Russia has called for a \u201ccessation of hostilities\u201d in US President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201caggression against Iran\u201d, after the United States and Israel launched unprovoked, coordinated attacks against the Islamic republic on February 28.<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered mediation in the conflict, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n But as a new war rages, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has barrelled into a fifth year with little sign of peace on the horizon.<\/p>\n On February 27, Russian forces escalated their offensive by shelling outlying communities of Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region, Russia has claimed.<\/p>\n It was \u201cthe first time that Russian forces have hit Kramatorsk or its suburbs with tube artillery,\u201d said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.<\/p>\n Kramatorsk is one of four cities, along with Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, forming a \u201cfortress belt\u201d running from north to south, in whose defence Ukraine has heavily invested.<\/p>\n Putin has demanded the surrender of the fortress belt as a condition for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that he had seen leaked documents of Russian war plans, and they included seizing the unoccupied parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk in an offensive beginning this month.<\/p>\n Also in Putin\u2019s war aims is the seizure of the southern port city of Odesa and swathes of Zaporizhia and Dnipro, which would place Russian troops deeper into central Ukraine.<\/p>\n But the fight is not going well for Russia, according to Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii.<\/p>\n \u201cIn February 2026, for the first time since the Kursk offensive operation, the Ukrainian Defence Forces regained control over a larger territory than the enemy was able to seize,\u201d he wrote on the Telegram messaging service. \u201cWe are holding our ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Kursk offensive, masterminded by Syrskii, counter-invaded Russian territory in August 2024 and took Russia by surprise.<\/p>\n The ISW agreed with him, estimating Ukraine had made net gains of 257sq km (100 square miles) this year. The last time Ukrainian forces made net gains on their own territory was during a 2023 counteroffensive, said the ISW, estimating those gains at 536sq km (205 square miles).<\/p>\n \u201cThey cannot launch the March offensive,\u201d Zelenskyy told reporters. \u201cThey want to attack, but they don\u2019t have the strength to do it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Syrskii said,\u00a0\u201cThe total losses of the Russian invaders over the three winter months amount to about 92,850 soldiers killed and wounded, or 1,031 people per day.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine also scored a range of fire victories in the past week.<\/p>\n An estimated 200 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles struck the Russian Black Sea Port of Novorossiysk on Monday. Video showed them blowing up an oil terminal and damaging six of seven tankers moored there. They also damaged jamming and radar systems on the frigate\u00a0Admiral Essen, and damaged the minesweeper\u00a0Valentin Pikul\u00a0and the anti-submarine warfare corvettes Yeysk\u00a0and\u00a0Kasimov.<\/p>\n On the same night, Ukraine struck the Albashneft oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai. The attack destroyed several fuel tanks and pipelines.<\/p>\n Two days later, Russia accused Ukraine of sinking its liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Arctic Metagaz off the coast of Libya by launching unmanned surface drones from the Libyan coast. The ship caught fire and sank along with 61,000 tonnes of LNG, 240km (150 miles) off Sirte.<\/p>\n Russian condemnation of the war in Iran and offer to mediate mirror Trump\u2019s call for Russia\u2019s conflict of aggression against Ukraine to end and his attempts to launch negotiations.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s allies have repeatedly described Russia as a rogue state for ignoring UN rules to negotiate differences peacefully, but Lavrov turned the tables on the US.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States has stated openly, and President Donald Trump has said it without hesitation, that it will not be guided by any UN principles. It will be guided only by the interests of its own state,\u201d Lavrov said at a news conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Putin told Gulf leaders in a phone call on the same day that Russia \u201crespects the sovereignty of other countries and does not interfere in other people\u2019s affairs\u201d, as his troops fought for territory in Ukraine.<\/p>\n While most US allies have distanced themselves from Trump\u2019s Iran war, Ukraine encouraged it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is fair to give the Iranian people a chance to rid themselves of a terrorist regime \u2026 and to guarantee security for all nations that have suffered from terror originating in Iran,\u201d Zelenskyy said on Saturday.<\/p>\n He was referring to the \u201cmore than 57,000\u201d Shahed-type drones designed by Iran and sold to Russia, or produced in Russia under licence, that have been launched against Ukraine.<\/p>\n Iran has provided lethal assistance to Russia during the Ukraine war, and the two signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in January 2025.<\/p>\n As Iran launched drones and missiles towards its Gulf neighbours, Ukraine offered to help them defend themselves.<\/p>\n British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took up the offer to help its partners in the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will \u2026 bring experts from Ukraine to partner with our own experts to help Gulf partners shoot down Iranian drones attacking them,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n \u201cReady to help and share our experience!\u201d wrote Oleksandr Kamyshin, Zelenskyy\u2019s key adviser on international defence production agreements.<\/p>\n \u201cUkraine has 10+ companies producing interceptor systems. We intercept around 90 percent of Russian Shaheds, largely with interceptor drones,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Syrskii said 70 percent of Shaheds were stopped by interceptor drones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Russia has called for a \u201ccessation of hostilities\u201d in US President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201caggression against Iran\u201d, after the United States and Israel launched unprovoked, coordinated attacks against the Islamic republic on February 28. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered mediation in the conflict, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d. Recommended Stories list of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE-WHO](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-UKRAINE-1772020056.png?quality=80\")
\u2018We are holding our ground\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE-WHO](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-EASTERN-UKRAINE-copy-1772020049.png?quality=80\")
Ukraine\u2019s long arm<\/h2>\n
Russia calls for peace in Iran, Ukraine encourages US-Israeli operation<\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE-WHO](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-SOUTHERN-UKRAINE-1772020052.png?quality=80\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"