A suicide bombing attack on the Taliban-led Ministry for Urban Development office in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed two people and injured three more.
Taliban authorities said the attacker was one of the people killed in the February 13 attack.
“The suicide bomber was identified and eliminated at the entrance of the ministry,” said Mohammad Kamal Afghan, a spokesman for the Taliban's Urban Development Ministry.
He told journalists that the attack happened just before noon local time.
No group has immediately accepted responsibility for the attack.
But the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an ultraradical rival of the Taliban, claimed credit for a separate attack earlier this week.
On February 11, at least eight people were killed in a suicide bank outside a bank in the northern city of Kunduz. IS-K said it targeted the Taliban government employees while they collected their salaries.
Earlier on December 11, an IS-K suicide bomber killed Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Taliban’s refugee minister. Five more people were killed in the attack inside the Refugee Ministry compound in Kabul.
Haqqani, in his 60s, was the most senior Taliban figure killed by IS-K since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
IS-K has repeatedly targeted Afghanistan's Shi’ite minority and followers of the moderate Sufi orders.
In recent years, the group has embarked on terror attacks internationally. Last year, it claimed credit for attacks in Iran and Russia. Individuals linked to the group have also been detained in the United States and Europe.
On February 10, a meeting of the UN Security Council declared the group a significant threat to global security.
“We remain concerned about IS-K's capabilities to plot and conduct attacks as well as sustain recruitment campaigns, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said Dorothy Shea, the interim U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The Taliban promised security after returning to power three years ago but has not been able to stamp out attacks by the IS-K. It launched a brutal crackdown against the IS-K and claimed to have killed or detained hundreds of its members.
Afghanistan’s tiny Salafist minority, however, has complained of being on the receiving end of the Taliban clampdown on IS-K as its members were unjustly persecuted.
In 2015, the IS-K emerged as the local branch of the Islamic State, which ruled vast swathes of territories in Syria and Iraq.
Ukraine said it destroyed two "Valdai" radar systems near Moscow in a wave of overnight drone attacks, while Moldova said two Russian drones exploded on its territory and NATO member Romania said its airspace had likely been breached.
Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) said in a statement on February 13 that the strikes targeted a military unit in the Russian city of Dolgoprudny that is responsible for the security of the airspace over Moscow.
"The explosive device destroyed two Russian Valdai radar systems designed for 24-hour automatic detection and counteraction of UAVs. This is the latest development of the Russian military-industrial complex -- the first model in its class adopted by the army of the aggressor state of Russia," the GRU statement said.
Russia has not commented on the GRU claims.
Moscow launched a massive attack of its own in the early hours of February 13, targeting Ukraine's southern Odesa region.
Oleh Kiper, head of the district's military administration, said the attack damaged port infrastructure and an inactive educational institution.
As local residents captured videos of the attack, multiple flying objects were observed in the night sky over the region. Ukrainian authorities had declared an air raid alert in the city of Izmayil, in the southwestern part of Ukraine, near its borders with Romania and Moldova.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said two Russian Shahed drones violated Moldova's airspace and exploded on its territory, while Romania's Defense Ministry said the two drones likely breached its airspace.
"Russia does not respect borders, attacks civilians, and spreads terror. Its war against Ukraine is criminal. Leave us, peaceful nations, alone," Sandu wrote on social media platform X.
Mihai Popsoi, Moldova's foreign minister, said the Russian ambassador would be summoned over the incidents.
The latest drone strikes highlight the escalating aerial conflict between Ukraine and Russia, with both sides launching cross-border attacks. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian territory with drones, while Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian infrastructure, often striking civilian areas.
In the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian shelling damaged a multi-story residential building, injuring two people, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of the Kherson region.
Across the border in Russia, the Lipetsk region was struck by Ukrainian drones, leading to temporary power outages in its administrative center also called Lipetsk.
Lipetsk Governor Igor Artamonov reported the drone threat on Telegram and later confirmed that electricity had been restored in several affected areas.
Artamonov stated that debris from one of the drones fell on an aeration station, injuring an employee. Additional drone wreckage was found at two private residences, though no casualties were reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reacted sharply to U.S. President Donald Trump's agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin negotiations to end the war with Ukraine, saying he won't accept any deals made without Ukraine's involvement.
Trump's call on February 12 is seen as part of the White House's aim to move quickly toward ending the almost three-year-old war, and "certainly not a betrayal" of Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on February 13.
But news of the 90-minute phone call between the two leaders sent shockwaves across Europe, where leaders bitterly complained of seemingly being cut out of the process.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine cannot "allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan.”
“We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements [made] without us. I articulate this very clearly to our partners –- any bilateral negotiations about Ukraine, not on other topics, but any bilateral talks about Ukraine without us –- we will not accept,” Zelenskyy said during a visit to a nuclear power station in western Ukraine.
His comments came hours after foreign ministers from key European allies, including Germany, France, Poland, and Britain, warned in a statement that "Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations."
"Any deal behind our backs will not work, any agreement will need also Ukraine and Europe being part of it -- and this is clear that appeasement also always fails," the European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told reporters at a meeting at NATO headquarters on February 13.
'I Think They Have To Make Peace'
Trump announced the call on February 12 in a post on Truth Social that said he and Putin “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately."
He spoke further about his plans later at the White House, telling reporters: “I think we’re on the way to getting peace."
He noted that after his call with Putin he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but he was noncommittal about whether Ukraine would be an equal participant in negotiations with Russia.
“I think they have to make peace. Their people are dying,” Trump said.
In a blow to Ukraine's stated goals to join NATO and push Russia out of all parts of Ukraine it occupies, Hegseth told NATO allies in Brussels on February 12 that it is "unrealistic" to expect Ukraine's borders to revert to 2014 and said NATO membership is not seen by the White House as part of the solution to the conflict.
Trump also said giving Ukraine NATO membership would not be “practical.”
The comments are some of the clearest indications from the new Trump administration of how the president intends to fulfill his election campaign promise to swiftly end the war, but some observers said it was a poor strategy to lay the groundwork for negotiations by granting terms favorable to Russia.
Oxana Shevel, a professor of political science at Tufts University, told RFE/RL that Ukraine had already reckoned that its hopes of joining NATO would be off the table in a negotiation process to end the war.
But she warned that it would be a bigger deal if Putin tried to convince Trump to rollback NATO’s declaration on Ukraine's "irreversible path" to membership.
“Putin would love to have that,” Shevel said, adding that she could not imagine that would go down well with the European NATO countries.
Shevel also said it’s a “bad negotiating strategy” to allow concessions even before talks begin but said, based on statements thus far, it’s too hard to know what exactly will be at stake.
Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 13 during a meeting of defense ministers from the alliance's 32 members, U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said "Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius added: "For me, it’s clear … that Europe must be involved in the negotiations -- and I think that’s very easy to understand.”
Hegseth, who is also attending the meeting, was quick to defend Trump's initiative, saying "there is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace. A negotiated peace.”
"That will require both sides recognizing things they don't want to," he added.
Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, and its forces have been pushing forward in the eastern Donbas region for months, albeit at a massive cost, while pounding civilian targets nationwide.
Hegseth, on his first foreign trip since being confirmed late last month, has stressed in recent days that Ukraine should prepare for a negotiated peace settlement and that Europe must provide the "overwhelming share" of aid to Ukraine.
A settlement can be backed up by international troops but, Hegseth said, U.S. forces would not be part of any security guarantee in a peace settlement.
Zelenskyy has shown no sign of disappointment in the statements, highlighting that he and Trump discussed "opportunities to achieve peace" and "our readiness to work together at the team level," among other things.
"Ukraine wants peace more than anyone. We will determine our joint steps with America to stop the Russian aggression and guarantee a reliable, prolonged peace," he said in social media posts. "As President Trump said, 'Let's get it done.'"
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Putin-Trump call showed "here is agreement that a peaceful negotiated settlement is possible."
"As for Europe's participation, there is no understanding yet of the format of a possible negotiation process, so it is premature to talk about it," he said.
