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Key events
Russia downs over 100 Ukrainian drones, with oil refinery among targets
Russian officials said on Thursday their forces had destroyed 113 Ukrainian drones overnight after some of them targeted an oil refinery in the northwest that resulted in a fire in a storage tank, AFP reported.
One of the drone attacks targeted an oil refinery in Velikiye Luki around 500 kilometres (300 miles) west of Moscow, causing “a fire in an oil storage tank”, regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said in a statement.
According to initial reports, the attack did not cause any injuries among civilians or refinery staff, he added.
Morning opening: Zelenskyy is getting frustrated with Putin – but can you blame him?
Jakub Krupa
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems to grow tired of fruitless rounds of negotiations with Russia in which the other side keeps making historical claims about its alleged right to control Ukraine.
In a rare public outburst on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show last night, repeated on social media this morning, he said he does not need all this “historical shit,” blaming Russians for deploying “delay tactics” to stall the talks.
Over the weekend, he urged the US and Europe to introduce sanctions on Russians resident in the west, telling them to, erm, let’s say ‘leave’ to Russia.
Zelenskyy appears to be increasingly losing patience as US president Donald Trump repeatedly seeks to put pressure on Kyiv, not Moscow, to compromise on its positions to get a deal ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Commenting on the latest round of talks in Geneva, he said:
“As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient. The military discussed certain issues seriously and substantively. Sensitive political matters, possible compromises and the necessary meeting of leaders have not yet been sufficiently addressed.”
Meanwhile, the US claimed that the talks helped to make “meaningful progress” with pledges “to continue to work towards a peace deal together.”
Separately, Zelenskyy also claimed that “Americans, and maybe some Europeans, are discussing a new document with Russia, between Nato and Russia,” insisting that Ukraine should not be locked out of these discussions.
Let’s see what the day brings us as some European countries are expected to take part in Donald Trump’s Board of Peace event in Washington, with others – including the EU – joining as an observer to see what’s going on there.
I will bring you all the key news lines here.
It’s Thursday, 19 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
