Overview
- The General Staff recorded about 140 combat engagements on Feb. 5, with the heaviest fighting on the Pokrovsk axis (27 attacks) and Huliaipole sector (22), and 17 assaults near Kostyantynivka.
- Ukraine and Russia carried out a new prisoner exchange, with 157 Ukrainians returning home; officials said 150 were service members and seven were civilians, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff cited 314 releases overall from both sides.
- U.S. European Command said Washington and Moscow agreed to restore a high‑level military‑to‑military channel to reduce miscalculation, following two days of talks in Abu Dhabi that will continue soon.
- Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said Kyiv’s Darnytska power-and-heat plant is now almost completely destroyed, while President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered expanded social support and additional air‑defense and anti‑drone measures.
- Analysts at ISW assess Russian forces are setting conditions for future offensive operations toward Kostyantynivka, echoing methods used before advances near Pokrovsk, and regional authorities reported one civilian killed and one injured in Dnipropetrovsk.