L to R: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Cabinet meeting, February 26, 2025, Washington D.C. (AP)

Monday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “100,000s of Drones” in Deals with Europe and US

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1541 GMT:

Amid the death of former Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit on Monday, hours after he was dismissed by Vladimir Putin, Meduza reviews the sudden demises of 12 energy and transporation executives in Russia since 2022.

Andrei Badalov, vice president of State oil pipeline company Transneft, also perished this month. He fell from the window of his apartment on Rublyovskoye Highway in Moscow.

UPDATE 1424 GMT:

A British court has convicted three men over an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in east London.

UK officials said the blaze at an industrial estate was ordered by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. It targeted two units, including one for a company that delivered packages to Ukraine such as satellite equipment from Elon Musk’s Starlink.

UPDATE 1419 GMT:

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry is awaiting official notification of the resumption of US arms deliveries.

Emphasizing that it is “critically important” for Ukraine to maintain “stability, continuity and predictability” in arms provision, the Ministry said, “We are grateful to the United States for all its support and highly appreciate the efforts of American partners aimed at achieving genuine peace.”

UPDATE 1122 GMT:

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has grumbled about the Trump Administration’s renewal of deliveries of military aid to Ukraine, ““It is obvious of course that these actions probably do not align with attempts to promote a peaceful resolution.”

UPDATE 0951 GMT:

Russia’s former Deputy Chief of General Staff, Col. Gen. Khalil Arslanov, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery and embezzlement.

Aslanov will also pay a fine of more than 24 million rubles, ($305,000), twice the amount of the bribes he accepted.

The general was arrested in February 2020. Others charged in the case include Arslanov’s former deputy, Maj. Gen. Alexander Ogloblin, who pleaded guity, and the former head of the Russian military’s procurement department, Col. Pavel Kutakhov.

Prosecutors said Arslanov and his accomplices orchestrated defense contracts with the company Voentelecom to supply satellite equipment and monitoring centers at inflated prices, embezzling 1.6 billion rubles ($20.3 million). Arslanov was also accused of extorting 12 million rubles ($152,500) from the former director of the Yaroslavl Radio Plant.

UPDATE 0900 GMT:

At least nine civilians have been killed and 81 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Air defenses intercepted 34 of 54 drones, and eight were lost to electronic counter-measures.

Russia also fired four S-300/400 guided missiles.

In the Donetsk region in the east, three civilians were murdered and 10 injured. In Sumy in the northeast, four were slain and four wounded. In Kherson in the south, one person was killed and four injured.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, one person was killed and 40 injured, including three children, by attacks on Kharkiv city and seven other settlements.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in the south, 20 civilians were injured and at least 64 houses and apartment buildings damaged. Three others were injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

UPDATE 0842 GMT:

The UK has sanctioned the head and deputy of Russia’s chemical weapons program, Aleksey Rtischev and Andrei Marchenko, over the illegal use of CS tear gas in the invasion of Ukraine.

Last November, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons cited evidence of the use of the CS gas on the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

The UK has already sanctioned Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence unit (RKhBZ). The unit’s former head Igor Kirillov, also blacklisted by London, was assassinated by Ukraine last December by a bomb hidden in a scooter.

The OPCW’s Executive Council is meeting from Tuesday to Friday.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Reversing last week’s sudden order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon will resume the delivery of US weapons to Ukraine.

Hegseth cut the supply after a “review” by the Pentagon’s policy planning director Elbridge Colby, a long-time sceptic of assistance for Ukraine. Arms authoritized by the Biden Administration were held up on the tarmac in Poland.

The weapons included Patriot air defense missiles, urgently needed to protect Ukrainian civilians amid Russia’s record-setting missile and drone strikes; thousands of 155-mm high-explosive Howitzer munitions; more than 100 Hellfire missiles, more than 250 GMLRS rockets; and dozens each of Stinger surface-to-air missiles, AIM air-to-air missiles, and grenade launchers.

See also Ukraine War, Day 1,225: “They Are Going to Lose More Lives” — Trump Administration Cuts Off Weapons to Kyiv

The Pentagon said in a statement on Monday:

At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.

Just before the announcement, Trump said the US would send “defensive weapons, primarily”. He told reporters, “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now.”

Trump reportedly told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during their phone call on Friday that, while he had ordered the Pentagon review, he was not responsible for the suspension of the deliveries.

Colby’s “review” falsely declared a critical shortage in US stockpiles. A Pentagon assessment found some stocks of precision-guided munitions were at reduced levels, but did not reach a critical minimum.

See also Ukraine War, Day 1,228: Hegseth’s Lie to Cut Off US Arms to Kyiv

The Department of Defense covered itself yesterday, “Our framework for [the President] to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.”

Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak reacted on Tuesday morning on social media: