Russian forces conducted a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine on the night of February 12 and 13.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched one Iskander-M ballistic missile from Kursk Oblast and 154 Shahed-type, Gerbera-type, Italmas-type, and other drones — of which roughly 100 were Shaheds — from the directions of Oryol and Bryansk cities; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai; occupied Donetsk City; and occupied Hvardiiske and Cape Chauda, Crimea.[92] The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces downed 111 drones; that the missile and 22 drones struck 18 locations; and that drone debris fell on two locations. Ukrainian officials reported that Russian forces struck civilian, residential, commercial, port, railway, and energy infrastructure in Rivne, Odesa, and Mykolaiv oblasts.[93] Ukraine’s largest energy company, DTEK, reported that the strikes significantly damaged a DTEK energy facility in Odesa City.[94]
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Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or suppressed 111 enemy UAVs as of 08:30 after an overnight attack involving 154 strike drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile launched from the Kursk region and other directions. Missile and 22 drones hit 18 locations.
- Western reporting suggests that the United States has accepted Russia’s demanded sequence of having Ukraine cede territory to Russia before receiving formal US or European security guarantee commitments.
- Meaningful security guarantees are crucial to any peace agreement that allows Russia to occupy parts of Ukraine, especially if Ukraine withdraws from territory it currently holds.
- Putin’s rejection of meaningful Western security guarantees for Ukraine is a greater impediment to a prospective peace deal than Ukraine’s position on ceding its territories.
- The Kremlin likely sees an opportunity to manipulate the US-led negotiations process into another means through which Russia can achieve its unchanging military and political objectives, which it has failed to achieve in nearly four years of war.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unwavering determination to conquer more Ukrainian territory and gain full political control over Ukraine is severely degrading Russia’s military and economy at the cost of the Russian population, and Russia will increasingly have to reckon with this degradation in the coming year.
- The Russian Central Bank lowered its key interest rate for the first time in 2026 and fifth time in the last 12 months, likely in an attempt to increase capital available for the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) and maintain the facade of domestic economic stability.
- Ukraine’s European allies continue to provide military aid to Ukraine through the Ramstein format, including via the purchase of US-produced weapons.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Oleksandrivka and Hulyaipole. Russian forces recently advanced near Slovyansk.
https://t.co/A55hEZ1d7J
**General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine**
*Operational information as of 22:00 on 13.02.2026 regarding the Russian invasion*
The defense forces are focusing their efforts on disrupting the Russian invaders' plans for an offensive and exhausting their combat potential.
Since the beginning of the day, there have been 194 combat clashes.
The enemy launched one missile strike using one missile, 46 air strikes, and dropped 129 guided bombs. In addition, it used 2,398 kamikaze drones and carried out 2,240 shellings of populated areas and positions of our troops.
- - In the North Slobozhansky and Kursk directions, there was one combat engagement with the enemy, the enemy launched four air strikes, dropped eight aerial bombs, and carried out 82 shelling attacks on populated areas and positions of our units.
- - In the South Slobozhanskyi direction, the enemy stormed the positions of our units in the areas of the settlements of Prylipka, Starytsia, Vovchanski Khutory, Vovchansk, Lyman, and in the direction of the settlements of Okhrimivka, Zybine, and Mala Vovcha. Ukrainian units repelled eight attacks, and three more combat clashes are currently ongoing.
- - In the Kupiansk direction, the enemy carried out one attack in the direction of Bohuslavka.
- - In the Lyman direction, Ukrainian soldiers stopped 12 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Hrekivka, Karpivka, Serednie, Derylove, Zarichne, Drobysheve, and in the direction of Stavok. Another combat engagement is ongoing.
- - In the Sloviansk direction, our defenders repelled ten attempts by the occupiers to advance in the areas of Platonivka, Zakytne, and towards Rai-Oleksandrivka and Ozerne. Another battle is currently ongoing.
- - In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy carried out one offensive action in the area of Nykyforivka.
- - In the Kostyantynivka direction, the occupiers stormed the positions of our defenders 16 times today near the settlements of Kleban-Byk, Pleshchiivka, Rusyn Yar, Sofiivka, and in the directions of Kostyantynivka, Illinivka, Novopavlivka, and Stepanivka.
