After two days of US-mediated Geneva talks that produced cautious statements but no breakthrough, fighting across Zaporizhia, Donetsk and other areas continued, with civilian casualties, infrastructure damage and diplomatic reprisals reported
Topics covered
After two days of US-mediated talks in Geneva, negotiators from Russia and Ukraine called the sessions tough but largely technical. Delegates focused on practical questions — for example, how to monitor a possible ceasefire — while the core political dispute over who controls territory remained unresolved.
Fighting on the ground, meanwhile, showed no sign of easing. Reports from February 18–19 described fresh strikes, competing territorial claims and widespread civilian harm across multiple regions. Military officials and regional governors reported new attacks, evacuations and damage to utilities and other infrastructure during and after the talks.
Combat incidents and civilian toll
Local administrations in Ukraine recorded numerous attacks over the two days. Officials said strikes hit homes, vehicles and public facilities, and that civilians were killed and injured.
On February 19, the Zaporizhia military administration said the area came under dozens of drone strikes and hundreds of artillery rounds.
Authorities reported damage to residential buildings and public services, one person dead and several wounded.
Donetsk region officials described continued shelling that forced evacuations in frontline towns, including the removal of children and other vulnerable residents. In one particularly grim incident on February 18, a strike in the Donetsk area hit a civilian car in Mykolaivka, killing three workers from a thermal power station. Zaporizhia authorities also said a woman later died from injuries sustained in a drone attack that day, and multiple people were wounded.
Power supplies were disrupted across broad swaths of the country. Tens of thousands of households lost electricity, with the Odesa region among those reporting especially extensive outages.
These incidents were reported even as diplomats met in Geneva; local governors and officials described new combat, civilian casualties and infrastructure damage occurring during and after the talks. Numbers and accounts cited by reporting agencies came from regional administrations; independent verification of all claims was not yet available.
