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What happened on 19 February 2025 in Ukraine war
Summary
A look back at a day of Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and sharp exchanges over US-led talks with Moscow.
What did 19 February 2025 look like for Ukraine? It was a day when the war was fought on two fronts: in the skies over Ukrainian cities, and in the diplomacy around Washington, Moscow and Riyadh.
Strikes on infrastructure
Russian missile and drone strikes hit targets across Ukraine. At least one person was killed and 14 others were injured. Among the attacks was a large drone strike on energy infrastructure in Odesa, which left 160,000 residents without heating and electricity.
Talks without Kyiv
The strikes came a day after the United States and Russia opened talks in Saudi Arabia on the war in Ukraine, held without European or Ukrainian participation. On 18 February 2025, the delegations agreed to start a negotiating process for ending the war, to create high-level teams, and to normalise diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries.
On 19 February 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the high-level talks in Riyadh as a "first step" towards restoring full diplomatic ties with the United States.
Washington's tone towards Kyiv
The same day, relations between Washington and Kyiv appeared to deteriorate further. U.S. President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator" and said he had done a "terrible job". He also warned that Zelenskyy was "not going to have a country left" soon.
Europe on the sidelines
The exclusion of Europeans had already drawn a reaction. On 17 February 2025, European leaders gathered in France for a summit on Ukraine, after the U.S. administration announced the opening of peace talks with Russia without European participation. That day, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Europe had no role in any peace negotiations on ending the war.
Taken together, the events of 19 February 2025 set side by side a continuing Russian bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, a Russian leader welcoming a rapprochement with Washington, and a U.S. president openly criticising Ukraine's leader, while Ukraine and Europe were not at the table in Riyadh.
