to push for a political resolution through dialogue, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement on Sunday.
China will not “add fuel to the fire, take advantage of opportunities to reap gains, or sell lethal weapons in conflict zones or parties,” Mr Wang said.
Ukraine has sought to bring China onside for Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan which focuses on a withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied territory, the restoration of 1991 post-Soviet borders and a framework to bring Moscow to account for its actions.
China, which has been pursuing a “strategic partnership” with Russia, proposed a peace plan of its own last year calling for a ceasefire, negotiations and an end to sanctions against Russia. But the plan made little headway.
11:59 AM GMT
Republican opponent of US aid to Ukraine brings his case to an international conference
A Republican opponent of new US funding for Ukraine argued at an international security conference Sunday that the package stuck in Congress would not “fundamentally change the reality” on the ground.
A $95bn foreign aid package was approved by the US Senate earlier this week – and includes $60bn for Ukraine – but faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives, where Republican members seem unwilling to pass the measure.
Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican and ally of Donald Trump, said “the problem in Ukraine … is that there’s no clear end point” and that the US doesn’t make enough weapons to support wars in eastern Europe, the Middle East and “potentially a contingency in East Asia.”
House speaker Mike Johnson insists he won’t be “rushed” into approving the foreign aid package, despite overwhelming support from most Democrats and almost half the Republicans.
If the package goes through, “that is not going to fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield,” Mr Vance argued, pointing to limited American manufacturing capacity.
“Can we send the level of weaponry we’ve sent for the last 18 months?” he asked. “We simply cannot. No matter how many checks the US Congress writes, we are limited there.”
11:38 AM GMT
Russia says Avdiivka under its full control
Russian troops have established full control over the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and have advanced 8.6 km (5.3 miles) in that part of the front line, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry.
Russia claimed the capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka after Ukraine withdrew, but Moscow said that some Ukrainian troops were still holed up in a vast Soviet-era coke plant after one of the most intense battles of the war.
11:21 AM GMT
Ukraine military says it repelled Russian offensive on southern front
Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian offensive on the southern front following the withdrawal of Kyiv’s troops from the devastated eastern town of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday.
“Defence forces in the Zaporizhzhia sector defeated yesterday’s Russian offensive,” Ukrainian military said on Telegram messaging app.
The military said 18 armoured vehicles including three tanks were destroyed and that the Russians “retreated to their previous positions.”
There has been no comment from the Russian side.
11:12 AM GMT
Ministry of Defence update
In its daily update on the Ukraine-Russia war, the Ministry of Defence said it appears that Russia’s commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, has been removed from his post.
“On February 15, Russian pro-war commentators reported that the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, had been removed from his post,” the MoD wrote. “Drawing similarities with his predecessor, Igor Osipov, this is highly likely to be a result of Ukraine’s success in sinking various ships under his command.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 18 February 2024.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/Q2s6G013UQ #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/c6szUh8Fgy— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) February 18, 2024
11:05 AM GMT
More than 400 people detained in Russia as they paid tribute to Navalny
A prominent rights group says more than 400 people have been detained in Russia while paying tribute to Alexei Navalny.
By Saturday night police has detained 401 people across 12 cities, according to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests and provides legal aid.
Among those detained was Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, a priest of the Apostolic orthodox church – a religious group independent of the Russian orthodox church – who announced plans on social media to hold a memorial service for Mr Navalny.
He was arrested on Saturday morning outside his home, charged with organising a rally and placed in a holding cell in a police precinct. He was later hospitalised with a stroke, OVD-Info reported.
According to AP, courts in St Petersburg have ordered 42 of those detained on Friday to serve from one to six days in jail, while nine others were fined, court officials said late on Saturday.
In Moscow, at least six people were ordered to serve 15 days in jail, according to OVD-Info. One person was also jailed in the southern city of Krasnodar and two more in the city of Bryansk, the group said.
10:54 AM GMT
Listen to the latest podcast: Alexei Navalny 'murdered' in prison
10:46 AM GMT
UK weighs up response in wake of Navalny death
Lord Cameron signalled that there could be fresh sanctions against Russian officials following the death of Alexei Navalny.
The Foreign Secretary joined other G7 ministers at the Munich Security Conference in calling on Russia to “fully clarify” how the jailed opposition leader died, amid pressure on Western leaders to respond.
