Victory Chronicles-DAY 1090

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 17 that Ukraine was not notified and will not recognize any agreements made during reported talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to end the ongoing war.

“Ukraine will not participate. Ukraine knew nothing about this,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv, according to Interfax-Ukraine. “We cannot and will not recognize any agreements about Ukraine made without Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s second war-time president emphasized that while bilateral discussions between other nations are their right, any decisions affecting Ukraine must include Kyiv’s participation.

Zelenskyy’s comments came ahead of his planned visit to Saudi Arabia on February 18, which he said is unrelated to the reported U.S.-Russia talks. He indicated he would raise the matter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit.

The Ukrainian leader also addressed global oil prices, suggesting U.S. President Donald Trump has significant leverage to influence energy markets. 

“I believe President Trump has the strongest position in this direction regarding energy and has this in his hands,” Zelenskyy said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 17 for discussion with Russian officials aimed at discussing potential resolutions to the war in Ukraine. The meeting between U.S. and Russian delegations is scheduled for the following day, according to Axios.

Ukraine’s Special Operations forces kill 23 Russian troops in raid on industrial facility. They eliminated 23 Russian soldiers during a raid on an industrial facility behind enemy lines, military officials said Feb. 17.

Drone operators from the 3rd Special Operations Regiment spotted Russian troops concentrated at an industrial facility during aerial reconnaissance, according to Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces press service.

Military officials did not disclose the location of the operation.

A tactical unit promptly deployed to the Russian-occupied facility and cleared the building, holding positions for two days. The Ukrainian forces evacuated in Humvee armored vehicles after a fire broke out during intense fighting.

The operation resulted in 10 Russian soldiers killed inside the building and 13 more in the surrounding area, officials said. No Ukrainian casualties were reported. 

Russian drones strike Kyiv region, damaging homes and setting facilities ablaze. A Russian airborne overnight in the Kyiv region damaged residential buildings and sparked fires at a production plant and warehouses, regional officials said on Feb. 17. 

One civilianwas injured. A 22-year-old man suffered an arm injury in the suburban Boryspil district during the attacks that began late on Feb. 16, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, acting head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.

“Air defense forces were active in the region,” Kalashnyk said on Telegram. “While critical infrastructure remained intact, we recorded damage across four districts.”

The attacks damaged three houses and two vehicles in the Obukhiv district south of Kyiv, while starting fires at a production facility in the northern Vyshgorod district and a warehouse in Fastiv district of the same region, officials said. 

Emergency services subsequently extinguished the fires. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted multiple Russian drones during the attack, according to military officials.

Ukrainian naval forces destroy 12 Russian reconnaissance drones over the past week, military officials say. Ukraine’s Navy used First-Person-View (FPV) drones to counter Russian unmanned aerial vehicles that were conducting surveillance and targeting operations over Ukrainian territory, according to the naval command on Feb. 17. The operations were conducted in coordination with other branches of Ukraine’s Defense Forces as part of ongoing efforts to protect its airspace.

Key Takeaways:

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephone call on February 16 to “open a channel of communication” for future talks about the war in Ukraine.
• US, Russian, and Ukrainian delegations are reportedly gathering in Saudi Arabia ahead of bilateral US-Russia and US-Ukraine negotiations in the coming weeks.
• Ukraine’s European partners reiterated their support for Ukraine’s war effort and domestic defense industry at the Munich Security Conference.
• The Kremlin officially reiterated its claim that Ukraine has no sovereignty, setting conditions for Moscow to claim that Ukraine has no standing to negotiate with Russia or that any agreements reached with Ukraine in the future are invalid.
• Medvedchuk’s interview and Peskov’s February 16 statements continue to cast doubt on Moscow’s willingness to negotiate in good faith about a settlement of the war and set informational conditions for Russia to violate any agreement reached on the grounds that the Ukrainian government had no legal right to conclude it.
• The Kremlin extended an open invitation to US President Donald Trump to attend the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow as part of efforts to posture Russia’s strength and global power status.
• Western reporting suggests that the United States intends to ease sanctions on Belarus. Russia uses Belarus as a staging ground for its military against Ukraine and NATO and as a critical tool in its sanctions evasion schemes.
• The Russian military command reportedly redeployed additional elements of the Southern Military District’s (SMD) 8th Combined Arms Army (CAA) to the Toretsk and eastern Pokrovsk directions, further indicating that the Russian military command intends to prioritize putting pressure on Kostyantynivka – the southernmost point of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” – in 2025.
• The Russian military appears to be committing to a multi-year-long effort to seize Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in Donetsk Oblast, further underscoring Russia’s Putin’s apparent disinterest in a lasting and enduring peace in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Kupyansk, Siversk, and Kurakhove.

Sr. trooper Ruslan Mamedov was killed Sept. 20, 2024, in an enemy mortar attack. He fought his last battle near the village of Makiivka in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. He was 40.

Mamedov was born in the central city of Cherkasy. He attended Cherkasy School No. 7 through the ninth grade before continuing his education at an evening school. He later worked as an entrepreneur and most recently was employed in the fish department at the Cherkasy Regional Catering Trade and Procurement Base. In his free time, he enjoyed repairing cars.

During the full-scale war, Mamedov served in the 115th Separate Mechanized Brigade as a mechanic in the 1st mechanized unit of the 2nd mechanized platoon, 2nd mechanized company, 3rd mechanized battalion.

“From the beginning of the war, my husband said that if necessary, he would go to fight — and he did. He had no regrets; he said he had learned a lot,” his wife, Iryna, said. “He was kind and loving. His hobby was repairing cars—friends and acquaintances often turned to him. He repaired all his cars himself and only sought specialists in extreme cases. He also repaired other equipment.”

Mamedov was buried in the Alley of Heroes at Cherkasy’s 3rd Cemetery. He is survived by his wife and two sons, who were 7 and 11 years old at the time of his death.

*Ruslan’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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