18/02/2026 – 21:25Humanitarian situation in Ukraine ‘the worst it’s ever been’, Red Cross says
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine “is the worst it’s ever been”, Scott Craig, senior communications officer at the IFRC told FRANCE 24, as international support is dwindling leaving organisations working on the ground struggling to drum up funds.
18/02/2026 – 21:03Sanctions inhibit development of US-Russian economic ties, Kremlin says
Sanctions on Moscow inhibit the development of good US-Russian economic and trade ties, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday.
“Sanctions which we naturally consider illegal inhibit the smooth functioning of trade and economic ties between Russia and the US It is in our interest to develop them,” the agencies said Peskov told reporters.
“A great many projects can be placed on the agenda, but for this we need to reinvigorate our relations.”
18/02/2026 – 21:02White House says more Ukraine talks expected in near future
The US has made meaningful progress in talks this week to bring an end to war in Ukraine and more discussions are expected in the near future, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
18/02/2026 – 21:02Ukraine’s ex-military chief Zaluzhnyi reveals new details of rift with Zelensky
Ukraine’s popular ex-military chief has provided new details of a rift with President Volodymyr Zelensky, threatening to deepen a long-simmering conflict between the two wartime leaders.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who served as Kyiv’s top commander until February 2024 and is now its ambassador to London, told the Associated Press in an interview published on Wednesday that he felt threatened by a 2022 raid by security agents and blamed Zelensky for a major battlefield failure.
Zaluzhnyi described how his office was raided in September 2022 by dozens of agents from Ukraine’s SBU security service, which answers to Zelensky. Zaluzhnyi said he then called Zelensky’s chief of staff with a warning that he would deploy troops to protect his command centre, having already called in reinforcements to Kyiv.
Zaluzhnyi also pinned the failure of a much-vaunted 2023 counteroffensive on Zelensky, saying he did not commit the necessary resources to the campaign. Aimed at breaking Russian defences, it ended mostly in an embarrassing string of defeats for Kyiv.
Zaluzhnyi said his original plan to focus on a single axis had been overridden by Zelensky’s order to push across much of the front line.
18/02/2026 – 20:56Zelensky says he is dissatisfied with latest Russia talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he was dissatisfied with the latest talks held with Russian negotiators, noting “sensitive political matters” had not been addressed properly.
“As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“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.”
18/02/2026 – 18:13Ukrainian skeleton racer disqualified from Olympics plans fundraiser for fallen athletes
After being disqualified from the Milan Cortina Olympics, Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych returned to Kyiv where he plans to launch a fundraiser for the families of athletes killed by Russia.
Heraskevych, a likely medal contender, was disqualified roughly 45 minutes before competition on February 12 after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to not use a helmet honoring more than 20 athletes and coaches killed since Russia invaded his country four years ago.
The helmet and the fallout surrounding it produced heavy media coverage around the world, and Heraskevych’s plan is to use his newfound spotlight to launch a fundraising effort for the families of the fallen Ukrainians painted on his helmet.
“It wasn’t me who drew attention to Ukraine — it was them,” he said. “It is their voices that are heard very loudly.”
18/02/2026 – 17:20NATO trains storming Baltic beach to deter Russia
Thousands of NATO troops including from Spain and Turkey joined an exercise Wednesday on Germany’s Baltic coast that defence officials labelled a show of readiness to deter Russia.
Naval and special forces practised seizing a beach at the Putlos training ground near the port city of Kiel as part of the wider Steadfast Dart 2026 exercise to test the alliance’s ability to rapidly move troops across NATO territory.
Around 3,000 forces took part in the drill, which included German Eurofighter jets and 15 naval vessels as well as Spanish combat divers and Turkish units using Zaha amphibious assault vehicles.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, observing the manoeuvre, said that the drill came in a context where “the security situation has worsened dramatically” in the Baltic Sea.
NATO soldiers arrive on Wessek Beach in Putlos, Germany, on February 18, 2026. (© Virginia Mayo, AP)
18/02/2026 – 17:18Russia’s road back to the Olympics
When Russia’s paralympic athletes step out at the winter Games in Milan in March it will mark the first time a Russian flag has been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
The country’s athletes were initially banned because of a state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions against Russia have continued since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Should a Paralympic athlete win gold, it will be the first time the Russian anthem has been played on the stage of any major global sporting event in the past four years.
In September, the IPC voted to lift partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus but said no athletes from those countries would compete at the Milan Cortina Games because the sports’ governing bodies had maintained their bans.
