The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center reports difficult weather conditions on Sunday and Monday, February 15-16, – in the west and north of Ukraine, significant snow, wet snow, wet snow sticking, icy roads, in the south and southwest, fog at night and in the morning, in the Carpathians, wind gusts of 15-20 m/s.
It is reported that on February 15, during the day, there will be heavy snow, wet snow, and wet snow sticking in the western and northern regions, with icy roads; in the Cherkasy and Poltava regions, there will be heavy rain and wet snow; in the south and southwest of the country, there will be fog at night and in the morning, and in the Carpathians and in the southern part of the country, there will be wind gusts of 15-20 m/s (level I hazard, yellow).
On the night of February 16, heavy snow in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions, with rain in the Sumy region, and heavy precipitation, mainly in the form of rain, in the Cherkasy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions (hazard level I, yellow).
It is noted that weather conditions may complicate the work of energy, construction, and utility companies and the daily lives of the population, as well as disrupt transportation.
Number of dead and wounded civilians in Ukraine from 24.02.2022 till 30.09.2025
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, said that “the door to dialogue in Ukraine is open, and all parties should strive to reach a comprehensive and lasting peace agreement and eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” and called on Europe to be more active in peace efforts, according to a correspondent for Interfax-Ukraine.
“The doors to dialogue have finally opened on the ‘Ukrainian crisis’ (Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine – IF-U). All interested parties should seize the opportunity to achieve a comprehensive, durable, and binding peace agreement, eliminate the root causes of the conflict, and ensure lasting peace and stability in Europe,” he said.
According to the Chinese foreign minister, Europe should not stand by and watch.
“Since the conflict broke out here in Europe, Europe has every right to participate in the negotiations at the appropriate time. Europe should not be on the menu, but at the negotiating table,” he said.
“Now we see that Europe has found the courage to negotiate with Russia. This is good, and we support it,” Wang Yi emphasized.
At the same time, in his opinion, dialogue should not be conducted for the sake of dialogue itself, and Europe should offer new ideas and new plans to resolve this issue.
” And in this process, we need to promote the creation of a more balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture for Europe. Consequently, by doing so, we are addressing the root causes of the crisis and can prevent its recurrence. And to achieve sustainable and lasting peace, China, for its part, will fully support the peace process,” the foreign minister concluded.
He also clarified that China is not a party directly involved in the conflict, has no right to make a final decision, and is only facilitating peace talks.
Regarding relations between China and the EU, Wang Yi expressed his conviction that they should be partners, not systemic rivals or strategic competitors.
“But there are differences and disagreements between our two sides, for example, our social systems, our values, and our development models, but that is because we have different histories and cultures, and based on that, our peoples have different choices regarding the path of development. But that does not mean that we should become rivals or competitors,” the minister said.
He declared that it is more important for China and the EU to practice multilateralism, defend the authority of the UN, say “no” to unilateral practices, uphold free trade, and oppose bloc confrontation.
At the end of January 2026, a working group under the Finnish Ministry of Defense proposed changing the mechanism for expropriating (compulsory purchase) real estate for national security purposes and transferring the authority to issue permits for such expropriation exclusively to the Ministry of Defense. The government press release notes that the current procedure has been difficult to apply, as permits are formally the responsibility of different agencies.
The working group’s proposals include expanding the possibilities for rapid response in urgent cases, including earlier introduction of a ban on actions with the property, temporary takeover of real estate, as well as unification of the approach to compensation for expropriation and planning of financing for such procedures in the budget.
The context for such steps remains the Finnish authorities’ concerns about the risks of “hostile influence” through real estate transactions. Previously, the government and the Ministry of Defense had consistently tightened the rules for buyers from countries outside the EU and the EEA, and also promoted restrictions that were in fact primarily aimed at Russian citizens. In April 2025, the Finnish parliament approved a law restricting the purchase of real estate by citizens of countries waging “aggressive war,” which was publicly interpreted as a ban on Russians who are not permanent residents.
Defense Minister Antti Hykkänen previously stated that Finland had made “too naive decisions” on real estate control in the 2000s and was now “systematically correcting the identified problems.”
Thus, at the moment, we are not talking about a declared campaign of “mass seizure” of property from citizens of all countries outside the EU, but about strengthening the state’s legal instruments to intervene in cases where specific real estate objects are considered a potential threat to national security, as well as continuing the policy of restricting new transactions for certain categories of foreign buyers.
Imports of transformers, inductors, and chokes to Ukraine in January 2026 decreased by almost 23% compared to the same month in 2025, to $98.6 million, according to statistics from the State Customs Service.
According to the published data, this is also 17.7% less than in December 2025.
China remains the largest supplier of these products to Ukraine. Last month, $86.5 million worth of these products were imported from China (87.7% of total imports of these goods), while a year earlier, $116.1 million worth of transformers and chokes were imported from this country (90.8%).
In addition, transformers were imported from Japan ($5.3 million) and Turkey ($1.2 million), while in 2025, imports from Turkey amounted to $4.5 million, and the United States ($1.75 million) rounded out the top three.
According to the State Customs Service, in January 2026, Ukraine exported transformers, inductors, and chokes worth $3.3 million (in January 2025 – $2.05 million), mainly to Poland, Germany, and Hungary.
As reported with reference to the State Customs Service, imports of transformers, inductors, and chokes to Ukraine in 2025 increased by 88% compared to 2024, to $1.12 billion, with imports from China increasing 2.3 times, to $957.3 million.
Since the beginning of last year, transformer imports have significantly exceeded those of the previous year. In particular, in January, imports increased sixfold, but the growth rate gradually slowed down.
