Issued on: 10/02/2026 - 08:08Modified: 11/02/2026 - 04:33
French President Emmanuel Macron said he wants to include European partners in a resumption of dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after dispatching a top adviser to Moscow last week, in the first such meeting since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Follow our liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Russian air defences repel Ukrainian drone attack in Volzhsky
Russian air defences repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on energy infrastructure and other targets in the city of Volzhsky in southern Russia’s Volgograd region, the regional governor said on Wednesday.
Andrei Bocharov, writing on his administration’s Telegram channel, described the attack as “massive” and said it had damaged one apartment in the town northeast of the region’s main city, Volgograd.
Drone fragments had landed near a kindergarten in the town, and a fire broke out at a factory in Volgograd. Bocharov said no one had been injured in the attack.
Russian strike kills four, including three children, near Kharkiv
A Russian strike killed four people, including three small children, in a town west of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said early on Wednesday.
Oleh Syniehubov, writing on Telegram, said the three children, aged one and two, died along with a 34-year-old man in the house where they were staying in the town of Bohodukhiv. A 74-year-old woman was injured in the incident.
Zelensky reviews air defence shortcomings as Russia’s war nears fourth year
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assembled his top military officers on Tuesday to discuss shortcomings in air defence and other aspects of protecting civilians from attack nearly four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, also assessed how local authorities in Ukraine’s cities were tackling the aftermath of massive Russian attacks, particularly in ensuring high-rise apartment buildings had power and heating. He again singled out officials in the capital, Kyiv, for criticism.
Zelensky said he held long discussions with the military’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the chief of the general staff, Andrii Hnatov, and Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
“Many changes are happening right now in the work of air defence. In some regions, the way teams operate, interceptors, mobile fire units, the entire small air defence component is being practically rebuilt completely,” Zelensky said.
“But this is only one element of defence that requires changes. Changes will happen.”
Ramaphosa, Putin discuss return of South Africans fighting with Russia
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on returning South Africans lured into fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine, his office said.
The South African government said in November it had received "distress calls" from 17 men who were trapped in the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine's Donbas region after being tricked into joining mercenary forces.
"President Ramaphosa and President Putin pledged their support to the process of returning South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine," the president's office said in a statement.
Ukrainian skeleton racer vows to wear banned helmet at Winter Olympics
Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych vowed that he would wear a helmet that depicts victims of the war with Russia despite a ban imposed by Olympic chiefs.
Heraskevych said he disagreed with the International Olympic Committee's decision to ban his headwear, adding: "I used it in all trainings ... I used it today, I will use it tomorrow, and I will use it on race day."
Kenya deplores citizens used as 'cannon fodder' in Ukraine war
Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi announced Tuesday that he would visit Moscow in March following the deaths of Kenyans who had fallen victim to recruitment networks and were promised lucrative jobs before being sent to Ukraine's front lines.
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South Africa's Ramaphosa expresses support for efforts to end Ukraine war in call with Putin
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his country's support for efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Ramaphosa's office said.
More PURL pledges expected this week, US ambassador says
US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said that he expects more announcements of pledges for the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative to supply Ukraine with US weapons when alliance defence ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.
The ambassador also told reporters in an online briefing that allies have thus far pledged to buy over $4.5 billion in American weapons to address Ukraine's urgent battlefield needs via PURL.
21 NATO allies and two partners have pledged support, Whitaker said.
Moscow chokes Telegram as it pushes state-backed rival app
Russia's internet watchdog announced it was throttling the Telegram messenger platform for alleged violations of Russian law, as Moscow tries to push Russians to use a more tightly controlled domestic online service.
Critics and rights campaigners say those restrictions are a transparent attempt by the Kremlin to ramp up control and surveillance over internet use in Russia, amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent during the Ukraine offensive.
Russia says Ukraine attack damaged Zaporizhzhia plant but no safety threat
The Russian-installed management of Ukraine's occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant said that a Ukrainian attack disconnected one of the facility's power lines but added the situation was "under control".
Radiation levels at the plant were within norms, it said.
Moscow has reported damage to the plant before, and the warring sides have throughout the conflict accused each other of risking nuclear catastrophe with attacks near the facility.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, which lies on the outskirts of the occupied Ukrainian town of Energodar, is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. It was captured by Russian forces in the first days of its 2022 offensive.
EU must decide what it wants from Putin before any talks, EU's Kallas says
The EU should set out the concessions it wants Russia to make for peace in Ukraine before talking with the Kremlin, the bloc's foreign policy chief said.
A number of EU leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron are pushing to restart contacts with Russia's Vladimir Putin as the US forges ahead with efforts to end the Ukraine war.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that a special envoy could be named for the negotiations.