- - In the Pokrovsk direction, the enemy carried out 54 attacks. The occupiers attempted to advance in the areas of the settlements of Rodynske, Rivne, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetsk, Ivanivka, Filiya, and towards the settlements of Kucheri Yar, Dorozhne, Novy Donbas, Hryshyne, Novopidhorodne, Novopavlivka, and Novooleksandrivka. Fighting is still ongoing in some locations.
According to preliminary estimates, today our soldiers eliminated 50 occupiers and wounded 14 in this direction; they destroyed 25 unmanned aerial vehicles, one motor vehicle, and also hit two motor vehicles and 10 enemy personnel shelters.
- - In the Oleksandrivka direction, Ukrainian units stopped two attacks by the occupiers towards Ivanivka and Oleksandriya. The settlements of Kolomytsia and Velykomykhailivka were hit by guided aerial bombs.
- - In the Huliaipole direction, the occupiers attacked 29 times – in the areas of Huliaipole, Zagirne, Dorozhnyanka, and in the direction of Zaliznychne and Staroukrainka. In addition, enemy aircraft struck the settlements of Samiilivka, Barvinivka, Svoboda, Huliaipilske, Lisne, Kopani, Hirke, Verkhnia Tersa, and Zaliznychne. Four combat engagements are still ongoing.
- - In the Orikhiv direction, the enemy attacked the positions of our defenders three times in the areas of Maly Shcherbakiv, Plavni, and in the direction of Primorske. The area of the settlement of Zaporozhets was hit by guided aerial bombs.
- - In the Prydniprovsk direction, the enemy carried out one unsuccessful offensive action.
Let's defeat the enemy and bring our victory closer!
Glory to Ukraine!
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The Russian Central Bank lowered its key interest rate for the first time in 2026 and fifth time in the last 12 months, likely in an attempt to increase capital available for the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) and maintain the facade of domestic economic stability.[22] The Russian Central Bank announced on February 13 that it lowered its key interest rate from 16 to 15.5 percent.[23] The Russian Central Bank claimed that Russian unemployment is at a historical low and that wage growth is outpacing productivity growth. Russia’s extremely low unemployment rate reflects the fact that Russia is experiencing labor shortages, however, and is likely causing wage inflation in the civilian and defense sectors, contributing to overall inflation.[24] Russian Central Bank Chairperson Elvira Nabiullina acknowledged on February 13 that inflation accelerated in January 2026 but claimed that this was a “one-off” and that Russia passed the peak of inflationary pressure in December 2025 and January 2026.[25] The Russian government has struggled to finance its DIB amidst heavy Western sanctions and restrictions and has introduced a series of measures to increase the capital available to the Russian DIB, including through the Industrial Development Fund, off-budget subsidies, and policies strongarming banks into providing preferential lending to defense industrial enterprises.[26] The Central Bank lowered its key interest rate four times between June and October 2025 from an initial rate of 21 percent and likely lowered it again on February 13, 2026 to make more capital available to the Russian DIB and to lower the price of borrowing money for DIB producers, as Russia struggles with liquidity problems due to its unsustainable wartime spending.[27] The Russian Central Bank stated on February 13 that it intends to lower the key rate to between 13.5 and 14.5 percent in 2026, likely in order to maintain the facade of economic stability.[28]
Russia is incurring high levels of external debt and has gradually depleted its liquid reserves to fund its war in Ukraine, ignoring the long-term economic implications of the Kremlin’s economic policies. The Russian Ministry of Finance claimed on February 13 that the Russian government’s external debt (debt owed to nonresident debtors) exceeded $60 billion for the first time since 2006.[29] Russian outlet RBK reported that the Russian Central Bank estimates that Russia’s total external debt, including government and private debt, is roughly $319.8 billion as of January 1, 2026, a $30 billion (10 percent) increase from January 1, 2025.[30] Russia has steadily depleted its sovereign wealth fund’s liquid reserves in order to fund the war and has had to resort to selling its physical gold reserves in November 2025 due to unsustainable spending.[31] Russia also raised its value-added tax (VAT) from 20 to 22 percent as of January 1, 2026, in an attempt to buttress federal budget deficits from unsustainably high defense spending, placing the burden of Putin’s costly war in Ukraine directly on the Russian population.[32] Putin’s economic policies demonstrate that the Russian economy is not as resilient to Western sanctions, monetary constraints, and the cost of the war effort as the Kremlin is attempting to project and is therefore vulnerable to increased Western pressure.[33]
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