At the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, several countries announced new packages of military aid for Ukraine.


Germany will provide Ukraine with 100 additional Iris-T air defense interceptor missiles.


The United Kingdom announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth approximately €180 million. This will include thousands of drones, dozens of modernized T-72 main battle tanks, more than 50 armored vehicles, and air defense systems that will support over 100 air defense teams. Part of this package contains a major new maintenance contract to support British weapons in Ukraine worth around €72 million, including a multimillion-euro contract with the UK defense firm Babcock, who will train Ukrainian personnel to maintain and repair crucial equipment, such as Challenger 2 main battle tanks, self-propelled howitzers, and reconnaissance vehicles inside Ukraine. Additionally, the UK government signed a deal worth around €17 million with BAE Systems funded by Sweden and procured through the UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine, to repair Archer artillery systems.


The Netherlands will provide Ukraine with 25 YPR armored tracked vehicles for medical evacuation. Additionally, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said that the Netherlands has now delivered the final T-72 main battle tanks promised to Ukraine from a joint project with the United States and the Czech Republic.

Norway has joined the international drone coalition for Ukraine. Norwegian Minister of Defense, Tore O. Sandvik, stated that Norway has already made a significant contribution to the acquisition and development of drones, and that it’s only natural for them to join the coalition.


Switzerland has approved €1.6 billion of aid to Ukraine to be allocated from 2025-2028, marking the start of a twelve-year federal support process for reconstruction, reform, and sustainable development in Ukraine. The priorities are namely protection of the civilian population, peace, economic recovery, and strengthening institutions.


Latvia will deliver Patria 6x6 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine in late 2025, the country's Defense Ministry announced on February 10. They can carry up to 10 soldiers and be modified for tasks including troop transport, mobile command posts, and medical evacuation. Latvia pledged to annually allocate 0.25% of its GDP for military aid to Ukraine.


Canadian company Helijet International has donated a Sikorsky S-76A air ambulance to Ukraine, working with the Ukrainian World Congress, Maple Hope Foundation, and Initiative E+. The donation includes the training of two Ukrainian pilots and two engineers. The helicopter was donated under the condition it will be used exclusively for non-commercial, humanitarian, and medical evacuation missions in Ukraine.


Lithuanian drone manufacturer Granta Autonomy is purchasing components for its FPV drones from Ukrainian manufacturers. CEO Gediminas Guoba said it's becoming increasingly difficult to find necessary components, so the company turned to the Ukrainian market. Granta Autonomy still purchases motors from China but is looking into purchasing Ukrainian alternatives.

Military officials reported that 1.6 million drones were delivered in 2024. By the end of December 2024, Ukrainian companies produced 96.2% of all UAVs for the Ukrainian Defense Forces, including more than 1.5 million FPV drones. Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin announced that over 30,000 bomber drones were delivered to the military in 2024.


Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko has transferred 500 Wild Hornets FPV drones to the 1129th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment, which operates in the Kharkiv to Zaporizhzhia region. The purchase and delivery cost $360 thousand. The drones can reach speeds of 180 km/h and have cameras that can pan and tilt. They use a Ukrainian microcomputer system that doesn’t rely on Chinese components and can track multiple targets simultaneously while distinguishing between people and equipment, and some of the drones can fly autonomously and identify targets at a range of 300-400 meters.


The UK officially presented the Gravehawk surface-to-air missile system, which was designed specifically for Ukraine. The system was developed over the course of 18 months for £6 million by Taskforce Kindred. It uses Soviet-era R-73 air-to-air missiles adapted to be launched from a ground vehicle. They have a range of 20 to 40 kilometers, depending on the variant. The missiles have their own seeker warheads, so don’t rely on ground-based radars or guidance. The system is housed in a standard shipping container for easy transport and uses passive infrared detection to avoid radar detection. Ukraine has received two systems, with 15 more planned for delivery this year. Each system costs about £1 million. Denmark is funding half the cost.



Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky on February 12, 2025. Trump and Putin had a 90-minute phone call where they agreed to start immediate peace negotiations for Ukraine. Putin invited Trump to Moscow during their call. After speaking with Putin, Trump called Zelensky to discuss peace possibilities and Ukrainian technologies, including drones and modern manufacturing. Trump announced that U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Zelensky on February 14 to begin official peace negotiations. Trump also instructed his team, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, to lead the negotiations.


Trump announced he will meet Putin in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the war. The extent of Ukrainian participation in these talks remains unclear.


US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on February 12 that restoring Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. He stated that Ukraine's NATO membership is not considered a realistic outcome of peace negotiations. Hegseth emphasized that any security guarantees for Ukraine must be backed by both European and non-European troops, but said that U.S. troops will not be deployed to Ukraine.


U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with President Zelensky in Kyiv on February 12 and provided a draft of the Ukraine-U.S. minerals agreement.