Key Munich Conference
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is nearing its three-year mark later this month and diplomacy is heating up ahead of the February 14-16 Munich Security Conference, which Zelenskyy and senior U.S. officials plan to attend.
In another diplomatic push, Zelenskyy met in Kyiv on February 12 with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss a potential deal on Ukraine's critical minerals and said he hopes the two countries can reach an agreement on the matter at the conference in Munich.
Trump has said the United States wants access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals.
Bessent presented Zelenskyy with an initial draft agreement and said a deal on the minerals could leave Ukraine with a "security shield" once the war with Russia is over.
Zelenskyy has stressed that strong Western security guarantees for Ukraine with U.S. involvement are crucial to any deal to end the war.
Trump said that he expects to meet Putin, probably in Saudi Arabia, saying it would take place "in the not too distant future."
He added that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would also be involved.
Three detainees, including a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, have been released by Belarus as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to lay the basis for negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
"We can confirm the safe release of one American and two individuals from Belarus," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on February 12. Leavitt did not name the American who had been released, but said it was "a remarkable victory on the heels of Marc Fogel returning to America last night."
Fogel, an American teacher held in Russia since 2021, was freed on February 11 in a prisoner swap for confessed Russian cybercriminal Aleksandr Vinnik. He celebrated his release at the White House with Trump, who said it was an indication of Russia's "good will in terms of the war" in Ukraine.
The White House also described the prisoner releases as a sign of a diplomatic thaw that could help advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.
A White House statement said the American released by Belarus was the 11th freed from captivity abroad since Trump took office on January 20. Special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, said that Trump “has made bringing Americans home a top priority and people respond to that.”
RFE/RL President & CEO Stephen Capus said earlier on February 12 that RFE/RL journalist Andrey Kuznechyk had been reunited with his family in Lithuania.
“This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, Alesya, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President [Donald] Trump,” Capus said in a statement, noting the efforts of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Lithuanian government.
Kuznechyk was arrested on November 25, 2021, and initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected. After serving that penalty, Kuznechyk was not released but charged again, this time for allegedly creating an extremist group.
Kuznechyk was arrested amid a crackdown on protests over the 2020 presidential election that saw long-time authoritarian ruler Aleksandr Lukashenko emerge with his sixth consecutive term. The opposition and Western governments say the vote was rigged.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave Belarus after the election over safety fears, said Kuznechyk's release was "wonderful news."
Tsikhanouskaya, who filled in when her husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was arrested and jailed during his presidential campaign, said on X that activist Alena Maushuk was the other Belarusian released on February 12.
Maushuk was detained in 2020 and sentenced the following year to six years on a charge of taking part in mass riots.
Franak Viachorka, an aide to Tsikhanouskaya, said on Facebook that Maushuk "is in a difficult physical and psychological condition."
Viachorka described Maushuk as a “brave and humble woman” who spent more than four years behind bars.
“She lost her health, but not her humanity. Thank God -- now she is free,” he said, adding that Maushuk described “all the horrors that she had to go through" while being driven to a "safe place."
Maushuk said she was given little notice ahead of her release. She was informed while on her dinner break from her factory job that her pardon had been considered and there was an agreement to release her on the condition that she leave Belarus.
According to Maushuk, she was forced to put a mask over her eyes before being escorted to the border with Lithuania by guards. Only when they arrived at the border was the mask removed and her passport returned.
Rubio called the two Belarusian detainees "political prisoners" and thanked the Lithuanian government for its assistance. He said the third person freed was an American but did not identify the individual further.
"We remain committed to the release of other U.S. citizens in Belarus and elsewhere," Rubio said in a statement. "We call for the release of nearly 1,300 political prisoners who remain in jail across Belarus."
Rubio said last month that Belarus had "unilaterally released an innocent American" whom he named as Anastassia Nuhfer. He gave no further details about the case, which had not previously been made public.
Details surrounding Nuhfer's detention remain unclear. Minsk never disclosed her name, and Washington does not release the names of detained Americans abroad without the consent of their families.
Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, has been released from a Belarusian prison after being held for more than three years on charges he, his employer, U.S. officials and human rights organizations called politically motivated.
The release of the father of two on February 12 comes a day after the Trump administration secured the release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel from Russia, a key ally of Belarus.
“This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, Alesya, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President [Donald] Trump,” RFE/RL President & CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement on February 12, noting the efforts of Secretary of State Marco Rubio "and his team," as well as the Lithuanian government for its support.
“We remain hopeful that our journalist Ihar Losik will also be released and look to the Trump administration for its continued leadership and guidance,” Capus added, referring to another RFE/RL journalist currently detained in Belarus.
Kuznechyk was arrested on November 25, 2021 after being followed home by four unidentified security agents, and initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected.
After serving that penalty, Kuznechyk was not released but charged again, this time for allegedly creating an extremist group, a move that officials didn't reveal to Kuznechyk's relatives and colleagues for months.
On June 8, 2022, the Mahilyou regional court in the country's east found Kuznechyk guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison after a trial lasted just one day.
Human rights groups in Belarus had recognized Kuznechyk as a political prisoner and his case is seen as part of the larger campaign of repression against RFE/RL journalists and independent media in Belarus.
"Wonderful news," Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave Belarus with her children over safety fears, said of Kuznechyk's release.
The crackdown came the country was rocked by massive protests over a disputed 2020 presidential election that saw long-time authoritarian ruler Aleksandr Lukashenko emerge with his sixth consecutive term. The opposition and Western governments say the vote was rigged.
Last month, Belarusian state TV channel ONT aired several segments of a propaganda film about RFE/RL journalists held in Belarusian prisons, accusing them of "trying to set Belarus on fire."
The series, Svaboda Slova (Freedom of Speech), appeared to be aimed at discrediting independent journalists who have been reporting on government abuses and repression in Belarus just ahead of a January 26 presidential election that Lukashenko also easily won.
In the segment, Kuznechyk appeared emaciated as he talked with one of the filmmakers in what looked to be prison surroundings. Dressed in a jacket and hat, he spoke in calm and measured tones but looked fatigued. The segment concluded with footage of him being escorted away under guard.
Losik, as well as Ihar Karney, who previously wrote for RFE/RL – both of whom remained in prison in Belarus – were the focus of subsequent segments of the film.
Meanwhile, American citizen Anastasia Nuhfer was unilaterally released from a Belarusian prison on January 26.
Details surrounding Nuhfer's detention remain unclear, with her name previously absent from public discourse. Minsk never disclosed her name, and Washington does not release the names of detained Americans abroad without the consent of their families.
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, stepping up his push to broker a peace deal and saying he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed their teams would "start negotiations immediately" on ending the war in Ukraine.
"We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects" in a "lengthy and highly productive" call with Putin on February 12, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social media outlet.
He said he and Putin both "want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," in which estimates of military casualties on both sides taken together, including dead and wounded, total between 1 and 2 million. Many Ukrainian civilians have also been killed.
"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately," Trump said, adding that he was about to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "to inform him of the conversation."
Zelenskyy later said he and Trump discussed "opportunities to achieve peace" and "our readiness to work together at the team level," among other things.
"Ukraine wants peace more than anyone. We will determine our joint steps with America to stop the Russian aggression and guarantee a reliable, prolonged peace," he said in social media posts. "As President Trump said, 'Let's get it done.'"
In a social media post, Trump said his conversation with Zelenskyy "went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE."
Trump said later that he expects to meet Putin, probably in Saudi Arabia. He also said he did not think it was practical for Ukraine to have NATO membership and it was unlikely that Ukraine would get back all the land that Russia is occupying.
The U.S. president told reporters that Putin said he wanted the war to end and did not want a return to fighting six months later.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Trump "expressed support for an immediate cessation of hostilities and resolving the issue through peaceful means."
"President Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peaceful negotiations," Peskov said.
He did not elaborate, but Putin has accused Washington and the West of using Ukraine to undermine Russian security, a claim the United States, NATO, and the European Union say is baseless.
Peskov said Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow and that Russia is prepared to receive U.S. officials for talks.
The call was the first confirmed direct contact between the two presidents since Trump, who has repeatedly vowed to broker a swift end to the war, took office on January 20.
