Russia has called for a “cessation of hostilities” in US President Donald Trump’s “aggression against Iran”, after the US and Israel launched coordinated and unprovoked attacks against the Islamic republic on February 28.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered mediation in the conflict, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “deep concern.”
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But as a new war rages, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has entered its fifth year with few signs of peace on the horizon.
On February 27, Russian forces intensified their offensive by shelling outlying communities of Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia claimed.
It was “the first time Russian forces attacked Kramatorsk or its suburbs with tube artillery,” said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.
Kramatorsk is one of four cities, together with Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, that form a “belt of fortresses” stretching from north to south, in the defense of which Ukraine has invested heavily.
Putin has demanded the surrender of the fortress belt as a condition for a ceasefire.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday that he had seen leaked documents about Russian war plans, and that they included capturing unoccupied parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk in an offensive that would begin this month.
Also among Putin’s war goals is the seizure of the southern port city of Odessa and areas of Zaporizhia and Dnipro, which would place Russian troops deeper into central Ukraine.
“We stand firm”
But the fighting is not going well for Russia, according to Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii.
“In February 2026, for the first time since the Kursk offensive operation, the Ukrainian Defense Forces regained control of a larger territory than the enemy could seize,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging service. “We stand firm,” he said.
The Kursk Offensive, masterminded by Syrskii, counterinvaded Russian territory in August 2024 and took Russia by surprise.
The ISW agreed with him, estimating that Ukraine had achieved net gains of 257 square kilometers (100 square miles) this year. The last time Ukrainian forces made net gains on their own territory was during a 2023 counteroffensive, the ISW said, estimating those gains at 536 square kilometers (205 square miles).
“They cannot launch the March offensive,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “They want to attack, but they don’t have the strength to do so yet.”
Syrskii said: “The total losses of the Russian invaders during the three winter months amount to about 92,850 dead and wounded soldiers, or 1,031 people per day.”
The long arm of Ukraine
Ukraine also scored a series of fire victories last week.
An estimated 200 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles attacked the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on Monday. A video showed them blowing up an oil terminal and damaging six of the seven tankers tied up there. They also damaged the jamming and radar systems of the frigate Almirante Essen and damaged the minesweeper Valentin Pikul and the anti-submarine warfare corvettes Yeisk and Kasimov.
That same night, Ukraine attacked the Albashneft oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai. The attack destroyed several fuel tanks and pipelines.
Two days later, Russia accused Ukraine of sinking its liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship 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 tons of LNG, 240 kilometers (150 mi) from Sirte.
Russia calls for peace in Iran, Ukraine encourages US-Israel operation
Russia’s condemnation of the war in Iran and offer to mediate reflects Trump’s call to end Russia’s conflict of aggression against Ukraine and its attempts to open negotiations.
Ukraine’s allies have repeatedly described Russia as a rogue state for ignoring UN rules to negotiate differences peacefully, but Lavrov turned the tables on the United States.
“The United States has openly declared, 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,” Lavrov said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Putin told Gulf leaders in a phone call the same day that Russia “respects the sovereignty of other countries and does not interfere in the affairs of other peoples” as his troops fought for territory in Ukraine.
While most US allies have distanced themselves from Trump’s war on Iran, Ukraine encouraged it.
“It is fair to give the Iranian people the opportunity to get rid of a terrorist regime… and ensure the security of all nations that have suffered from terrorism originating in Iran,” Zelenskyy said Saturday.
He was referring to the “more than 57,000” Shahed-type drones designed by Iran and sold to Russia, or produced in Russia under license, that have been launched against Ukraine.
Iran has provided lethal assistance to Russia during the Ukraine war and the two signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in January 2025.
As Iran launched drones and missiles toward its Gulf neighbors, Ukraine offered to help them defend themselves.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accepted the offer to help his partners in the Middle East.
“We are going to bring in experts from Ukraine to partner with our own experts to help Gulf partners shoot down Iranian drones that attack them,” Starmer said.
“Ready to help and share our experience!” wrote Oleksandr Kamyshin, a key adviser to Zelenskyy on international defense production deals.
“Ukraine has more than 10 companies producing interceptor systems. We intercept about 90 percent of Russian Shaheds, largely with interceptor drones,” he wrote.
Syrskii said 70 percent of the Shaheds were stopped by interceptor drones.
