February 25, 2024 - Russia-Ukraine news

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.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the West must be "bolder" in supporting Ukraine, providing the country with more long-range weapons, drones and munitions to stave off a resurgent Russian military advance.

Sunak said that his country and its Western democratic allies must not give in to the increasing pessimism over Kyiv's ability to defeat Moscow. He said it is up to Ukraine's partners to confront the "tough" situation on the battlefield, but also to change it.

Sunak also used the same word – "bolder" – in calling for the West to step up its seizure of Russian assets.

On Saturday, G7 leaders said they remained committed to supporting Ukraine for “as long as it takes."

President Alexander Lukashenko, the longtime Belarusian strongman and key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he will run for another term in elections set to be held in 2025, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported on Sunday.

Lukashenko made the announcement while speaking to journalists at a polling station after voting in parliamentary and local council elections.

Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. His regime has been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses and stifling political opposition. During the last election in 2020, the opposition alleged Lukashenko's regime engaged in electoral fraud to keep him in power.

Belarus has been an important partner to Russia since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, when Minsk allowed Moscow's troops to enter the country through the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) Ukrainian-Belarusian border before launching its opening salvo.

Two years ago, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I was among the many long-time observers of the Kremlin who got it wrong.

Few could fathom why Vladimir Putin, Russia’s calculating leader, would embark on such a risky military adventure, especially when the mere threat of a Russian invasion was already yielding results.

In June the previous year, as Russian forces massed near Ukraine, US President Joe Biden met Putin at a superpower-style summit, describing the US and Russia as “two great powers” elevating the Russian leader after previous US administrations had sought to downplay Russia’s influence.

In the days before the 2022 invasion, Washington offered a “pragmatic evaluation” of Moscow’s security concerns, signalling openness to compromise.

Pitching Russian forces against one of the region’s biggest standing armies seemed uncharacteristically reckless and, therefore, unlikely.

There were others, though, who rightly saw the invasion as inevitable, better reading the Kremlin’s intentions, and confidently predicting a swift Russian victory at the hands of Moscow’s vastly superior forces.

Two years on, I like to think that those of us who doubted the Kremlin’s resolve were wrong for the right reasons.

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