The US vice president took a series of swipes at Europe during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, where officials met today. Meanwhile, Ukraine has warned of the risks after a Russian strike hit Chernobyl. Listen to the Daily podcast as you scroll.
Saturday 15 February 2025 00:44, UK
We’re pausing our coverage for now but we’ll be back soon with more updates from the war in Ukraine.
Here is a brief overview of what has been happening today:
Fighting has ramped up in Ukraine as the war approaches its third anniversary.
This week, Ukraine ramped up long-range drone strikes into Russia, targeting oil facilities that fuel warplanes, ships and military vehicles as well as oil refineries that help power the economy.
An increase in the intensity of the attacks appears to have started in December, continued through the whole of January and is still being maintained into February, according to analysis of drone strikes confirmed by the Ukrainian armed forces and security services.
So what else is happening on the ground at the moment?
Ukraine holds a small part of Russia’s western Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Russia occupies around 20% of Ukraine – including parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea.
On the southern front, Ukraine has lost the city of Toretsk but is holding onto Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk.
We have been reporting this evening on the Russian drone attack on Chernobyl, which has created the risk of a radioactive leak, the plant’s chief engineer has said.
Alexander Titarchuk said the strike had severely damaged the nuclear power plant’s confinement structure, rendering it non functional.
Chernobyl was the site of the world’s worst civil nuclear catastrophe when one of its four reactors exploded in 1986.
That reactor is now enclosed by a shelter to contain the lingering radiation.
Today, emergency crew have been scaling the plant’s roof to try and repair the damage.
We have been reporting today on comments coming from the Munich Security Conference following Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin.
Speaking at the conference, vice president JD Vance said the goal from the US was to bring the war to a close.
“We want the killing to stop but we want to achieve a durable lasting peace,” he added.
You can watch his comments here…
The recent comments made by Donald Trump after his call with Vladimir Putin has left a “taste of bitterness” in Ukrainian society, the former Ukrainian ambassador to the EU has told Sky’s Jonathan Samuels this evening.
Kostiantyn Yelisieiev said Trump had created a situation where Putin was being “pulled out of international isolation” and this had made him appear “not so toxic”.
“At the same time we should understand this is Trump and he is trying to implement his promise to end the war,” he said.
He also Russia should not have an veto right on Ukraine’s NATO membership.
“NATO membership should be the decision of NATO,” he added.
Donald Trump promised throughout his election campaign that he would end the war in Ukraine, now following a 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the conflict closer to ending than ever before?
On the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson is joined by Sky’s international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn to discuss the fear among European allies about what the costs of peace in Ukraine could be.
He also discusses what wider implications rewarding Putin with land could have on a geopolitical scale.
Plus, security and defence editor Deborah Haynes joins Niall from the Munich Security Conference to discuss what the reaction has been from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In comments made in the last half an hour, Donald Trump said he had spoken with Keir Starmer and that he agreed to meet with him, perhaps in the next few weeks.
“He asked for a meeting and I agreed to the meeting, we’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good,” Trump said.
“We have a lot of good things going on. But he asked to come and see me and I just accepted his asking.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he also echoed vice president JD Vance’s earlier comments, claiming Europeans were losing their freedom of speech.
Trump claimed Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference was well received.
The signs, at least among those present at the conference today, indicate otherwise.
The speech has sparked immediate criticism in Europe – and a Reuters reporter in one of the side rooms at the Munich conference where more delegates could listen to Vance’s speech said people appeared stunned and did not applaud.
The Russian drone attack on Chernobyl (see 7.17 post) has created the risk of a radioactive leak, the plant’s chief engineer has said.
Alexander Titarchuk said the strike had severely damaged the nuclear power plant’s confinement structure, rendering it non-functional.
“The barrier which was supposed to prevent the spread of radioactive substances has ceased to function according to its original design,” he said.
“There is now a possibility of a leak of radioactive substances, but the situation is under control.”
A Russian citizen suspected of coordinating acts of sabotage against Poland, the US and other allies was deported to Poland from Bosnia and Herzegovina and arrested by a court order, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said on X.
What do we know?
Last month, a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina reviewed a Polish request to extradite a Russian citizen on charges of sabotage.
Tusk later said Russia had planned “acts of terrorism” in the air against Poland and other countries.
Security officials have said that parcels which exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the US.
The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July.
The Kremlin said the allegations by Tusk that Russia had planned “acts of terrorism” in the air against Poland and other countries was completely unsubstantiated.
The Kremlin is putting together a “high-level negotiating team” that can carry out Ukraine peace deal talks with the US, sources have told CNN.
The US broadcaster said the team will reportedly include top level political, intelligence and economic figures.
However, the names have not yet been made public.
The reports come off the back of the Donald Trump’s separate calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump said negotiations to end the war would start “immediately” after the 90-minute call with the Russian president.
And the Kremlin said Putin and Trump had agreed to meet, and Putin had invited Trump to visit Moscow. Trump said their first meeting would “probably” take place soon in Saudi Arabia.
There are fears Trump has offered concessions before talks have even started and frozen out Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has struck a diplomatic tone.
He said after that call Trump had shown “genuine interest in our shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together”.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free