Ukraine war briefing: Russian embassy banner in Seoul as strikes kill three ahead of anniversary
Feb 23rd 2026
Seoul protested a Russian embassy banner seen as referencing the Ukraine war while renewed Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed and wounded civilians, hit infrastructure and rattled border regions on the eve of the war's fourth anniversary.
- South Korea complained to the Russian embassy after a banner reading "victory will be ours" was hung over the building.
- Russian strikes killed three people overnight and wounded several across Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions.
- Hungary said it will block the EU's next sanctions package until Ukraine resumes Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline.
- Ukraine condemned demands from Hungary and Slovakia to restart oil flows as ultimatums and blackmail.
- President Vladimir Putin said developing Russia's nuclear forces is now an absolute priority after the expiry of the New Start treaty.
- An explosion in Lviv killed a 23-year-old police officer and wounded 24 people, and authorities detained a woman in connection with the attack.
- Ukraine said Russia launched about 297 drones and nearly 50 missiles, flattening a residential house in Kyiv while many were shot down.
- A large Ukrainian attack damaged energy infrastructure in Russia's Belgorod region and caused outages in Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk.
- Four Moscow airports briefly suspended flights after drone strikes, and Russian defenses reported downing dozens of drones.