Kyiv’s forces find success along southern frontline in February, while Russian troops grind forward in the east. What we know on day 1,469

Russia’s army recorded its slowest advance on the frontline in Ukraine in nearly two years in February, an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War showed, as Kyiv’s troops scored several localised breakthroughs. The slowdown came as Moscow’s forces at the front struggled after Elon Musk cut the Russians’ access to Starlink internet terminals. Russia advanced by a total of 123 sq kilometres (48 sq miles) – the lowest since April 2024 – during the month, according to the analysis conducted by Agence France-Presse.

Ukrainian troops managed several localised advances during February, the data showed, including a 61 sq-kilometre gain on 15 February, and gains of more than 50 sq kilometres on 21 February and 23 February. Kyiv’s forces saw most success along the southern frontline, pushing Russia’s army back in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Moscow, meanwhile, has been grinding forward in the east, moving closer towards the key hubs of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russia occupies just over 19% of Ukraine.

Russia’s Sheskharis oil terminal suspended oil loadings on Monday following a Ukrainian drone attack that injured five, damaged 20 buildings and set a fuel terminal on fire, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials and three trade sources. The Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk is Russia’s major oil outlet in the Black Sea, loading 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil. An official at Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said Ukrainian drones had struck the terminal at the port, hitting six of its seven loading facilities, and that the drones also struck Russian warships. Ukraine’s general staff said the drones also struck a naval base, along with an S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system. Russia made no mention of any damage to its military assets. Reuters could not independently verify what Ukraine had struck.

US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine expected later this week may take place in Switzerland or Turkey if a planned meeting in Abu Dhabi is not possible due to the war in the Middle East, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Monday. He also noted that western countries have given no indication so far that their delivery to Kyiv of vital air defence missiles could be disrupted by commitments to Middle East defence. Peace talks have appeared deadlocked in recent weeks over Russia’s insistence that Ukraine hand over the remaining part of its eastern Donbas region which Moscow does not control.

Russian strikes killed at least eight people in Ukraine including during an attack on a civilian passenger train, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday. Three people were killed in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian stronghold that Russian forces are advancing towards, officials said. The head of the wider Donetsk region said two people were killed and 13 wounded in Druzhkivka.

Slovakia wants to initiate a meeting with the EU commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and ideally together with Ukraine and Hungary, to get oil flows along the Druzhba pipeline restarted as quickly as possible, the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, said on Monday. Slovakia and Hungary have blamed Ukraine for dragging its feet on restarting supplies of Russian crude through the pipeline, although Kyiv says repairs take time after what it said was a Russian attack on pumping stations in western Ukraine in late January. “This has now become a European-Ukrainian problem and Europe must decide on which side it stands,” Fico said.

Ukraine will complete the technical work needed to open negotiations on all topics for its EU accession process within days, Zelenskyy said on Monday. Zelenskyy urged the EU to agree on a firm date for Ukraine to join the bloc, saying that would provide an important guarantee of the country’s future security. “We are ready, but not all leaders of the European Union are … I mean, not everyone is ready to give Ukraine this opportunity,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine became a formal EU candidate country in the early days after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. But so far, Kyiv’s progress through the existing EU process has been held up by Hungary, which has blocked the unanimous approval required to open formally each of the six so-called accession “clusters” of issues to be resolved.

Trump boycotted the dinner in 2017 and has not attended any in either of his terms as president

Donald Trump said Monday he will attend the White House correspondents’ association dinner for the first time as president.

Writing in a social media post, Trump said: “In honor of our Nation’s 250th Birthday, and the fact that these ‘Correspondents’ now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many, it will be my Honor to accept their invitation, and work to make it the GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER!”

Largest study of its kind suggests high red meat consumption has biggest impact, followed by smoking

More than a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to lifestyle factors such as red meat intake and smoking, according to the largest study of its kind.

The study, published in the Lancet Oncology, used data from population-based cancer registries to produce a comprehensive analysis of breast cancer and its risk factors.

As US-Israeli airstrikes hit their cities, people tell of how the authorities are warning them off the streets

At least 200 civilians have been killed since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran last weekend, according to rights groups, as people inside Iran told the Guardian they were fearful of a rising death toll.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that at least 555 people had been killed across Iran. However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had reached at least 1,500, including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.

US military also says three US fighter jets were shot down in ‘friendly fire’ incident, all six crew members survived

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Six US service members have been killed in the US military operations against Iran, the US Central Command said on Monday afternoon.

The announcement comes one day after the military confirmed the deaths of three US service members on Sunday, which marked the first known US fatalities since the strikes against Iran began on Saturday, and just several hours after the Central Command had reported that a fourth US service member had been killed.

The Fifa president’s sycophancy towards the US president has left the organisation facing a new nadir, but any reckoning seems a distant prospect

Mr President. Fellow exco members. We’re going to need a bigger Board of Peace. How many mini‑pitches are we up to now? Gaza got 50 of them last month. What will it take to football-fix the global conflict being set in train by Fifa’s own Peace Prize Boy? A hundred mini-pitches? Four billion mini-pitches? All the mini‑pitches in the universe?

In a more sane version of what we must, out of habit, call the real world, it would seem absurd to talk about sports administration in the context of the US, Iran and the airborne conflict being played out across the borders of their allies.

• Back-line may feature one survivor from Ireland defeat

• Ben Spencer, Cadan Murley and Seb Atkinson in frame

Steve Borthwick is ready to radically overhaul his misfiring England side for the Six Nations clash against Italy on Saturday, with Fin Smith expected to be handed the No 10 jersey.

The Northampton fly-half sat out training on Monday because of illness but England have been quick to allay fears that his participation against Italy is in doubt. Provided he recovers, Smith is expected to start at fly-half in place of George Ford.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese flee homes in eerily familiar scenes as Israeli strikes leave 52 people dead

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Abu Yehya and his two sons awoke to the sound of bombing in the early hours of Monday morning. A dozen blasts, one just a few hundred metres away, sent them into the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs.

They walked for four hours, bleary-eyed, until they reached the same spot in downtown Beirut where they had fled during the last conflict, 18 months earlier, and curled up on the asphalt. There, they learned Hezbollah had struck Israel, and Lebanon was once again at war.

Effects of extended conflict between US and Iran could also lead to higher interest rates and hit economic growth

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The impact of the deadly and unpredictable conflict in the Middle East on the global economy will be felt most immediately, and keenly, through the rising cost of oil.

Prices jumped on Monday, as markets had their first opportunity to digest the weekend’s tit-for-tat attacks. A barrel of Brent crude oil was trading at about $79 (£59) by lunchtime in London, up about $6 or 8.5% on the day.