According to the Times, Lord Cameron repeated the UK’s call for countries to seize Russian central bank assets currently held in the West as one way of financing the reconstruction of Ukraine.
“There should be consequences,” the Foreign Secretary told broadcasters on Saturday.
“When appalling human rights outrages like this take place, what we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take.
“We don’t announce them in advance, so I can’t say anymore than that. But that is what we will be looking at.”
Mr Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed that the Russian opposition leader died at a remote Arctic penal colony and said he was “murdered”. It remains unclear where his body is.
10:37 AM GMT
Ukrainian military says situation has stabilised on Avdiivka front after withdrawal
The situation has somewhat stabilised on Ukraine’s eastern Avdiivka front after the withdrawal of Kyiv’s forces on Saturday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Sunday.
“I can state ... that on the day after leaving Avdiivka we perceive the situation as having stabilised somewhat,” Ukrainian military spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy said in televised comments.
He also said that Ukrainian forces took casualties during the withdrawal, but they were minimal given circumstances.
10:12 AM GMT
Putin says Ukraine matter of life and death for Russia
Events on the battlefield in Ukraine are a matter of “life and death” for Russia that could determine its fate, president Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired Sunday.
The Kremlin has repeatedly framed the almost two-year conflict as a battle for Russia’s survival in a bid to rally patriotic sentiment among its population, many apathetic toward the offensive.
“I think it is still important for us ourselves, and even more so for our listeners and viewers abroad, to understand our way of thinking,” Mr Putin said in an interview with state TV.
“Everything that is happening on the Ukraine front: For them it is an improvement of their tactical position, but for us it is our fate, it is a matter of life and death,” he said.
Mr Putin was responding to a question about a two-hour long interview he gave to US talk show host Tucker Carlson, which the Kremlin used to promote its narratives on the conflict.
In that interview, Putin talked at length about Russian history and continuously questioned Ukraine’s statehood, drawing ire in both Kyiv and the West.
“For the Western listener, the viewer, it was not easy. Even more so for Americans,” Mr Putin said when asked about his long, historical musings in the Carlson interview.
“The history of the United States is 300-odd years, and I started in 862. So I think it was not easy for American audiences to understand,” he said.
09:55 AM GMT
In pictures: Trenches and rescue operations
09:45 AM GMT
Putin should be called before crimes against humanity tribunal, says shadow foreign secretary
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has called for Russian president Vladimir Putin to be put before an international tribunal on crimes against humanity following the death of Alexei Navalny.
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “We’ve been calling for a special tribunal for crimes of aggression and against humanity.
“I’d like to see Putin in front of that special tribunal, held to account for all of his crimes, not just in Ukraine, but as we are seeing just in the last 48 hours in Russia as well.
“And of course as Russia holds elections this year, it’s important that the international community is able to verify that they are free and fair elections.”
09:44 AM GMT
Moscow says some Ukrainian troops still holed up in a vast Soviet-era coke plant in Avdiivka
Moscow has said that some Ukrainian troops were still holed up in a vast Soviet-era coke plant after Ukrainian troops withdrew yesterday.
Ukraine said it had withdrawn its soldiers to save troops from being fully surrounded after months of fierce fighting.
But Russia said some Ukrainian forces were still holed up at the Soviet-era coke plant, once one of Europe’s biggest, in Avdiivka, which is key to Russia’s aim of securing full control of the industrial Donbas region.
“Measures are being taken to completely clear the town of militants and to block Ukrainian units that have left the town and are entrenched at the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant,” Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
There was no public comment yet by Ukrainian authorities on this.
09:38 AM GMT
Putin congratulates Russian troops on taking Avdiivka
Vladimir Putin has hailed the fall of Avdiivka as an important victory and congratulated Russian troops.
“The head of state congratulated Russian soldiers on this success, an important victory,” the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
The Russian defence ministry said Russia had taken about 32 square kilometres (12 square miles) of territory in the advance amid heavy losses for Ukraine. It gave no figures for Russian losses, which Ukraine says are huge.
Avdiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 32,000 and is called Avdeyevka by Russians, was briefly taken in 2014 by Moscow-backed separatists who seized a swathe of eastern Ukraine but was recaptured by Ukrainian troops who built extensive fortifications.
