Ukraine-Russia war latest: Deadly Moscow strike on passenger train labelled ‘an act of terrorism’ by Zelensky

Ukraine has identified areas in an agreement with the US on post-war recovery that need to be worked through in more depth, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

The recovery agreement is part of wider deal on ending the nearly four-year war with Russia.

"Work with the American side is progressing actively, and on the Ukrainian side we are working with maximum efficiency," Mr Zelensky said on X.

“ We must achieve results as quickly as possible.”

France is against the European Union purchasing British Storm Shadow cruise missiles for Ukraine, according to the Telegraph.

Eleven European countries proposed a relaxation of rules on a 90 billion euro loan so that part of the funds could be used on British weapons.

But France insists that the money should only be spent within the EU.

The current rules give priority to European and Ukrainian defence manufacturers rather than those outside of the EU.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused 2 million military casualties, including people killed, wounded, or missing, according to a study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies published on Tuesday.

Russia has borne the brunt of losses with an estimated 325,000 people killed out of a total of 1.2 million casualties on its side. Ukraine’s 500,000 to 600,000 casualties included between 100,000 and 140,000 dead.

“Combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties may be as high as 1.8 million and could reach two million total casualties by the spring of 2026,” said the US-based think tank.

“Meaningless” security guarantees will not be accepted by Ukraine, a top Ukrainian official has said as trilateral peace talks are set to continue this weekend.

“Unsurprisingly, after all of these experiences, Ukrainians have become extremely wary of any discussion on security guarantees. They are not going to accept another meaningless offer, no matter how nicely it is packaged under the label ‘security guarantees’,” Ukraine’s ambassador to Nato Alyona Getmanchuk wrote in the Telegraph.

“Ukrainians have no illusions that any potential break in the war in the form of a ceasefire with [Vladimir] Putin would ultimately lead to peace rather than a new round of aggression,” she continued.

“That’s why this time – unlike in 2015, when the Minsk deal on Donbas was reached and Normandy format talks were launched – security guarantees are still seen by Ukrainians as an integral part for any peace settlement, not the result of it.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a Russian drone attack on a passenger train that has killed at least five people so far.

“Today, Russia struck a passenger train in the Kharkiv region with attack drones,” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

“In any country, a drone strike on a civilian train would be regarded in the same way – purely as an act of terrorism. There would be no doubt about the classification, neither in Europe, nor in America, nor in the Arab world, nor in China, nor anywhere else.

“There is, and can be, no military justification for killing civilians in a train carriage. In particular, over 200 people were on the train, and 18 were in the carriage hit by one of the Russian drones.”

He said the country must be “held accountable for what it is doing”.

“The Russians have significantly increased their capacity to kill, their capacity to terrorise.”

A Russian drone strike has killed five people aboard a passenger train in northeastern Ukraine, prosecutors confirmed on Tuesday, an attack President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned as an act of terrorism.

The assault, which set the train on fire, occurred just hours after a separate barrage of Russian drones targeted the southern city of Odesa overnight, killing three and injuring 25. These incidents underscore Moscow's escalating campaign of strikes, seemingly aimed at compelling Kyiv to cease hostilities.

Meanwhile, the capital Kyiv continues to grapple with the aftermath of last week's attacks, with Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal reporting that 710,000 residents remain without power. This ongoing targeting of energy infrastructure forms part of Russia's winter offensive, even as Ukraine faces international pressure to agree to a US-backed peace deal to end the nearly four-year conflict.

Russia and India will hold joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean in February, officials in Russia’s maritime college press service said.

The press service statement, cited by TASS news agency, said a frigate of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet would leave the port of Muscat in Oman to take part in the Milan-2026 exercises, and then make an unofficial visit to the Indian port of Vishakhapatnam from 18 February to 25 February.

Belarus should be held accountable for its role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said, announcing sanctions against the neighbouring country’s president Alexander Lukashenko.

"The Lukashenko regime, and (Lukashenko) himself, must bear responsibility for their complicity in Russian aggression," Sybiha told news outlet European Pravda.

Sybiha said he shares the view of much of the West that Lukashenko has rigged elections to remain in power.

“This is the so-called president. Ukraine, like other European countries, does not consider him the legitimately elected president of Belarus,” he said.

Sybiha said Lukashenko’s Belarusian regime is responsible for providing territory for attacks on Ukraine.

“This makes them complicit in the aggression against Ukraine. And now we see new elements of support for Russian aggression from the Lukashenko regime. They are providing their infrastructure for drone attacks on Ukrainian territory,” he said.