Ukraine updates: Defected Russian pilot found dead in Spain

Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that Russian troops should build on their battlefield successes in Ukraine after Kyiv's forces withdrew from the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka over the weekend. 

Putin claimed that Ukrainian troops were forced to flee the shattered city in a "chaotic flight." Ukraine had earlier said it withdrew from the city to save soldiers' lives and keep them from being surrounded. 

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Russian offensive was continuing and troops were moving westwards.

In a televised meeting, Shoigu told Putin that Russian forces had captured Krynky, a Ukrainian bridgehead on the Moscow-occupied side of the Dnieper river in the Kherson region.

The eastern frontline has mostly been frozen after the failure of Ukraine to pierce Russian lines during a counteroffensive last year

However, Russia's capture of Avdiivka has bolstered its forces, and represents the biggest gain since the capture of Bakhmut in May 2023. 

The majority of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people would like to return home one day, according to a survey by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Out of a total of 9,900 people surveyed in January and February, 65% of refugees and 72% of displaced people expressed a desire to return home.

According to the agency, there are nearly 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine who have fled to other countries. Around 3.7 million people have been displaced from their homes and have sought refuge in other parts of Ukraine.

The UNHCR said that a significant number of refugees surveyed, some 59%, said they might be "compelled to return home even if this is not their preferred choice due to the ongoing war."

This was down to the challenges they were facing in host countries related to employment opportunities and legal status.

Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that a Russian drone attack had killed five people in the northeastern region of Sumy.

The regional military administration said that family members including a mother and two sons, were killed in the strike that hit a residential building in a village near the border with Russia.

Earlier, Kyiv said Russia launched 23 drones overnight and that air defenses had managed to destroy all of them.

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there have been repeated attacks in the Sumy border region.

At the beginning of February, three people were killed and four others injured in a bomb attack there.

Hungary's parliament is expected to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO on Monday.

The ruling Fidesz party has requested that the speaker of parliament put the issue on the agenda for the plenary session on February 26.

"Of course we welcome this," said Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson during a press conference.

Sweden applied to join NATO almost two years ago, in a historic shift in policy brought about by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

After a lengthy delay, Hungary will be the last NATO member to approve the Nordic country's bid to become the 32nd member of the military alliance.

Budapest has given various reasons for the delay. Recently, the politicians from the right-wing populist Fidesz party said they felt "insulted" by criticism from Sweden about the state of the rule of law in Hungary.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday said a woman with US and Russian citizenship had been arrested on suspicion of treason.

"The FSB of Russia in Yekaterinburg suppressed the illegal activities of a 33-year-old resident of Los Angeles, who has dual citizenship of Russia and the United States of America, and was involved in providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of our country," Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the FSB as having said in a statement.

The woman had allegedly been collecting money for medical and military provisions for the Ukrainian army, it was reported.

RIA Novosti posted a video from the FSB showing personnel with their faces concealed, escorting a handcuffed woman in a white coat.

Several US nationals are currently imprisoned in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

A conviction for treason in Russia could result in a life term of imprisonment, with legislation having been toughened up since the start of Russia's invasion.

Sweden on Tuesday said it would give 7.1 billion kronor ($682 million; €631 million) worth of military aid for Ukraine as it battles Russia's continued invasion.

"The reason we are continuing to support Ukraine is a matter of humanity and decency. Russia started an illegal, unprovoked and indefensible war," Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson told a news conference.

The aid package is made up of artillery shells, air defense, boats and underwater weaponry and training for Ukrainian soldiers.

This will be Sweden's 15th aid package to Ukraine, and also the largest to date.

The announcement comes shortly before Russia's war in Ukraine enters its third year.

Ukraine has been trying to drum up international support for its defensive effort amid concern backing for its cause is waning.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has called on the EU and Japan to impose fresh sanctions on Russia following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny last week.

"We ask to implement this sanction on economic issues, in economic spheres and in political spheres on personalities," Shmyhal told a press conference in Tokyo, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss reconstruction in Ukraine.

The comments come after some EU member states, among them, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden, sought new penalties against Moscow following Navalny's death in a remote penal colony in Russia on Friday.

A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last year has been found dead in Spain, according to Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson.

Spokesperson Andriy Yusov made the comments about the death of Maxim Kuzminov to Ukraine's public broadcaster but did not provide further details.

Spain's EFE news agency reported that a body found on February 13 in Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain, was that of Kuzminov, citing sources close to the investigation.

EFE reported that Kuzminov —who landed in Ukraine in a fully equipped Mi-8 helicopter last August — had been living in Spain with a Ukrainian passport but under a different identity.

At the time of his defection, Kuzminov said he had been offered security guarantees, new documents and a reward.

Two Russian crew — who were also on the flight but unaware of the plan to defect — were killed after landing, according to Ukraine's military intelligence.

"In Russia it is customary to speak either good of the dead or nothing at all," Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was quoted in Russian media as saying when asked about Kuzminov.

"This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse at the very moment when he planned his dirty and terrible crime," he told TASS news agency.

kb/nm (dpa, EFE, Reuters, AP, AFP)