It came as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its three-year mark later this month and as diplomacy heats up ahead of the February 14-16 Munich Security Conference, which Zelenskyy and senior U.S. officials plan to attend.
In Kyiv, Zelenskyy met with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss a potential deal on Ukraine's critical minerals and said he hopes the two countries can reach an agreement on the matter at the conference in Munich.
Zelenskyy spoke at a joint press conference with Bessent, who presented him with an initial draft agreement during their meeting and said a deal on the minerals could leave Ukraine with a "security shield" once the war with Russia is over.
Trump has said the United States wants access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals. Zelenskyy has stressed that strong Western security guarantees for Ukraine, with U.S. involvement, are crucial to any deal to end the war.
Bessent said his visit showed that the Trump administration is determined to end the war and that the United States stands with Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Trump's promises to end the war quickly have caused concerns in Kyiv that it may be pressured to accept a lopsided peace or cease-fire deal that favors Moscow and leaves Ukraine vulnerable to further Russian assaults.
Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, and its forces have been pushing forward in the eastern Donbas region for months, albeit at a massive cost, while pounding civilian targets nationwide.
In a blow to Ukraine's hopes of regaining control over its entire territory, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it is "unrealistic" to expect Ukraine's borders to return to their positions before 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and fomented war in the Donbas.
Hegseth also told a meeting of Ukraine's military allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 12 that Washington would not deploy troops to Ukraine in any agreed peace deal and that NATO membership is not seen by the White House as part of the solution to the conflict.
He added that U.S. forces would not be part of any security guarantee in a peace settlement.
"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth said in some of the most detailed comments by a U.S. official on how Trump will approach efforts to end the war.
"To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine," Hegseth told a group of some 50 member countries who have been supporting Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Azerbaijan has banned Russian State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Valuev from entering the country after he accused Baku of using Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia for criminal activities.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizade said Baku made the decision after Valuev’s “offensive statements against Azerbaijan and our people.”
“His threatening remarks against our country are absolutely unacceptable,” Hajizade said in a statement.
A former world heavyweight boxing champion, Valuev is the third Russian lawmaker to be banned from entering Azerbaijan.
Hajizadeh noted in his statement that all three Russian MPs declared persona non grata “regretfully” belong to the ruling United Russia party.
Valuev made his comments after Azerbaijan last week ordered the closure of the so-called Russia House, a local branch of Russia’s state-run cultural diplomacy agency Rossotrudnichestvo.
The Russian lawmaker wrote on his Telegram channel that while Azerbaijan does not have a similar institution in Russia, it has a diaspora that has "nothing to do with cultural exchange, but money."
"To put it tactfully, this money is not always legal.... isn't it time to a take a closer look at [the diaspora]?" he wrote.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has said the Russian cultural center lacked legal registration and it expected Moscow to take steps to rectify it. Moscow says it has ”repeatedly” requested Baku to help with the registration but has not received a response.
Local media, citing unnamed sources, said Russia House in Baku was closed due to alleged involvement in intelligence gathering.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia have soured since the December 25 downing of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 near the Kazakh city of Aqtau by Russian forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the disaster, which killed 38 and injured 29 people, and said air defenses were activated in the Chechnya region to repel an alleged Ukrainian drone attack.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says it's "unrealistic" to expect Ukraine's borders to return to their pre-2014 positions after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv could offer Moscow territory seized by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region in exchange for land occupied by Russia.
Hegseth, on his first foreign trip since being confirmed, told a meeting of Ukraine's military allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 12 that Washington would not deploy troops to Ukraine in any agreed peace deal and that NATO membership is not seen by the White House as part of the solution to the conflict.
He added that U.S. forces would not be part of any security guarantee in a peace settlement.
"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth said in the most direct public statement so far by a U.S. official on how President Donald Trump will approach ending the almost three-year-old war.
"To be clear as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine," Hegseth told a group of some 50 member countries who have been supporting Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Hegseth's comments came after Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper that Ukraine was willing to "exchange one territory for another," though he did not know what territory Kyiv would request from Moscow in exchange for part of the Kursk region Ukrainian forces currently control.
"I don't know, we'll see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority here," Zelenskyy said in the interview published on February 11. In the past he has refused to give up any territory taken by Russia during the invasion.
Asked about Zelenskyy's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a move is "impossible."
"Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the exchange of its territory," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his troops will eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk, but has declined to put a timeline on when he sees this happening.
Ukrainian political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko told RFE/RL that he believes a territorial swap is possible, with the most likely scenario involving a mutual withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Kursk and Russian troops from Kharkiv.
"Unlike other occupied regions, Kharkiv has not been annexed. This makes a withdrawal there more likely," Fesenko said.
Zelenskyy, who will meet on February 14 at the Munich Security Conference with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other U.S. officials, described himself as ready for serious talks.
"I think it's very important for us to meet with the American side before they meet with the Russian side because the war is on our soil," Zelenskyy said.
The interview was published as the White House announced that Moscow had released American teacher Marc Fogel, who had been deemed wrongfully detained by Moscow, and just hours ahead of another deadly Russian missile strike on Kyiv.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said the missiles hit in the early hours of February 12 after authorities issued a ballistic alert and at least one person was killed and four others wounded.
"Russia carried out a missile strike on Kyiv and the Kyiv region," Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskyy's office, said on Telegram. "This is how [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants the war to end."
Emergency services were called to at least four districts of the Ukrainian capital, and the military administration said that fires broke out at several residential and nonresidential buildings.
Strikes in the Sumy region on February 11 killed at least two civilians, injured two others, and caused widespread damage to apartment buildings and other property, the press service of the regional military administration said.
The White House described the release of Fogel as a "good faith" sign by Russia that could help advance the prospects for peace negotiations to end the full-scale war launched by Russia nearly three years ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been skeptical about continuing U.S. support for Kyiv, is pushing for a settlement of the war and has increased diplomatic efforts in recent days. His envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will also attend the Munich Security Conference and will travel to Ukraine afterward.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Kellogg said Washington wants Ukraine to hold elections, possibly by the end of the year. When asked about that possibility, Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainians are alarmed by such statements and don't understand why the country is being pushed to hold elections during the war.
"It is very important for Kellogg to come to Ukraine. Then he would understand the people and all our circumstances,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump has complained bitterly about the cost of aid that the United States has poured into Ukraine and has indicated the United States will demand something in return.
“They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian some day. They may not be Russian some day, but we’re gonna have all this money in there and I said I want it back,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News on February 10.
Zelenskyy told the Guardian that he pitched the idea to Trump last year that the United States would get priority access to Ukraine’s rare earths in a deal to end the war.
Ukraine has the biggest uranium and titanium reserves in Europe, Zelenskyy said, and pointed out to Trump that it would not be in the interests of the United States for these reserves to be in Russian hands and potentially shared with North Korea, China, or Iran -- all allies of Moscow.
Trump recently mentioned rare earth minerals being part of a deal on the war in Ukraine and said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would travel to Ukraine to discuss rare earth mineral resources. The White House has not released any details on Bessent's trip.
WASHINGTON -- The United States is releasing a confessed Russian cybercriminal as part of a deal with the Kremlin that set American teacher Marc Fogel free, reports said.
Aleksandr Vinnik, known as Mr. Bitcoin, was expected to be released from a California jail on February 12, multiple U.S. outlets reported, citing unnamed White House officials.
The reports came a day after President Donald Trump welcomed Fogel back to the United States after 3 ½ years in a Russian prison on marijuana possession charges. The White House said it expected another American citizen to be released on February 12 but did not elaborate on the person’s identity or whether they were in a Russian prison.
Trump added that Fogel's release was based on a "very fair" deal and was an indication of Russia's "good will in terms of the war" in Ukraine.
"I think this could be a very important element, a big part of getting the war over," Trump told reporters at the White House as he stood next to Fogel, who was draped in an American flag.
"I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now," Fogel said. "I want you to know I am not a hero in this at all. President Trump is a hero. These men who came over from the diplomatic service are heroes," Fogel said. "I love our country and I’m happy to be back here."
