Poland’s PM tells Poles to leave Iran, cancel travel warning amid ‘very real’ prospect of war
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has urged Polish citizens to immediately leave Iran, adding that “under no circumstances anyone should be travelling to that country” as he warned that the prospect of active conflict is “very, very real”.
Tusk said that the conflict could erupt within “a few, a dozen or several dozen hours,” and “evacuation may no longer be an option.”
“Please, take this seriously. We’ve had bad experiences in the past with people ignoring these warnings. So, I want to emphasise this one more time: leave Iran immediately or cancel your travel plans. If a hot conflict breaks out, no one will be able to guarantee you a way out,” he said at a press conference.
Key events
Kremlin has nothing to add on Geneva talks, despite Zelenskyy’s criticism
The Kremlin said that it had nothing to add about this week’s peace talks on Ukraine in Geneva beyond what its chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky already said.
Medinsky said on Wednesday that the U.S.-mediated talks had been difficult but businesslike, and that a new round would be held soon, Reuters reported.
Ukraine says it hit oil depot in Russia ‘directly affecting … ability to conduct combat operations’
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it successfully hit a Russian oil depot in the western region of Pskov, causing explosions and a fire, an official from Ukraine’s SBU security service.
“The destruction of oil depots directly affects the enemy’s ability to conduct combat operations, advance and move staff reserves. Such operations are part of a systematic weakening of Russia’s military potential,” the official told Reuters.
Russia downs over 100 Ukrainian drones, with oil refinery among targets
Russian officials said on Thursday their forces had destroyed 113 Ukrainian drones overnight after some of them targeted an oil refinery in the northwest that resulted in a fire in a storage tank, AFP reported.
One of the drone attacks targeted an oil refinery in Velikiye Luki around 500 kilometres (300 miles) west of Moscow, causing “a fire in an oil storage tank”, regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said in a statement.
According to initial reports, the attack did not cause any injuries among civilians or refinery staff, he added.
Morning opening: Zelenskyy is getting frustrated with Putin – but can you blame him?
Jakub Krupa
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems to grow tired of fruitless rounds of negotiations with Russia in which the other side keeps making historical claims about its alleged right to control Ukraine.
In a rare public outburst on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show last night, repeated on social media this morning, he said he does not need all this “historical shit,” blaming Russians for deploying “delay tactics” to stall the talks.
Over the weekend, he urged the US and Europe to introduce sanctions on Russians resident in the west, telling them to, erm, let’s say ‘leave’ to Russia.
Zelenskyy appears to be increasingly losing patience as US president Donald Trump repeatedly seeks to put pressure on Kyiv, not Moscow, to compromise on its positions to get a deal ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Commenting on the latest round of talks in Geneva, he said:
“As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient. The military discussed certain issues seriously and substantively. Sensitive political matters, possible compromises and the necessary meeting of leaders have not yet been sufficiently addressed.”
Meanwhile, the US claimed that the talks helped to make “meaningful progress” with pledges “to continue to work towards a peace deal together.”
Separately, Zelenskyy also claimed that “Americans, and maybe some Europeans, are discussing a new document with Russia, between Nato and Russia,” insisting that Ukraine should not be locked out of these discussions.
Let’s see what the day brings us as some European countries are expected to take part in Donald Trump’s Board of Peace event in Washington, with others – including the EU – joining as an observer to see what’s going on there.
I will bring you all the key news lines here.
It’s Thursday, 19 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.