Kaja Kallas said she intended to circulate a list of "ideas" in the coming days to the EU's 27 member states laying out the demands that should be placed on Moscow.
Russia says power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant cut after Ukrainian attack
One of two external power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been cut as a result of a Ukrainian attack, the Russian-installed management of the station has said.
Heat supply to residential buildings and social facilities in Enerhodar has been temporarily suspended, it added.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Russian attack kills mother and daughter in Ukraine's Sloviansk
A Russian airstrike killed an 11-year-old girl and her mother and wounded 14 other people in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, its governor has said.
A 7-year-old girl was among those wounded in the attack on the city of Sloviansk, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian police said the bodies of the woman and child had been recovered from under the rubble of a building. They posted photos of a flattened building and a person receiving help in an ambulance.
Sloviansk and neighbouring Kramatorsk are two of the so-called "fortress cities" that lie close to the front line and have been frequent targets of Russian attacks.
Russia wants Kyiv to give up the remaining 20% of the Donetsk region that Moscow's forces have been unable to conquer in order to make progress towards a peace deal, something Ukraine refuses to do.
Putin thinks he can outsmart the US during Ukraine peace talks, Estonia intelligence chief says
Russia's Vladimir Putin has no desire to halt the war in Ukraine and thinks he can “outsmart” the US during talks about how to end the war, a senior European intelligence official has told AP.
Kaupo Rosin, the head of Estonia’s foreign intelligence service, said Moscow is playing for time in the talks with Washington and “there is absolutely no discussion about how to really cooperate with the US in a meaningful way.”
Rosin, who spoke at an online briefing with reporters ahead of the publication of Estonia’s annual security report, said the findings were based on intelligence his country gathered from “Russian internal discussions”.
He did not elaborate on how the information was obtained but said the discussions showed that Russian officials believe that Washington remains Moscow's “main enemy”.
The Estonian report says Russia is unlikely to attack NATO this year or next but that Moscow remains dangerous as it tries to build up its armed forces.
IOC bans Ukraine's Heraskevych from wearing 'helmet of remembrance' at Games
Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych will be allowed to wear a black armband in competition at the Milan Cortina Games, the International Olympic Committee has said.
But he will not be allowed to wear a helmet commemorating the lives of athletes from his country who were killed in the war with Russia.
Macron says wants 'European approach' in dialogue with Putin
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he wants to include European partners in a resumption of dialogue with Russia's Vladimir Putin nearly four years after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Macron spoke after dispatching a top adviser to Moscow last week, in the first such meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"What did I gain? Confirmation that Russia does not want peace right now," he said in an interview with several European newspapers including Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung.
"But above all, we have rebuilt those channels of discussion at a technical level," he said.
"My wish is to share this with my European partners and to have a well-organised European approach," he added.
Dialogue with Putin should take place without "too many interlocutors, with a given mandate", he said.
Macron said last year he believed Europe should reach back out to Putin, rather than leaving the United States alone to take the lead in negotiations to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
"Whether we like Russia or not, Russia will still be there tomorrow," Suddeutsche Zeitung quoted the French president as saying.
Ukraine and France agree to start joint weapons production
France and Ukraine have signed a letter of intent paving the way for "large-scale joint projects in the defence-industrial sector", Ukraine's defence minister said Monday after hosting his French counterpart for talks in Kyiv.
Mykhailo Fedorov did not specify what arms would be produced with France or when manufacturing would start.
"We are moving from supplies to joint production and long-term solutions that systematically strengthen our defence," Fedorov said on Telegram after the meeting with France's Catherine Vautrin.
Oil exports have been a cash cow for Russia – but sanctions are eating into revenues
Oil and gas exports have sustained Russia's finances throughout its war against Ukraine, but those cash flows have suddenly dwindled to lows not seen in years, AP reports.
In January, Russian state revenues from taxing the oil and gas industries fell to 393 billion rubles ($5.1 billion), down from 587 billion ($7.6 billion) in December and 1.12 trillion ($14.5 billion) in January 2025.
The sharp decline is the result of new punitive measures from the US and the European Union, Trump's tariff pressure against India, and a tightening crackdown on the fleet of sanctions-dodging tankers carrying Russian oil.
The drop in revenue is pushing President Vladimir Putin to borrow from Russian banks and raise taxes, keeping state finances on an even keel for now.
Yesterday's key developments:
Ukrainian skeleton competitor Vladyslav Heraskevych said he was banned from wearing a helmet at the Winter Olympics showing images of the country's athletes killed during the war in Ukraine.
German prosecutors said they indicted a Ukrainian national in connection with allegations of a plot linked to Russian intelligence to detonate parcel packages in Europe.
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