Emergency Hearing
Vinnik was arrested in 2017 on a Greek beach at Washington’s request and eventually extradited to the United States in 2022.
He pleaded guilty last year to operating a digital-currency website used by cybercriminals worldwide to launder money and was scheduled to be sentenced by California Judge Susan Illston in June.
As first reported by RFE/RL, Illston held an unscheduled hearing via videoconference on February 11 with Vinnik and his lawyers less than an hour after the White House announced Fogel’s release.
When contacted by RFE/RL, Arkady Bukh, one of Vinnik’s lawyers, said he couldn't comment on the hearing as the judge ordered the proceedings to be sealed. The court did not respond to RFE/RL requests for comment.
Vinnik has been held by Western authorities for almost eight years. Russian cybercriminals who plead guilty in the United States rarely receive more than a 10-year sentence, an RFE/RL investigation of more than a dozen recent cases showed, implying that Vinnik may have only received a sentence of time served at his June hearing.
Fogel had been sentenced to 14 years in a Russian jail after being detained by Russian police in 2021 for possession of medical marijuana he says was prescribed to him after back surgery.
He is one of several Americans who have been arrested in Russia in recent years and handed long sentences on spurious charges.
The United States has referred to many of the American prisoners as “hostages,” saying some of them appeared to have been set up by Russian law enforcement. Washington has accused the Kremlin of targeting Americans in an attempt to secure the release of important Russian citizens jailed in the West on charges of murder, hacking, and arms dealing.
The United States and Russia carried our a few prisoner swaps during the administration of former President Joe Biden, but Fogel, who taught at the Anglo-American School in the Russian capital, had been passed over in each of them.
In December 2022, Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout while former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed was traded for drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshchenko in April of that year.
A much larger exchange took place in August 2024, when Russia freed 16 people, including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan. Eight Russians were returned home in that exchange, the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.
Fogel’s 95-year-old mother met Trump at a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania to plead for his release amid frustration with the Biden administration.
During his confirmation hearing last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said improving U.S.-Russian relations would be impossible unless Fogel were freed.
The release of Fogel “is at the minimum the kind of thing you would hope to see of anyone who is serious about improving relations, especially if we can get the situation in Ukraine to a peaceful standing," Rubio said in the hearing, calling the case against him “ridiculous.”
Rubio said in a statement on February 11 that Trump had promised Fogel's family he would "bring Marc home." He added that Fogel's release "is also a reminder that other American citizens are still detained in Russia" and said Trump is committed to bringing all of them home.
In addition to Fogel, those deals left several other Americans behind and locked up in Russian jails, including musician Michael Travis Leake, U.S. Army staff sergeant Gordon Black, and Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina.
WASHINGTON -- An American teacher serving a 14-year sentence in Russia on charges of marijuana possession has been freed in an exchange that the White House said "serves as a show of good faith from the Russians" as the United States seeks a settlement to end the war in Ukraine.
A statement from the national-security adviser on February 11 said the release of Marc Fogel was also a "sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine."
The statement said special envoy Steve Witkoff was leaving Russian airspace with Fogel, who was detained by Russian police in 2021 upon arrival in Moscow for possession of medical marijuana he says was prescribed to him after back surgery. He was sentenced a year later.
Fogel, who taught at the Anglo-American School in the Russian capital following a stint at the U.S. Embassy, had been passed over in previous U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps.
The White House described his release as part of an "exchange" but did not say what the United States had given in return.
President Donald Trump answered "not much" when he was asked by a reporter at the White House what Russia had received in exchange.
"We were treated very nicely by the Russians," Trump said. "Actually, I hope that's the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war."
In August 2024, Russia, the United States, and several other countries carried out the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, freeing 16 people, including RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
Those freed also included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan.
Eight Russians were returned home in that exchange.
PRISTINA -- The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) say they will not enter a coalition government with incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination Movement (LVV), which won last weekend's parliamentary elections.
Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on February 11 said that with 99 percent of ballots counted, LVV had around 41 percent of the vote, short of a majority.
PDK secured 22 percent of the ballots followed by Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 18 percent and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and its partner NISMA with around 7 percent. Observers say diaspora ballots will slightly shift the shares of vote, likely in Kurti's favor.
The weekend elections were seen as key in determining who will lead Kosovo amid stalled talks on normalizing ties with Serbia and while foreign funding for one of Europe's poorest countries has been thrown into doubt. Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Forecasts for the distribution of seats in parliament give Kurti 54 mandates, meaning he would need seven more to form a majority.
"It's unlikely that [Kurti] will be able to form a government, but I don't think even the opposition have the unity to form a coalition," Rrahman Paçarizi, professor at the Department of Journalism at the University of Pristina, told RFE/RL, adding that the odds of an early election were high due to the political deadlock.
Kurti's rival and PDK candidate Bedri Hamza told a news conference on February 10 that there were "major differences" that prevented the formation of a coalition and accused LVV of wanting "absolute power" and of having "no plan" to run the country.
AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj struck a similar tone, saying he would "gladly cooperate with Albanian opposition parties" to form a majority government.
Lumir Abdixhiku, the leader of LDK, said the party will comment after the vote count.
Despite winning the February 9 elections, LVV’s support fell by around 10 percent compared to the 2021 elections.
David Kanin, professor of European Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, told RFE/RL that it remains to be seen if Kurti sticks to his pledge not to form a coalition if it means being shut out of power.
"Part of it depends on whether Kurti really means what he says when he says he won't go into a coalition. I don't know if he really believes that," Kanin said.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he believes a deal with Iran over its nuclear program can be reached as Tehran is eager to negotiate and avoid an escalation that could involve a military option.
Speaking in an interview on Fox News late on February 10, Trump said Iranian officials were "worried and frightened" of the consequences should a deal not be reached, hours after Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian questioned Washington’s sincerity in seeking negotiations with Tehran.
"Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval, will go in and bomb the hell out of them. I would prefer that not happen," Trump said.
"You cannot allow Iran…to have a nuclear weapon, but there's two ways to stopping them: with bombs or a written piece of paper.... I think Iran would love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them."
Trump said Tehran has been weakened by a "massive loss" to its air defenses, an apparent reference to Israeli strikes in late October that analysts have said dealt a "significant blow" to Iran's ability to produce long-range ballistic missiles.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week dismissed the prospect of nuclear talks with the United States, insisting negotiations would not address Iran's problems days after Trump had talked of making a deal where Iranians could "get on" with their lives.
On February 4, Trump signed an order to restore his "maximum economic pressure" policy on Iran aimed at hurting its oil exports and slowing its nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for civilian purposes.
A landmark deal with world powers in 2015 had restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
But Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement during his first term and reimposed sanctions in 2018, leading Tehran to accelerate its uranium enrichment and limit international inspections of its nuclear sites.
When he pulled out of the nuclear deal, Trump said Tehran was not living up to the spirit of the deal and was continuing attempts to develop nuclear weapons. He also accused Iran of supporting extremist violence in the region, which Tehran denied.
Trump told Fox News that any new agreement with Tehran must include being able to monitor, inspect, and verify Iran's nuclear activities and destroy nuclear material or simply ensure that "it is no longer nuclear."
He did not give any further details of what a deal would encompass.
Hundreds of Russian soldiers are being treated in North Korean hospitals, a Russian diplomat said, comments that provide another glimpse into the scale of cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang in the Ukraine war.
In an interview with the state-run Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, Russia’s ambassador to North Korea, Aleksandr Matsegora, provided few details as to how many Russians have been hospitalized in North Korea, nor did he give specifics on casualties or deaths.
"A clear example of the brotherly attitude [between Moscow and Pyongyang] is the rehabilitation of hundreds of wounded soldiers of the [Ukraine war] in Korean sanatoriums and hospitals," he was quoted as saying.
Moscow turned to North Korea for help in its all-out invasion of Ukraine roughly six months after its start in February 2022.
Western intelligence said Russia was buying millions of artillery shells from North Korea -- reports that were backed up by satellite imagery showing reconstruction of railyards, railway bridges, and port facilities along their shared border, on the Pacific Coast.
