Zelenskyi explains why Ukraine cannot cede Donbas to Russia. Russia shifts its target of major attacks on Ukraine, escalates a sabotage campaign, ISW says. A drone attack sets an oil pumping station in Russia’s Tatarstan on fire.
Russia shifts its target of major attacks on Ukraine, escalates a sabotage campaign, ISW says
Russia appears to be shifting the target of its major aerial strikes on Ukraine from primarily energy facilities to include water and railway infrastructure, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an update on February 22. The paragraphs below are quoted from the report.
Ukrainian and Moldovan authorities recently prevented a Russian plot to assassinate several prominent political and defense figures, and Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) warned at the time that Russia intends to use these high-profile assassinations to spread panic and destabilize the socio-political situation in Ukraine.
Russian agents assassinated former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairperson Andriy Parubiy in August 2025.
Zelensky warned after the Lviv City attack that Ukrainian intelligence indicates that Russia will likely continue such attacks.
Russia will likely continue such attacks and assassination attempts to further its goal of destabilizing Ukraine, and may also seize on reports of attacks or arrests connected with foiled plots to promote narratives aimed at spreading panic and distrust within Ukrainian society.
Russian forces conducted another large, combined strike package overnight on February 21 to 22 and appear to be shifting their target set from primarily energy infrastructure to include Ukrainian water and railway infrastructure.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 297 Shahed-type, Gerbera-type, Italmas-type, and other strike drone types – of which roughly 200 were Shaheds – from the directions of Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol cities; Shatalovo, Smolensk Oblast; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai; and occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces also launched 50 missiles, including four Zirkon hypersonic cruise missiles from occupied Crimea; 22 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles from Bryansk and Belgorod oblasts and occupied Donetsk Oblast; 18 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Volgograd Oblast; and two Iskander-K and four Kh-59/69 cruise missiles from Kursk Oblast. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces downed 274 drones and 33 missiles, including all the Iskander-K and Kh-59/69 cruise missiles and all but one of the Kh-101 cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 14 missiles and 23 strike drones struck 14 locations and that falling debris hit five locations. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces primarily targeted Kyiv, Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Poltava oblasts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russian forces targeted Ukrainian logistics, including railway infrastructure, and water supply infrastructure in cities, rather than focusing on energy infrastructure. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Oleksiy Kuleba reported that Russian forces struck railway infrastructure in Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, and Odesa oblasts, damaging two locomotives.
The shifting Russian target set comes after Russian strikes intended to break Ukraine’s energy grid in the dead of winter, though Russian forces will likely continue efforts to further degrade Ukraine’s energy infrastructure using long-range strikes.
Zelenskyi explains why Ukraine cannot cede Donbas to Russia
Ukraine’s withdrawal from all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as demanded by the Kremlin would weaken the country’s defensive positions and split its society, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen in an interview published early on Monday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
When we met this weekend in the government headquarters in Kyiv, he said that far from losing, Ukraine would end the war victorious.
Putin, Zelensky told me, has already started World War Three, and the only answer was intense military and economic pressure to force him to step back.
“I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him… Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves.”
What about Russia’s demand for Ukraine to hand over the 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that it still holds – a line of towns Ukraine calls “fortress cities” – as well as more land in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia? Isn’t that, I asked, a reasonable request if it produces a ceasefire?
“I see this differently. I don’t look at it simply as land. I see it as abandonment – weakening our positions, abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That is how I see it. And I am sure that this ‘withdrawal’ would divide our society.”
But isn’t it a good price to pay if that satisfies Putin? Do you think it would satisfy him?
“It would probably satisfy him for a while… he needs a pause… but once he recovers, our European partners say it could take three to five years. In my opinion, he could recover in no more than a couple of years. Where would he go next? We do not know, but that he would want to continue [the war] is a fact.”
Zelenskyi has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine’s withdrawal from all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a prerequisite for a peace deal with Russia. The Kremlin continues to insist that Ukraine cedes the two eastern regions.
Drone attack sets oil pumping station in Russia’s Tatarstan on fire
Drones attacked the Kaleykino oil pumping station in Russia’s Tatarstan region overnight on Monday, Ukrainian media said, citing Exilenova+ Telegram channel. The facility is a key node in the Druzhba oil pipeline that secures the country’s exports.
Photos and videos posted to the channel show a large fire that broke out at the station after the strike. Different oil grades are blended at Kaleykino before being exported, Ukrainian media said. The station maintains critical pressure, pumps oil into the Druzhba pipeline and sends the crude to regional refineries.
The drone strike is a direct hit to Russia’s war economy, reports said. Russia’s oil and gas proceeds secure one-third of the country’s budget and fund its war in Ukraine. The Kaleykino oil pumping station is the point of origin for the pipeline supplying European markets.