Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now (26 Şubat 2022)

 Russian troops captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Russia's Interfax news agency said, as Moscow launched coordinated missile and artillery attacks on several cities including the capital Kyiv.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian military to overthrow the country's leadership and negotiate peace.
• Ukraine and Russia are discussing a place and time for talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's spokesman said on social media.
• Russia vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would have deplored Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, while China abstained from the vote.
• China is in a diplomatic scramble to limit blowback while standing by a partner with which it has grown increasingly close in opposition to the West.
• President Joe Biden instructed the U.S. State Department to release $350 million in military aid to Ukraine, and asked Congress to approve $6.4 billion in aid to address the humanitarian and security crisis. 
• The White House said the United States, in a rare move, would impose sanctions on Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. The European Union and Canada are doing the same.
• Canada, the United States, Britain and the European Union said they could act to exclude Russia from the SWIFT global interbank payments system. 
• Ukraine said more than 1,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. The United Nations said 25 civilians had been killed and 102 wounded. 
• NATO allies will provide more weapons to Ukraine and deploy more forces to the eastern part of the alliance.
• The conflict could drive up to 5 million people abroad, U.N. agencies said, adding that at least 100,000 people were uprooted and fuel, cash and medical supplies are running low. 

QUOTES

• "We will not put down weapons, we will defend our state," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, facing the worst European security crisis in decades.