Last fall, North Korean soldiers began appearing on battlefields along Russia's border, primarily in the Kursk region, which Ukraine invaded in August.
In November, President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership treaty, deepening their economic and political ties.
Western and Ukrainian officials have said between 10,000 and 12,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to the Kursk region; Ukrainian troops have captured an unknown number of prisoners.
Last month, however, Ukrainian officials reported that North Korean troops had vanished from the front lines in Kursk, apparently due to high casualty rates. It was unclear however if the contingent had been withdrawn entirely or merely rotated out for rest or resupply.
In the interview, Matsegora also said Russia was supplying coal, food, and medical supplies to North Korea, and he said some children of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine had been sent to North Korea for holidays.
Western officials estimate Russian casualties over the nearly three years since it invaded Ukraine at more than 700,000.
A Ukrainian drone attack damaged an industrial facility in Russia's Saratov region, regional Governor Roman Busargin said early on February 11.
"According to preliminary information, there are no casualties," Busargin said on Telegram.
"The air-defense forces eliminated the [drones]. There is damage at an industrial enterprise in Saratov. Operational services are working in places where debris may have fallen," Busargin said.
Video posted on social media that have been verified by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty showed fire in the area of the facility.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Eighteen of the drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, the ministry said on Telegram. The rest were downed over four other regions in Russia's south and west, it said.
The Russian aviation watchdog suspended flights at four airports to ensure safety.
Several unofficial Russian Telegram news channels reported explosions and fires in the area of the oil refinery in Saratov, a city on the Volga River about 725 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
A Ukrainian attack in January on an oil depot near a military air base in Engels in the Saratov region sparked a fire that took days to extinguish.
The governor of Belgorod region said earlier that Ukrainian drones attacked four villages in the region. One of the drones hit a car in Kukuyevka, injuring the driver.
Another drone attacked a residential building, piercing the roof, smashing windows, and damaging a car parked nearby, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
He said there was also a drone attack on the warehouse premises of an agricultural enterprise.
Kyiv has said its air attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in retaliation for Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine, especially its electrical infrastructure.
The Ukrainian Air Force said earlier that several groups of Russian drones attacked Ukraine late on February 10, and an air alert was declared in a number of regions.
Shaded drones were detected moving over the Odesa, Kherson, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, and Vinnytsia regions around 11:30 p.m. local time.
The Ukrainian military advised citizens not to ignore air alerts.
The Air Force also warned that there were likely launches of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea. An air alert was declared in Kyiv and a number of regions. There were no reports of damage from the Ukrainian side.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars worth of rare earth resources from Ukraine in exchange for Washington's support in the war against Russia, implying that failing to do so could mean a loss of the country's sovereignty.
Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News late on February 10 as the White House embarks on a diplomacy offensive in Europe this week just days before the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars.... I told them I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth and they've essentially agreed to do that," Trump said in the interview.
He added: "And, you know, they may make a deal, they may not make a deal, they may be Russian some day, or they may not be Russian some day, but we’re going to have all this money in there and I say we’re going to want it back."
Trump said he will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week while his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia will go to Ukraine soon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meets leaders from around Europe during a trip to Poland, Belgium, and France.
Zelenskyy appeared ready to accept Trump's condition, telling The Guardian in an interview published on February 11 that he wants Ukraine to be in a position of strength when it enters peace negotiations and that U.S. companies could be at the forefront of reconstruction efforts.
“Those who are helping us to save Ukraine will [have the chance to] renovate it, with their businesses together with Ukrainian businesses. All these things we are ready to speak about in detail,” he said, adding "Ukraine may swap territories with Russia."
Trump did not say when the envoy, Keith Kellogg, would visit Ukraine, but CNN reported the trip would take place next week, while AFP quoted a source in the Ukrainian presidency as saying the visit would take place on February 20.
Kellogg is already expected to meet with Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference, which opens on February 14, and the Ukrainian president will meet with Vice President J. D. Vance on the sidelines of the conference, Zelenskyy spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hegseth also are scheduled to be in Munich, while Trump said he was sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine this week as part of initial discussions aimed at securing U.S. access to critical minerals.
At his first press conference in Germany, Hegseth told reporters in the city of Stuttgart that he will push European allies to spend more on defense and ruled out the involvement of U.S. troops in Ukraine.
"The European continent deserves to be free from any aggression, but it ought be those in the neighborhood investing the most in that individual and collective defense," he said.
Trump is pushing for a swift end to the war, while Zelenskyy is calling for solid security guarantees as part of any deal with Russia.
Kyiv fears any agreement that does not include hard military commitments -- such as NATO membership or the deployment of peacekeeping troops -- will allow the Kremlin time to regroup and rearm for a fresh attack.
Over the weekend, Trump said he had spoken to Russia's Vladimir Putin but he declined to specify whether the talks took place before or after he was inaugurated on January 20.
He added that he believes there has been progress toward ending the war but declined to elaborate on what he and Putin spoke about.
The Kremlin has said it could neither confirm nor deny whether Putin and Trump had spoken, but on February 11, it appeared to seize on Trump's comments on what could happen if Kyiv doesn't agree to a deal for its resources. saying, "a considerable part of Ukraine wants to be Russia and has already become Russia."
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a Moscow news briefing on February 10 that demands set out by Putin last June were unchanged, including that Ukraine drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from all the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
He also warned that relations with Washington "are balancing on the brink of a breakup."
"We have repeatedly said that they [Russian-U.S. relations] are on the verge of rupture," he said, adding the "confrontational content" of bilateral relations has intensified.
Concerns that Washington and Moscow may agree on a peace settlement without the involvement of Ukraine are rampant in Kyiv, which insists it be at the negotiating table no matter what.
"It's essential to understand that when we talk about the principle of 'nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,' we mean that decisions shouldn't be made without Ukraine's participation," Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian deputy and the chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary relations, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"Putin doesn't want negotiations, and he wants to decide Ukraine's fate without Ukraine's participation. He hopes that the United States and Russia will agree on Ukraine's fate, and Ukraine will become part of Russia's sphere of influence."
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said he is resigning from his position amid an effort by the opposition to have him impeached after he stayed in power following the Constitutional Court's annulment of the presidential election in which right-wing, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round.
Iohannis said on February 10 that he was stepping down and will leave office on February 12.
Ovidiu Voicu, executive director of the Center for Public Innovation, told RFE/RL's Romanian Service that efforts to impeach Iohannis would have had no chance of getting the required votes in parliament anyway.
However, the ruling coalition "pushed" Iohannis to resign so that they could present it as a gesture to "calm the country down and bring peace and stability."
Senate leader Ilie Bolojan will succeed Iohannis on an interim basis once lawmakers approve his resignation.
The new presidential vote is planned for May 4, with a possible run-off vote scheduled for May 18.
The Constitutional Court had asked Iohannis to stay on after his term ended in mid-December because of the annulment.
The Constitutional Court canceled the election two days before the second round was to be held between Georgescu and pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi.
It cited state documents that allegedly showed Georgescu, who ran as an independent candidate, had benefitted from an unfair social media campaign likely orchestrated by Russia. Moscow denies interfering in the election.
"It only deepens the political chaos that is in the country at the moment and disrupts our image internationally," one Bucharest resident told RFE/RL.
"It may be a gesture of the last common sense on his part. But it’s not like it solves the problem."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz again ruled out sending long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, opposing actions that would "deliver destructive weapons" deep inside of Russia, and hitting out at his conservative political rival, who has expressed more openness to delivering such weapons to Kyiv.
"I do not think it is right to deliver destructive weapons deep into the Russian hinterland," Scholz said on February 9 during a 90-minute televised debate ahead of national elections in two weeks.
"That is, I believe, exactly the kind of step not to make if you carry responsibility for Germany," he added.
Friedrich Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance is leading in the polls against Scholz’s center-left SPD, said he has "always been very clear" regarding his position on sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
"I have always said the delivery of cruise missiles must be decided in the European Union. The United States delivers, France delivers, Britain delivers; we should also have delivered," Merz said.
Merz told German media in October that he would approve delivery to Kyiv of the missiles -- which have a range of some 500 kilometers -- under certain conditions.
If Russian strikes on Ukraine "don't stop, then the first step is this: Lift the range restriction [on current Ukraine missile launchings]. And the second step is that we deliver the Taurus," he said.
That way, he added, Russian President Vladimir Putin "has it in his hands how far he wants to escalate this war further."
Germany's DW reported in July that Merz spoke in favor of Berlin aiding Kyiv to protect against Russian aggression and supply it with combat aircraft.
"I believe that we should help Ukraine at least restore sovereignty over its own airspace," he was quoted as saying.
Although Scholz has been reluctant to send Kyiv heavy weaponry, Berlin trails only Washington in the amount of support provided to Ukraine. Scholz has insisted that it is essential to secure the "sovereignty of Ukraine and [ensure] that it will not be forced to submit to a dictated peace."
In November, Scholz attacked the final declaration of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro for not plainly stating that Russia was responsible for the war in Ukraine, even as he restated his opposition to sending long-range missiles to Kyiv.
"In my view, supplying cruise missiles would be a mistake for many reasons," he said at the time -- including the danger that it would bring Germany closer to direct conflict with Russia.
Domestically, Scholz, seeking a bounce-back in the polls ahead of the February 23 election, accused Merz of seeking support from the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (Germany) or AfD, which would break the taboo against the mainstream parties in the country cooperating with the party.
Following World War II, Germany has done "very well in the past decades when the democratic parties agreed not to cooperate with the extreme right," Scholz said.
Merz underlined that his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian CSU allies would not cooperate or rule with the virulently anti-immigration AfD.
"I want to make it clear here once again that we will not do that," Merz said. “There are no similarities between the AfD and the [CDU/CSU]."
The CDU/CSU alliance, which is polling at about 30 percent, has itself pressed for tougher immigration policies in an effort to draw voters away from the AfD, which is polling at around 20 percent.
Scholz said Merz's proposal to reject all migrants at Germany's borders "contradicts European law."
Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens each are at around 15-18 percent support ahead of the vote for the next parliament, or Bundestag.
ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski wrote that the debate likely ended in a draw and -- though heated at times -- was relatively "well-behaved," which could leave open the possibility of a "grand coalition" involving the CDU and other groups in an effort to shut out the AfD, which has been accused of having ties to Russia.
Initial public opinion polls also scored the two politicians' performances in the debate as roughly equal.
Scholz and Merz are scheduled to meet again in a head-to-head debate on February 19.
They are also scheduled meet in a four-way debate on February 16 with AfD's Alice Weidel and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from the Greens.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russia's Vladimir Putin and that he believes "we are making progress" in ending the war in Ukraine, raising fears in Kyiv that it was being sidelined in the process.
Speaking to reporters on February 9 aboard Air Force One as he traveled to the Super Bowl, the American football championship game, in New Orleans, Trump confirmed reports he had spoken with Putin, but he declined to specify whether the talks took place before or after he was inaugurated on January 20.
"I've had it. Let's just say I've had it [a conversation with Putin]...And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended," Trump said.
"If we are talking, I don’t want to tell you about the conversations. I do believe we're making progress. We want to stop the Ukraine-Russia war," he added.
He also said his administration was in contact with Ukrainian officials, without being specific.
"We're talking to both sides," he said.
That did little to assuage fears in Kyiv over talks between Moscow and Washington taking place without Ukraine's direct participation.
"It's essential to understand that when we talk about the principle of 'nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,' we mean that decisions shouldn't be made without Ukraine's participation," Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian deputy and the chair of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary relations, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"Putin doesn't want negotiations, and he wants to decide Ukraine's fate without Ukraine's participation. He hopes that the United States and Russia will agree on Ukraine's fate, and Ukraine will become part of Russia's sphere of influence."
The Kremlin on February 10 reiterated its statement from the previous day that it could neither confirm nor deny whether Putin and Trump had spoken.
Trump's remarks came ahead of what could be a major week in diplomacy related to the Russia-Ukraine war in which both sides have suffered massive losses since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of February 24, 2022.
The lead White House envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference, which opens on February 14.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is also expected to attend the conference and meet with Zelenskyy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are scheduled to be in Munich.
Trump has promised to end the war but has not set out yet in public how he would do so.
In an interview published on February 8 by The New York Post, Trump first said he had spoken to Putin, but he did not indicate when the conversation occurred or give further details.
Earlier on February 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told state media that Moscow had not received any proposals serious enough to warrant talks, without being specific.
Trump, meanwhile, said on February 7 that he is likely to meet with Zelenskyy soon as U.S. efforts to end the war gather force. He gave no details, but said the meeting could be held in Washington as "I'm not going to Kyiv."
Zelenskyy has voiced confidence that Trump can pressure Putin into ending the war.
In an interview with British broadcaster ITV on February 7, Zelenskyy said talks between Ukraine and Russia are possible, but only if the West doesn't abandon Kyiv.
"If I had the understanding that America and Europe would not abandon us, and that they would support us and give us security guarantees, then I would be ready for any format of negotiations," Zelenskyy said.
Trump several times has said he was planning to meet with Putin for talks on ending the conflict, although no specifics have been discussed publicly.
Hard-line Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, head of the parliament's international affairs committee, was quoted by state media as saying preparations for a Trump-Putin meeting were at "an advanced stage" and that it could occur in February or March, although the Kremlin has not confirmed the report.
Putin has said he was open to discussing a deal with Trump but ruled out making any major territorial concessions and insists that Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.
President Donald Trump on February 10 announced 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum products entering the United States, threatening to further ignite the trade war that has shaken markets worldwide.
Trump signed proclamations raising the U.S. tariff rate on aluminum to 25 percent from his previous 10 percent rate and eliminating country exceptions, quota deals, and product-specific tariff exclusions for both metals. A White House official confirmed the measures would take effect on March 4.
The tariffs will apply to millions of tons of steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and other countries that had been entering the U.S. duty free under the carve-outs.
The move will simplify tariffs on the metals, Trump told reporters at the White House.
"It's 25 percent without exceptions or exemptions. That's all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries," he said.
Trump later said he would give "great consideration" to Australia's request for an exemption to the steel tariffs due to that country's trade deficit with the United States.
Government and industry statistics show that Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea are the biggest sources of U.S. steel imports. Canada supplies nearly 80 percent of U.S. imports of aluminum.
Trump also told reporters he would on either February 11 or 12 "probably" unveil "reciprocal tariffs" on countries that already have levied duties on U.S. products.
"If they are charging us 130 percent and we're charging them nothing, it's not going to stay that way," Trump said.
Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro said the latest measures would help U.S. steel and aluminum producers and shore up America's economic and national security.
"The steel and aluminum tariffs 2.0 will put an end to foreign dumping, boost domestic production and secure our steel and aluminum industries as the backbone and pillar industries of America's economic and national security," he told reporters.
"This isn't just about trade. It's about ensuring that America never has to rely on foreign nations for critical industries like steel and aluminum."
Experts have said the tariffs could roil the world economy.
On February 3, Trump warned Americans they may face economic "pain" because of the trade tariffs he had announced over the previous weekend on Canada, Mexico, and China -- the top three U.S. trading partners.
He later stated tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be paused for 30 days after he said the leaders of the two countries pledged stronger border measures to stop migrant crossings and illicit drugs.
Trump has also said placing tariffs on foreign goods will help bring production of such items back to the United States.
The U.S. president has also threatened tariffs on goods from the European Union, saying they would "definitely happen" and "pretty soon." He also suggested Britain could be the target of tariffs.
Trump has long complained about the EU's 10 percent tariffs on U.S. cars when the U.S. rate on European cars is 2.5 percent, although rates vary depending on the vehicles.
French President Emmanuel Macron on February 9 said U.S. tariffs on Europe would increase inflation in the United States and told CNN that Trump should not focus his attention on America's allies within the EU.
Stock markets worldwide tumbled after Trump initially announced tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China, but they rallied after he expressed willingness to negotiate on the levies.
