Here is the situation on Sunday, March 2:

Fighting

• The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee says Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions on and near the border have killed at least 652 civilians so far, Russian news agency TASS reported.
• Moscow said it downed three Ukrainian drones targeting the Russkaya gas compressor station in the southern Krasnodar region, part of the TurkStream pipeline network.
• A new monitoring mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine for the first time through Russian territory, a Russia-installed head of the plant said.
• Odesa regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said a Russian missile struck port facilities, injuring two workers and damaging infrastructure and a vessel.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces captured the villages of Sudne and Burlatske in the south of the eastern Donetsk region.

Diplomacy

• Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he was “very, very welcome” in London a day after Zelenskyy clashed with United States President Donald Trump.
• British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Ukraine’s Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko signed a 2.26-billion-pound ($2.84bn) loan deal on Saturday, according to a statement from the Treasury. Zelenskyy said the loan would be used to manufacture weapons in Ukraine.
• The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv was still willing to sign a rare earth minerals deal with the US following his clash with Trump in the “first step toward security guarantees”.
• NATO chief Mark Rutte said the US, Ukraine, and Europe need to work together to end the war and bring “durable peace”; he called for Zelenskyy to mend his relationship with Trump.
• Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged the European Union to open direct talks with Russia to end the war.
• Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow’s goals in Ukraine, including its “demilitarisation and denazification”, remain unchanged and accused Zelenskyy of being “obsessed with continuing” the war.
• Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for more “flexibility” in the EU and German budget rules to facilitate more support for Ukraine.

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