The following month, an appeal from Russia saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturn a blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation – paving the way for Russians to compete as neutral athletes at the 2026 Olympics, and with their own flag and anthem at the Paralympics.
18/02/2026 – 16:32Four South Africans lured into fighting in Russia-Ukraine war have returned home, SABC reports
Four South African men who were lured into joining mercenary forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and got trapped in the Donbas region have landed at Johannesburg’s main airport, the public broadcaster SABC has reported.
18/02/2026 – 16:05Analysis: Russia ‘not serious about peace’
Lack of progress in the latest round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv comes as little surprise, with Russia “not serious about peace”, Melinda Haring, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told FRANCE 24.
18/02/2026 – 15:57Hungary to suspend diesel shipments to Ukraine over interruption to Russian oil supply
Hungary is suspending its shipments of diesel to neighboring Ukraine until interruptions to Russian oil supplies via a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory are resolved, Hungary’s foreign minister said.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since January 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude into Central Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have both received a temporary exemption from a European Union policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, have accused Ukraine – without providing evidence – of deliberately holding up supplies.
In a video posted on social media Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary has enough oil reserves to last more than three months, and that its energy security was assured.
18/02/2026 – 15:54Russian negotiator held private Geneva meeting with Ukrainians after formal talks ended, RIA reports
Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky on Wednesday held a two-hour closed door meeting with the Ukrainian side in Geneva after the end of formal talks, Russia’s state RIA news agency reported.
The formal talks, which were mediated by the US, ended earlier on Wednesday after only two hours, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy describing them as “difficult” and accusing Russia of deliberately delaying progress toward a deal to end the four-year-old war.
18/02/2026 – 14:26Ukraine officials to boycott Paralympics over Russia’s participation
Ukraine officials will boycott the Milano Cortina Paralympics next month over the participation of a handful of Russian and Belarusian athletes, who have been cleared to compete under their flag, Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi said.
Ukrainian athletes will still take part in the March 6-15 Paralympic Games , but Bidnyi said no Ukrainian official would be at the opening ceremony or any event of the Games.
Russia and Belarus will have a combined 10 para athletes at next month’s Paralympics following Tuesday’s decision by the International Paralympic Committee.
18/02/2026 – 13:22EU sports chief to boycott Paralympics opening after Russians allowed to compete under own flag
The EU’s sport commissioner has said he will skip the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Milan-Cortina after Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to compete under their own national flags.
“While Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the reinstatement of national symbols, flags, anthems and uniforms, that are inseparable from that conflict,” commissioner Glenn Micallef posted online.
18/02/2026 – 13:08’Difficult but businesslike’ talks, Putin’s adviser says
The head of the Russian delegation, President Vladimir Putin’s advisor Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that the two days of US-brokered talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Geneva “were difficult but businesslike”. He said another round of talks will be held “in the near future”, without specifying a date.
Medinsky, an ultraconservative historian and former culture minister, has raised eyebrows in past rounds of negotiations, with Ukrainian representatives accusing him of launching into long lectures expounding his nationalist view on Russian history.
Read more about Medinsky’s rise from PR man to Putin’s presidential aide here:
18/02/2026 – 12:00Ukraine’s Zelensky says Geneva talks ‘difficult’, positions ‘differ’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also described the Geneva talks as “difficult”, adding that the two sides agreed further talks would take place.
“We can see that progress has been made but, for now, positions differ because the negotiations were difficult,” Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Zelensky earlier said the United States was putting undue pressure on him to bring an end to the four-year-old war.
FRANCE 24’s international affairs commentator Doug Herbert takes a closer look at how the talks are progressing.
18/02/2026 – 11:46Ukraine’s chief negotiator sees ‘progress’ in Russia, US talks
Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov said there had been progress in talks with the United States and Russia on ending the war, following the conclusion of a Geneva meeting on Wednesday.
“We are focused on working through the key provisions required to finalise the process. This is complex work that requires alignment among all parties and sufficient time. There is progress but no details can be disclosed at this stage,” he told reporters.
18/02/2026 – 11:26Zelensky says European role at Geneva talks with Russia ‘critical’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described Europe’s participation at the talks in Geneva as vital for any agreements reached on halting the war to hold.
He also confirmed, following earlier reports, that Ukrainian and US negotiators had met on Tuesday with officials from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
18/02/2026 – 10:58Ukraine peace talks in Geneva end
US-mediated peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv ended in Geneva, according to a Ukrainian official and Russian state media.
The talks lasted about two hours, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s chief negotiator said.
TASS, a Russian state news agency, cited Moscow’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky as saying that more talks would be held soon.