PRISTINA -- Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ruling Self-Determination Movement (LVV) looks set to win the most votes in Kosovo's parliamentary elections, although it appears the party will fall short of a majority, opening the door to political instability at a crucial time for the country.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on February 10 said that, with 93 percent of ballots counted, LVV had 41 percent of the vote, in line with opinion polls ahead of the election that indicated a result of under 50 percent.
It was followed by Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 22 percent, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 18 percent, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and partner NISMA with 7.6 percent.
The Serbian List had 4 percent. A special panel in Kosovo on December 25 overturned a decision by the election commission that had barred the country's largest ethnic-Serbian party from participating in the elections due to its strong links with Belgrade.
About 41 percent of more than 1.9 million eligible voters cast ballots for the 120-seat parliament, according to election officials.
The results could allow for the opposition to form a government in the small, pro-West Balkan nation, as well as shaping its relationship with the EU and the United States, Kosovo's two biggest sponsors.
"Unfortunately, due to the moment we are in and the unpredictability of the course of things, there is a possibility that the people will also feel consequences," Washington-based foreign policy expert Adrian Shtuni told RFE/RL's Kosovo service, noting the EU has blocked development funds to the country.
"Whoever forms the government must wake up and understand that we are facing a decisive moment for the future of Kosovo."
Although the overall outcome remained unclear, Kurti declared victory for his party and its partners, the Guxo Party and Alternativa, following the vote.
"The elections were free, democratic, and fair,” he told a Pristina news conference.
"I thank the voters of LVV and our winning coalition. We are in first place, and this is a confirmation of our good and progressive governance. Our winning coalition will form the new government," he said without providing his projected voting figures.
"We don't have the official results yet, but the preliminary ones show that even if the second and third place parties combine their votes, they still don't match [LVV]," he added.
Lumir Abdixhiku, leader of LDK -- a former ruling party -- said the group's total of around 18 percent was disappointing but that "it is an outcome we respect, and I take responsibility for this result." Nevertheless, he rejected the idea of him resigning as party chairman.
Official final results could be delayed as the CEC experienced intermittent difficulties with its website reporting figures. President Vjosa Osmani said she was confident that despite a "software failure," the integrity of the electoral process would be ensured.
Dritero Arifi, a political science professor at the University for Business and Technology (UBT) in Pristina, said Kurti could face a difficult task to form a government.
“Even though [LVV] is the winner, they suffered quite a decline [in support]," he told RFE/RL, referring to the party's showing of 50.28 percent in 2021.
"This shows the citizens' distrust toward the ruling party. There will be a major battle over how the government is formed."
He said it was not clear if Kurti will be able to quickly put together a coalition or if the country will suffer through "several months" of negotiations and uncertainty.
"There is a lot of uncertainty. [The LVV] is a party that does not shift from its initial positions and will have a hard time relinquishing power."
Some 1.97 million citizens were registered to vote in the country that has long been allied with the United States but which has frayed those ties with recent policies that Washington sees as fomenting tensions with its ethnic-Serb minority.
Kurti’s left-wing LVV was favored to win the election but was not seen able to garner enough votes to govern on its own. That left open the possibility the other three contenders could join ranks if Kurti fails to form a Cabinet.
An opposition coalition could alter Kosovo's relations with the West and potentially step up peace talks with rival Serbia. Kurti's opponents for the prime minister's post have expressed the need to maintain and deepen U.S. ties, insisting they are crucial for Kosovo's future.
Kurti has also stated his desires to remain closely tied to the United States, despite recent disagreements.
Pristina has sought to reestablish authority in northern Kosovo, where most of the ethnic Serbs live and have attempted to maintain parallel governance structures with Belgrade's support.
Kurti has insisted the actions were necessary to ensure the rule of law in the north and that they were in line with the country's constitution.
The elections could also shape relations with the European Union.
Kosovo’s EU application, submitted in 2022, has been stalled ever since, as it needs a consensus of support among the 27 members. The biggest hurdle is the five EU countries -- Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain -- that do not recognize Kosovo's independence.
Kosovo's relations with Washington and Brussels are centered around the EU-facilitated dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which began in 2011 and aims to normalize relations between the two neighbors and rivals.
Kosovo was an autonomous region of Serbia until an armed uprising in 1998-99 by the ethnic Albanian majority population triggered a bloody crackdown by Belgrade. A NATO bombing campaign to force Serbia’s troops out of Kosovo ended the war.
Since Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Belgrade, which Serbia and several other nations still reject, there have been ongoing tensions between the two neighboring countries.
A NATO-led KFOR protection force has been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 to help maintain the peace.
Adrian Shtuni, a Washington-based security expert, praised the smooth running of Kosovo's election and told RFE/RL it should stand as an example to other countries in the region, saying it reflects the "consolidation of democracy" in the country.
But he cautioned that the relatively low voter turnout stood as "a message to politicians in Kosovo [that] the people are tired of aggressive rhetoric and clashes."
U.S. President Donald Trump said he's spoken with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, reportedly discussing ways to resolve Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is nearing its third anniversary.
In an interview published on February 8 by The New York Post, Trump did not indicate when the conversation occurred or give further details as to the content of their talks. The Post said the interview was conducted on February 7 while Trump was traveling on Air Force One, the presidential plane.
"He wants to see people stop dying," Trump was quoted as saying.
"Every day people are dying. This war is so bad in Ukraine. I want to end this damn thing," he said, adding that he "better not say" when asked how many times the two leaders had spoken.
“I always had a good relationship with Putin," he said.
RFE/RL sent an e-mail to the White House seeking confirmation of the report but did not receive an immediate response.
In Moscow, however, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested it was possible the two men had spoken and that he had been made aware of it.
"As the administration in Washington carries out its work, many different types of communications emerge, and these communications are conducted through various channels," Peskov told reporters on February 9.
"Of course, against the backdrop of these many communications, I personally may not know something or be unaware of something. Therefore, in this case, I cannot confirm nor deny it."
Even before taking office on January 20, Trump vowed to bring an end to the conflict, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million soldiers on both sides, according to Western estimates.
Trump's top national-security aides have publicly indicated that U.S. officials would seek to both coerce and induce Moscow and Kyiv to come to the bargaining table for cease-fire talks.
When asked on NBC's Meet The Press on February 9 about Trump's claim to have spoken with Putin, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz did not directly answer the question, but he did say there is a need to "get all sides of the table and end this war."
He added that the United States needs to "recoup" its costs in Ukraine by partnering with Ukraine "in terms of their rare earths, their natural resources, and their oil and gas."
The lead White House envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference, which opens on February 14.
Trump, meanwhile, said on February 7 that he is likely to meet with Zelenskyy next week, as U.S. efforts to end the war in Ukraine gather force. He gave no details, but said the meeting could be held in Washington as "I'm not going to Kyiv."
Trump and members of his administration have provided few details about any specific proposal for ending the war, but Kellogg said recently that both sides would have to "give a little bit," meaning make compromises.
In Kyiv, meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have watched warily as pressure builds for talks between Moscow and Kyiv, most likely with U.S. oversight.
Until recently, Putin had said he considered Zelenskyy to be a illegitimate president and would not negotiate with him, though he has since softened that stance.
The report of the interview comes ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Zelenskyy during the Munich Security Conference.
Zelenskyy has voiced confidence that Trump can pressure Putin into ending the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In an interview with British broadcaster ITV on February 7, Zelenskyy said talks between Ukraine and Russia are possible, but only if the West doesn't abandon Kyiv.
"If I had the understanding that America and Europe would not abandon us, and that they would support us and give us security guarantees, then I would be ready for any format of negotiations," Zelenskyy said.
In a separate part of the interview with the New York Post, Trump said he would "like a deal done with Iran" over its nuclear program to avoid an escalation of tensions with Tehran.
Trump refused to give any details on what any deal with Iran would look like.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 7 dismissed the prospect of nuclear talks with the United States, insisting that negotiations would not address Iran's problems.
Days earlier, Trump had talked of making a deal where Iranians could "get on" with their lives.
On February 4, Trump signed an order to restore his "maximum economic pressure" policy on Iran aimed at hurting its oil exports and slowing its nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for civilian purposes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country is ready to negotiate with Washington regarding its nuclear program and related sanctions, but he said talks couldn’t take place under President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy.
"The lifting of sanctions requires negotiations, but not within the framework of a 'maximum pressure' policy, because it would not be a negotiation but a form of surrender," Araqchi said on social media.
"Iran does not want to negotiate with a country that is simultaneously imposing new sanctions," he said.
Trump on February 4 signed an order to restore his "maximum economic pressure" policy on Iran aimed at hurting its oil exports and slowing its nuclear program.
He ordered the Treasury Department to impose the pressure through sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on individuals and entities that violate existing sanctions.
He also directed the Treasury and State Departments to implement a campaign aimed at "driving Iran's oil exports to zero."
As he signed the memo, Trump described it as very tough but also said he was open to a deal with Iran and expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leadership.
"With me, it's very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump added.
A landmark deal with world powers in 2015 restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
But Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement during his first term and reimposed sanctions in 2018, leading Tehran to accelerate its uranium enrichment and limit international inspections of its nuclear sites.
When he pulled out of the nuclear deal, Trump said Tehran was not living up to the spirit of the deal and was continuing attempts to develop nuclear weapons. He also accused Iran of supporting extremist violence in the region, which Tehran denied.
Araqchi said that “Iran has already made abundantly clear that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons."
He added it was “not difficult to reach practical assurances that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, provided that objective guarantees are also provided that hostile measures against Iran -- including economic pressures and sanctions -- will be effectively terminated.”
A day earlier, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the prospect of nuclear talks with the United States, insisting that negotiations would not address Iran's problems days after Trump talked of making a deal where Iranians could "get on" with their lives.
"The reality that we must understand is that negotiating with America has no effect in resolving the country's problems," Khamenei said on February 7 in an annual address to Iranian Air Force officers.
The latest comments come as several thousand Iranians from across Europe rallied in Paris on February 8, urging world leaders to put more pressure on Iran’s ruling clerics.
"Instead of appeasing the mullahs, [the world] should stand side by side with the Iranian people," Maryam Radjavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told the rally.
The council is the political wing of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, which Tehran regards as a "terrorist" organization.
"The Iranian region will fall like the Syrian regime fell -- at a speed that no one would have predicted," Riad al-Asaad, a former Syrian rebel leader, told the gathering by a video link.
Tehran has been accused by international organizations, Western leaders, and activists of rights violations, most recently linked to massive street protests that erupted across Iran in 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 8 vowed to maintain his country's support for Russia in its war against Ukraine and threatened to bolster his nuclear forces to counter U.S. military cooperation with Japan and South Korea in the region.
"The army and people of [North Korea] will invariably support and encourage the just cause of the Russian Army and people to defend their sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity in keeping with the spirit of the treaty on the comprehensive strategic partnership between [North Korea] and Russia," Kim was quoted by state media as saying.
Western leaders and Ukrainian officials say North Korea has since last fall sent an estimated 11,000 troops to fight alongside of Kremlin troops, mainly in the Russian region of Kursk.
Their current status is uncertain, with some intelligence sources saying many of the troops have been rotated out of the front lines after suffering horrific losses in fighting against Ukrainian forces.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 8 said Russia's "cooperation with North Korea will continue to expand."
Zelenskyy has publicly accused Russia and North Korea of trying to cover up evidence of the deployments by issuing fake papers to North Korean soldiers identifying them as Russian citizens.
The Kremlin and Pyongyang have not commented directly on the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia or the reported high losses.
Kim, speaking at the Defense Ministry to mark the country’s Army Day, also threatened to build up his nuclear forces and use other "countermeasures" as he blasted the military cooperation between the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
Pyongyang "does not want unnecessary tension of the regional situation but will take sustained countermeasures to ensure the regional military balance," Kim said.
Kim said U.S. involvement in the region -- including deployment of nuclear assets, war maneuvers, and ties to the Japanese and South Korean militaries -- would lead to a military imbalance in the region and endanger the security situation, state-run KCNA reported.
The report said Kim "clarified once again the unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces" after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on February 7 and expressed concerns about North Korea's nuclear program.
North Korean state media assailed South Korea's recent military activity with the United States and warned that any aggressive action would be met forcefully.
"Anyone could easily guess how we would take the fact that they carried out war exercises that were more intense than ever before at a time when diplomacy schedules were being canceled due to political turmoil," KCNA said.
The streets of the Hungarian capital, Budapest, were tense but calm as thousands of people took part in an annual right-wing event linked to World War II while antifascist demonstrators protested nearby against the global rise of the far right.
The activity on February 8 came as nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban headlined a group of far-right leaders and firebrands at a gathering in Madrid labeled "Make Europe Great Again," praising U.S. President Donald Trump and declaring their movement to now be "mainstream."
It also came as Orban is scheduled to meet party leader Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party -- which has scored gains in recent German elections -- in Budapest on February 11-12.
The street demonstrations appeared to proceed peacefully – unlike in some previous years when clashes broke out during the so-called Day of Honor events, traditionally set as February 11.
Far-right groups across Europe meet annually in the Hungarian capital to mark a failed attempt by Nazi and Hungarian troops in 1945 to break out of Buda Castle to escape a Soviet siege and reach nearby German lines.
Far-right supporters say the WWII soldiers were "protecting Western Europe against the threat of the Red Army," researcher Hunyadi Bulcsu of the Political Capital think tank told AFP.
But since the attempt was carried out "in the name of Nazi Germany," it cannot be "glorified" in any way, Bulcsu added.
AFP journalists estimated that 4,000 people participated in a "memorial hike" leading away from Buda Castle. Many of the marchers wore far-right markings and some wore Nazi uniforms.
AFP quoted Zsolt – a 33-year-old insurance broker -- as saying he wanted to honor "the heroes...the real Hungarians who defended the city" 80 years ago.
Police watched over the streets, using dogs, drones, and vehicles, as several antifascist demonstrators stood by.
"With the resurgence of fascism in Germany, not to mention Austria, and the whole world heading for a terrible fate," it was important to take to the streets, Julia Zsolnay, a retiree, told AFP
The Hungarian government had warned it would prevent a repeat of what happened in 2023, when clashes broke out between the far-right and leftist protesters.
Orban and his government have been criticized by the West for democratic backsliding and support for right-wing causes throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, Orban looked to press his far-right credentials at the rally in Madrid, sponsored by the nationalist Spanish Vox party and attended by some 2,000 supporters of the right-wing Patriots for Europe bloc in the European Parliament.
Also there were Italian Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders of the Dutch PVV party, and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.
Many of the leaders praised the return of Trump to the U.S. presidency.
"Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks...yesterday we were heretics, today we're mainstream," Orban told the gathering.
Orban's scheduled talks in Budapest on February 11-12 with AfD leader Weidel will likely be meeting of two politicians with similar outlooks.
The AfD, like Orban, seeks to rebuild Europe's relations with Moscow despite Russia's ongoing Ukraine war and has pushed strong anti-immigration policies.
The three Baltic states disconnected their electricity systems from Russia's power grid on February 8, the region's operators said.
In doing so, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have severed their link to a Soviet-era electricity transmission grid that connects Russia, Belarus, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
The three EU members are due to join the synchronous grid of Continental Europe -- which includes most European countries, from Portugal in the west to Ukraine and Turkey in the east -- as part of a plan to integrate the countries more closely with the European Union and boost security.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will speak at a ceremony on February 9 to mark the switch to the EU system, her office said on February 7.
"We've reached the goal we for strived for, for so long. We are now in control," Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told a news conference.
Immediately after disconnecting, Latvian workers used a crane to reach the high-voltage wires in Vilaka, 100 meters from the Russian border, and cut them. They handed out chopped wire as keepsakes to cheering observers.
"We will never use it again. We are moving on," Latvian Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis said.
Plans for the Baltics to decouple from the IPS/UPS transmission grid had been debated for decades, but gained momentum following Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The grid was the final remaining link to Russia for the three countries, which reemerged as independent nations in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
Some 1.6 billion euros ($1.65 billion) have been invested in the project to synchronize the power systems of the Baltic countries and Poland.
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