Drones have transformed the battle space in Ukraine, giving Kyiv a cheap and effective tool to target and, in some cases, repel the enemy. Before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine had almost no drone production capability. Three years later it can make 4 million drones annually.

Here is the situation on Monday, February 10: Fighting Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that Kremlin forces destroyed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, with more than half of them downed over Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. Ukraine’s military said it shot down 70 of 151 Russian drones launched overnight. According to the military, 74 did not reach their targets. Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko also confirmed an overnight drone attack on Kyiv that sparked a fire at a non-residential building. No injuries were immediately reported. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, adding that North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there.  A “significant number” of enemy troops were killed, he said, suggesting losses were in the hundreds. Russia’s Defence Ministry said Moscow’s forces captured the village of Orikhovo-Vasylivka in eastern Ukraine. The village is located near Chasiv Yar, a strategic military hub Moscow is reportedly attempting to seize. Politics and diplomacy German Chancellor Olaf Scholz slammed United States President Donald Trump’s demand for Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for US aid as “selfish and self-serving”. He said countries that help should do so without asking to be paid in return. Zelenskyy said he wants allies to invest in Kyiv’s mineral resources and that the country will not give away rare earths for free. “It’s about partnership. Put your money in. Invest,” he said. Zelenskyy also accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of wanting to prolong the war instead of engaging in ceasefire negotiations. Citing intelligence reports, Zelenskyy said in a video message addressing his country that Russia’s cooperation with North Korea is expanding. Trump said he had a phone conversation with Putin to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported. Refusing to divulge how many times they had spoken, Trump said Putin “wants to see people stop dying”. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm or deny the report of the phone conversation, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said that Russia was waiting for “appropriate signals” from Washington on contacts with Moscow and that Russia is ready for talks with the US on Ukraine “on an equal basis”, Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia connected to the European power grid and severed Soviet-era links with Russia’s network. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda confirmed the switch and said, “We have achieved full energy independence.”