Alexander Vinnik is a Russian cybercrime boss serving a prison sentence in the US, will be released in exchange for Marc Fogel. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund Chief Kirill Dmitriev arranged the exchange. Vinnik must forfeit over $100 million to the US government. Fogel is a 63-year-old schoolteacher who was serving a 14-year sentence for possessing medical marijuana, was flown out of Russia on February 11 on the plane of Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.


President Zelensky suggested Ukraine could cede territory it controls in Russia's Kursk Oblast in exchange for Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Russia has rejected exchanging territories during negotiations with Ukraine, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on February 12, 2025.


Russia launched a missile attack against Kyiv on February 12, 2025. Four Iskander ballistic missiles were launched toward the capital around 4:30 a.m. local time, killing one person and injuring four others, including a 9-year-old girl. The missile struck an office building in the Obolon district. In the Holosiivskyi district, a warehouse was consumed in a fire. In the Solomianskyi district, a residential building's roof caught fire. The offices of Freedom TV and Dim were damaged.


Europe's combined defense spending in 2024 was $457 billion, which is 50% higher than 2014 levels and 11.7% higher than the previous year. Twenty-four of NATO's 32 members met the alliance's 2% GDP defense spending target, though Trump is now pushing for 5%.


Russia's military spending is larger than all European countries combined when you adjust for the differences in purchasing power. Russia spent 13.1 trillion rubles ($145.9 billion) on its military in 2024, representing 6.7% of its GDP, which is a 40% increase from the previous year. When adjusted for purchasing power, this amounts to $461.6 billion. Russia plans to increase spending by another 14% to 15.6 trillion rubles in 2025.


French firearms manufacturer Verney-Carron has gone bankrupt. The company had signed a EUR 36 million contract with Ukraine to supply 12,000 rifles and 600 grenade launchers but has stopped salary payments and production. The company currently has EUR 1 million in debt despite EUR 12 million in investment from parent company CYBERGUN. A court hearing to confirm insolvency was scheduled for February 12, 2025.


Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has imposed sanctions against ex-President Petro Poroshenko. President Zelensky said an official decree will be published on February 13. The sanctions could be implemented based on alleged "high treason." Over 20 criminal cases were opened against Poroshenko after Zelensky's victory, but investigations were suspended after Russia's full-scale invasion.


The Security Service of Ukraine has detained the chief of staff for the Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist Center on charges of spying for Russia. The investigation documented 14 episodes of illegal activity. SSU head Vasyl Maliuk reported that they used encrypted software to monitor the traitor's devices and conducted audio and video surveillance. The SSU had been providing him with false information, which he passed on to Russia before his arrest.


The UA REG TEAM unit of the Ukrainian Special Forces destroyed a Russian R-330Zh Zhitel electronic warfare system and a Msta-B howitzer in the Kursk region using high-precision artillery. The Zhitel’s operators were killed in the strike.


A Russian communication cable between Kingisepp and Kaliningrad was damaged in the Baltic Sea in Finland's exclusive economic zone. The cable is 1115 km long and belongs to Rostelecom and provides communications services for the Kaliningrad region. The Russian vessel Sivuch is currently working to repair the cable. A Finnish official named Kari Klemm said that two cables running under the Baltic Sea between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad were broken in late December.


Danish Defence Intelligence Service warned that Russia has increased its military production and modernization during the war in Ukraine. According to the report, if the fighting stops and NATO doesn't sufficiently rearm, Russia could wage a local war against a neighboring country in six months, pose a real threat to NATO countries in two years, and be ready for a large-scale European war without U.S. involvement in five years. The European Union is planning additional defense spending of €500 billion over the next decade and has launched a €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme.

Germany is investigating sabotage of the F 266 Emden corvette at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg. An unknown person or people poured dozens of kilograms of metal shavings into one of the diesel engines in mid-January. The shavings were detected before they were able to cause serious damage. Vice Admiral Kaack reported multiple cases of sabotage against German warships, including infiltration attempts at naval bases. He stated that the Russian threat is more urgent in early 2025 than it was two years ago.


Ukrainian company Sine.Engineering has developed an alternative to GPS navigation to circumvent Russian electronic warfare techniques. The system uses time-of-flight methods with a communication module that is smaller than a playing card, sharing signals with a ground station and two beacons with known fixed locations. The drone communicates with these ground beacons and determines its location relative to them. The system is already active in intelligence and reconnaissance operations and is being tested on FPV drones. CEO Andriy Chulyk says the technology enables one to coordinate flights of drones drone swarms and simplifies drone operation through automation and intuitive control interfaces. The system operates on multiple frequencies, allowing operators to adapt to specific electronic warfare threats they may face. The system is also supposedly inexpensive.


On February 10, Deutsche Welle reported A Russian national had admitted to killing two Ukrainian soldiers in Germany. The 58-year-old suspect stabbed two wounded Ukrainian soldiers, aged 23 and 36, who were undergoing rehabilitation in Murnau. The stabbing took place after an argument about the war in Ukraine in April 2024. The 36-year-old died at the scene, while the 23-year-old died in the hospital. The Russian has lived in Germany since the 1990s and was described by prosecutors as a Russian nationalist.


The Ukrainian military is introducing "special contracts" for volunteers aged 18-24, offering a 1 million hryvnia annual salary, zero-interest mortgages, and free higher education. The US continues to pressure Ukraine to lower the draft age from 25 to 18, and Ukraine continues to resist. This is, they hope, an alternative that will attract more recruits to reduce the manpower shortage while rewarding them for their sacrifice. Since the creation of army recruitment centers in February 2024, 39,488 citizens have received consultations in the centers, with 8,300 going on to sign up for the military.


Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, is reportedly preparing options to end the war, Semafor reported on February 10. The Trump administration said they aim to reach a deal to end the war within its first 100 days. Trump confirmed speaking with Putin and claims progress in peace talks, though details remain undisclosed. Representatives from Trump's team are visiting Ukraine this week. President Zelenskyy announced meetings will occur before the Munich Security Conference. Zelensky is scheduled to meet US Vice President J.D. Vance at the conference.



 On February 10, Reuters reported that Trump's freeze on foreign funding has affected projects investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Six U.S.-funded projects at Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, worth $89 million, are impacted. Nearly 40 experts at Georgetown University's International Criminal Justice Initiative have stopped working. Initiatives ranging from preserving battlefield evidence to anti-corruption efforts have been halted.


LRT reported on February 9 that Lithuania will allocate nearly 32 million euros to support Ukrainian education in 2025. The funding includes 4.2 million euros for university tuition and scholarships, and 28.7 million euros for pre-school through private school education for Ukrainian children.


U.S. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson announced plans to introduce the Freedom First Lend-Lease Act to Congress on February 10. The act would grant President Trump authority to send weapons to Ukraine through lend-lease. The previous lend-lease act expired in September 2023 without being used.


Multiple Russian oil refineries were targeted by drone strikes. The Saratov oil refinery, with a capacity of 7 million tons annually, was hit on February 11. Countless videos published showed a fire burning at the refinery. The CyberBoroshno OSINT group suggested that the L-24-6 hydrotreating plant at the refinery was hit. This is awaiting confirmation.


The previous day, drones attacked the Afipskiy oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai, which processes 6.25 million tons of oil annually.


A satellite image confirmed the destruction of an underground bunker storing Shahed kamikaze drones in Russia's Oryol region. The image was published on the CyberBoroshno Telegram channel. The strike occurred on January 26, 2025, likely using Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles. The General Staff stated that more than 200 Shaheds were destroyed in the strike.


Russia launched strikes against Ukraine's power grid overnight on February 11, damaging Naftogaz Group facilities in Poltava Oblast and forcing emergency power outages.


Der Spiegel reported on February 8 that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is under investigation for undeclared assets in Germany. Luxury cars including two Bugatti Chirons, a Lamborghini Reventon, and a Mercedes CLK GTR have been frozen during the investigation. Several artworks were also confiscated from a villa in Bavaria. Abramovich's lawyers deny he owns the villa or the cars.


Russia is gathering troops for new assaults in Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Zaporozhets announced on February 10. The town, located 25 kilometers from Kramatorsk, has been under Russian attack since early 2024.


Russian soldiers wounded in Ukraine are receiving treatment in North Korean hospitals and sanatoriums for free. Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora told Rossiyskaya Gazeta this on February 9. The ambassador stated that "hundreds" of wounded had been sent to North Korea. Children of Russian service members killed in Ukraine are also vacationing in North Korea.


Russian Corporal Nikita Posmetukhov received a life sentence for killing four Russian soldiers in November 2023, Mediazona reported. Posmetukhov allegedly shot the soldiers after he was threatened with being transferred to an assault unit.


The Ukraine’s Requiem Group published a video showing the destruction of a Russian Strela-10 air defense system. They struck it with multiple drones. The first strike disabled the engine, and a second strike hit one of the anti-aircraft missiles, leading to a significant fire. According to the OSINT project Oryx, 51 Strela-10 systems have been lost during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.


German defense company Rheinmetall delivered five more Caracal all-terrain vehicles to Ukraine, bringing the total provided to Ukraine to 20 vehicles so far.


Ukrainian drone production has increased to about 200,000 drones per month in 2025, according to First Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Havryliuk.


A company from Russia's Rostec corporation signed contracts worth $7.4 million to purchase American and German equipment for electronic warfare production, Agentstvo reported. The Kaluga Research Institute of Radio Engineering ordered equipment from Germany's Rohde & Schwarz and America's Keysight, to be delivered by the end of 2025.


Quote of the Day:

“Resist much, obey hedgehogs.”

― Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass