Ukraine Conflict Monitor
Update
Ukraine war situation update | 21 – 27 February 2026
Russia increases its use of IEDs to carry out sabotage attacks in Ukraine.
Key stats
1,683 political violence events
5% increase compared to the previous three weeks
121 incidents of violence targeting civilians
38% increase compared to the previous three weeks
At least 47 fatalities from civilian targeting
62% increase compared to the previous three weeks
Key events
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21 Feb.
Sumy — A Russian drone strike on an ambulance near Uralove kills four
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26 Feb.
Kyiv — Russia hands over the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for those of 35 Russian soldiers
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27 Feb.
Zaporizhia — Russia and Ukraine reach a ceasefire to repair the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reserve power supply
Key trends
- Russian forces seized a village in the Dnipropetrovsk region and claimed to have captured a village near Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region and another near Ternuvate in the Zaporizhia region.
- Russian forces launched at least 42 long-range missile and drone attacks, including in the region of Vinnytsia and the regions of Kyiv and Kirovohrad.
- Russian strikes killed at least 43 civilians in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhia regions. Ukrainian drones reportedly killed three civilians in the Russian-controlled parts of the Luhansk, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions.
Spotlight: Suspected Russian recruits target Ukrainian police with IEDs in three cities
Right before the four-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, suspected Federal Security Bureau recruits carried out IED attacks on Ukrainian police in Lviv, Dnipro, and Mykolaiv over a 48-hour period. First, on 22 February, a woman planted explosives in trash cans in Lviv and called police to the scene. The resulting blast killed one police officer and injured 25 others. Then, on 23 February, another detonated IED in Dnipro damaged a police station and a car, but caused no casualties. Finally, on the same day in the Mykolaiv region, police were targeted during a shift changeover at a non-functioning gas station. The attack injured seven patrol police officers and left two of them in a critical condition.
Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russian intelligence services were responsible for the attacks as part of expanded recruitment efforts of local operatives to carry out sabotage attacks across the country.1 National Police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi described the incidents as targeted attacks on the law enforcement system.2 According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the suspect in the Lviv attack, an 18-year-old woman from Kharkiv, was recruited via Telegram and offered 100 US dollars to make a fake emergency call.3 Russia has increasingly relied on IEDs for sabotage attacks in Ukraine since early 2025, primarily targeting Ukrainian servicemen and territorial recruitment centers. While Ukrainian police have managed to either seize or defuse explosives in most cases, ACLED records six successful detonations in February. This is the largest number of successful detonations recorded since June last year.
For more on Russian sabotage attacks in Ukraine, please read our latest report Ukraine war: How six new trends are shaping the conflict.
