February 25, 2024 - Russia-Ukraine news

At least 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the war with Russia, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday, in a rare admission of his country's losses.

Zelensky disputed Russian claims of much higher numbers when it comes to Ukrainian casualties. The Ukrainian president also said tens of thousands of civilians in occupied parts of the country have been killed. 

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers. Ukraine's battlefield losses are a closely guarded secret, but US officials estimate some 70,000 soldiers have been killed — and nearly twice that number wounded.

Some context: Throughout the conflict, Kyiv has been hesitant to admit how many soldiers have been killed. Former Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in June 2022 that he believed tens of thousands of Ukrainians had been killed since February of that year. But two months later, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, then the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, said 9,000 troops had been killed.

Russia, meanwhile, has lost a staggering 87% of the active-duty ground troops it had prior to the invasion, a source familiar with a declassified US intelligence assessment provided to Congress told CNN in December.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that he has hope for gaining additional military aid from the US.

Zelensky said the US is aware that Ukraine is in need of more air defense systems, and added the money provided for the additional support "will remain in the US companies — with companies who are the manufacturers of this kind of weapons which we need."

Some background: On Saturday, US President Joe Biden urged House Speaker Mike Johnson and members of Congress to return from a two-week break and pass much-needed aid for Ukraine.

The speaker has resisted calls to bring a Senate-passed aid package up for a quick vote — a move that would almost certainly spark a revolt from some members of his own party. While visiting Ukraine last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called on House Republicans to pass the aid bill.

There is "no alternative" but to win Ukraine's fight against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday, as he addressed the nation one day after marking the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion.

He thanked Ukrainians for their resilience throughout the conflict thus far, and suggested a peace summit in Switzerland could take place in the spring.

“It does not mean that Russia will accept this document,” he said of a possible peace plan proposal.

We will bring you more updates from Zelensky's speech as they become available.

Ukraine's top prosecutor said that 350 war crimes cases are before Ukrainian courts, an unprecedented figure never before achieved during a conflict.

Kostin said his office has identified 512 Russian suspects involved in said crimes. Eighty verdicts have already been handed down.

Kostin added that more than 20 countries have opened investigations into possible Russian crimes against Ukrainian citizens, including the United States.

Last December, four Russian soldiers were charged with war crimes against an American who was living in Ukraine during the Russian invasion, according to a historic indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Virginia.

The case against the Russian soldiers marked the first time the US government has used a decades-old law aimed to prosecute those who commit war crimes against American citizens. 

Pope Francis, commenting during the Angelus Sunday, talked about the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine, saying "I beg that they may rediscover that bit of humanity that might enable the creation of the conditions for a diplomatic solution, in the search for a just and lasting peace.” 

The pope had cancelled audiences on Saturday, but appeared in person on Sunday.

Pope Francis has consistently appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine. As the war approached its one year mark, the pope described it "absurd and cruel" as he called for a ceasefire.

Pope Francis frequently speaks out on issues such as war, migration and climate change, a senior Vatican cardinal said in January, to warn world leaders they are making “suicidal” decisions.

Ukraine Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that half of all military aid pledged to his country arrives late, costing his country dearly on the battlefield.

Speaking at a conference in Kyiv, Umerov blamed the delays on what he called a "dynamic and changing" situation.

Umerov's comments come as Ukraine as support from its allies appears to be faltering. A package of aid from the United States remains stalled in Congress, while the European Union has fallen short on previous commitments to supply Ukraine with more ammunition.

Ukraine is attempting to fill that shortfall by boosting its own defense industries. Speaking at the same conference, Ukraine Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin said the country's defense industry tripled its production capacity last year.

Kamyshin noted, however, that Ukraine needs a lot more ammunition than it can manufacture on its own.

Ukraine expects to get $11.8 billion from the United States this year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Shmyhal was responding to a question from CNN about his level of faith in the US Congress to deliver aid to Ukraine. Lawmakers in Washington have so failed to agree upon providing more funding for Kyiv to push back against Russia as the Kremlin's full-scale invasion enters its third year.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel, but legislation is not expected to make it to a floor vote in the House of Representatives, where isolationist Republicans hold more sway.

Speaking at "Ukraine. Year 2024," a government-run conference bringing together the top officials, Shmyhal said the Senate's decision "gives us great hope."

A wave of Russian missile and drone attacks struck Ukraine overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning, military officials across the country said, though the number of casualties appears small.

The city of Kostiantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk saw one person injured in a "massive" attack, regional police said. Residential buildings, a train station and educational facilities were hit.

The head of the Donetsk regional military administration said Russian forces had shelled the districts of Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut in a social media post on Sunday, forcing 81 people to evacuate.

The Kyiv region was targeted by drones, but no residences or pieces of critical infrastructure were struck, the region's military administration said in a statement. No casualties have been reported.

Ukraine’s Air Force Command said its forces destroyed 16 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia toward the regions of Kyiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Early voting in the Russian presidential election is underway in the Russian-occupied c region of Ukraine, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

TASS said that first people to vote would be residents of settlements near the front line, including military personnel.

The election, which is scheduled to take place next month, will see longtime Russian leader Vladimir Putin run virtually unopposed for a fifth term that will keep him in power until 2030. Anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin was barred from standing in the contest earlier this month.

Zaporizhzhia is one of four Ukrainian regions Russia said it would annex in September 2022 in violation of international law following referenda that were universally dismissed as “shams” by Ukraine and Western nations.

Russia has previously held elections in territory it has occupied, part of its efforts to enforce Russian legitimacy in the parts of Ukraine it holds. TASS reported that residents can vote by presenting either Russian or Ukrainian passports.