UKRAINE VỪA DÙNG DRONE ĐỐT CHÁY CÁC CƠ SỞ THƯƠNG MẠI LỚN NHỨT CỦA NGA NGAY CẠNH MOSCOW./-Mt68
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Ukraine has struck the largest warehouse of Russian online retail giant Wildberries in a major overnight drone attack. A huge fire broke out at the facility near Moscow, as Kyiv continues targeting the company’s logistics network, which it says handles military-use goods.
HY VỌNG ĐÂY LÀ TIN CÓ THẬT - MỘT CHIẾN CÔNG LỚN CỦA UKRAINE./-Mt68
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Addressing a high-level session of the UN Security Council on Ukraine, Vassily Nebenzia cited what he described as an "extraordinary report" by Russia's domestic intelligence services.
"Today, on the 24th of February, the press bureau of the domestic intelligence services of the Russian Federation published an extraordinary report about the plans of London and Paris to deliver to Kyiv nuclear weapons or a so-called 'dirty bomb' as well as the means of delivery," he said.
"Specifically, we are talking about the clandestine handover to Ukraine of the corresponding European parts, equipment and technology as an option of what is considered a French compact TN75 warhead for the M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile," he added.
Nebenzia argued that such alleged actions would violate international law, stating that "I do not think it bears recalling that such ideas and plans are not only reckless and dangerous, but they are also illegal insofar as they constitute a direct breach of Article I of the Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Accusing Europe of prolonging the conflict, he said: "Europe clearly is willing to provide security assurances to Ukraine only so long as the Kyiv regime remains an enemy of the Russian Federation and continues to wage war. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy does not need peace."
Noting that Moscow prefers diplomacy, he said: "From the very start of the conflict, we stated that for us, diplomatic methods for the achievement of the goals of the special military operation are preferred in this connection. We value the position that has been embraced by the US administration and Mr. Trump personally," he said, referring to US President Donald Trump.
- UK, France strongly rebuff Russia's allegations
Nebenzia's allegations drew swift rebuttals from the UK and France, with the UK Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, saying: "The allegation made by the representative of the Russian Federation is an outright lie. He says that we have lost touch with reality. It is he who has lost touch with reality."
Calling it "another piece of disinformation from the Russian Federation and a clear attempt to deflect attention" from the four-year long war, he said: "I can categorically assure members of this council that the United Kingdom remains fully committed to its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We are not providing and would not provide nuclear weapons or related capabilities to Ukraine."
Echoing the UK minister, France's UN envoy Jerome Bonnafont also rejected the claims, calling them "a gross violation and an attempt at disinformation."
"They constitute a lie, pure and simple, devoid of any factual basis. France is a responsible party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We will never violate its contours nor its obligations," he said.
Meanwhile, Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, in her remarks, warned of broader global consequences of the war.
"Russia's war has severe global consequences. Countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East are not safe from Russia's colonial imperial ambitions," she said, urging countries to protect their citizens "from dying for what is Russia's desperate attempt to restore its empire."
Over the past 10 months, Russian losses in the war with Ukraine have been growing faster than any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, BBC analysis suggests.
As peace efforts intensified in 2025 under pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration, 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources compared with the previous year.
Overall, the BBC has confirmed the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine.
BBC News Russian has been counting Russian war losses together with independent outlet Mediazona and a group of volunteers since February 2022. We keep a list of named individuals whose deaths we were able to confirm using official reports, newspapers, social media, and new memorials and graves.
The real death toll is believed to be much higher, and military experts we have consulted believe our analysis of cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries might represent 45-65% of the total.
That would put the number of Russian deaths at between 243,000 and 352,000.
The number of obituaries for any given period is a preliminary estimate of the confirmed losses, as some need additional verification and will eventually be discarded. But it can indicate how the intensity of fighting is changing over time.
2025 starts with a relatively low number of published obituaries in January, compared with the previous months. Then the number rises in February, when Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked directly for the first time about ending the war in Ukraine.
The next peak in August coincides with the two presidents meeting each other in Alaska, a diplomatic coup for Putin that was widely seen as an end to his international isolation.
In October, when a planned second Russia-US summit was eventually shelved, and then in November, when the US presented a 28-point peace proposal, an average of 322 obituaries were published per day - twice the average in 2024.
It is difficult to put increased Russian losses down to any one factor, but the Kremlin sees territorial gains as a way of influencing negotiations with the US in its favour: Putin aide Yuri Ushakov stressed recently that "recent successes" had had a positive impact.
Murat Mukashev was among those who gambled on a quick peace deal, and it cost him his life.
Mukashev was an activist who had never supported Putin's policies.
Over the years, he had taken part in demonstrations against police violence and torture, and joined rallies for LGBT rights and the release of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's main opponent who died in prison in 2024.
He had repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine on social media from 2022. Then, in early 2024, Mukashev was detained near his home in Moscow and charged with large-scale drug dealing.
While his case was being tried he was offered a contract with the defence ministry, according to his friends and family.
They saw the heavy charges levelled against him as a typical ploy to get people to sign up. A 2024 law allows the accused a way out of a criminal conviction if they join up - an attractive option in a country with an acquittal rate of less than 1%.
Mukashev refused the offer, and the court sentenced him to 10 years in a high-security penal colony.
In prison in November 2024, he changed his mind. Friends said he was encouraged by Trump's promises to end the war quickly and decided he needed to sign up as soon as possible to secure his release before a peace deal was reached.
"He saw this as a chance to be released instead of being imprisoned for 10 years of strict regime," reads a statement from his support group.
There was no explanation of how he reconciled taking part in the war with his reluctance to kill.
On June 11 2025, Mukashev died fighting as part of an assault squad in the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine.
Like him, the majority of Russians killed at the front in 2025 had nothing to do with the military at the start of the full-scale war, BBC figures show.
But since the bloody battle for the city of Avdiivka in October 2023, there has been a steady increase in casualties among so-called "volunteers" - those who have voluntarily signed a contract since the start of the invasion.
They now appear to form the majority of Russia's new recruits, as opposed to professional soldiers who joined the army before the invasion or those mobilised for military service afterwards.
A year ago 15% of Russian military deaths were volunteers, but in 2025 it was one in three.
