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US evacuates staff from Lebanon embassy amid tensions with Iran

Washington has evacuated dozens of non-essential personnel from its embassy in Lebanon as US ships and warplanes have been positioned in the region for a potential strike against Iran in the coming days. The diplomatic drawdown followed reports that dozens of US personnel had been evacuated through Lebanon’s Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport to protect them from a possible Iranian counterattack if tensions between the US and Iran escalate into war. Roughly 30-50 US embassy personnel have left the country, estimates suggest. The US and Iran are scheduled to hold a third round of indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday on limiting Iran’s nuclear programme. Donald Trump has said that he wants a “meaningful deal” that will prevent Iran from seeking to build a nuclear weapon and warned that “bad things” would happen if no deal was made. The US has evacuated personnel from its embassies and military bases as part of its preparations for armed conflict with Iran in the past. In 2025, the US temporarily evacuated non-essential personnel from embassies in Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait before launching strikes on Iranian uranium enrichment and other facilities linked to its nuclear programme. “The Department of State has ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and eligible family members from US embassy Beirut,” a senior state department official said on Monday. “We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel.” “The embassy remains operational with core staff in place,” the statement continued. “This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist US citizens.” US officials have warned that Iran could react by launching missiles at US embassies and military bases, or by greenlighting asymmetrical attacks through its proxy forces in the region. US diplomatic facilities are seen as a likely target for Iranian-backed militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran held joint military drills with Russia last week during which it tested new anti-ship missiles that it could use to shut down the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important trade arteries. Steve Witkoff, the Trump envoy who has led negotiations with Iran, said on Saturday that the president was confused why Iran had not yet “capitulated” in talks over its nuclear programme. “I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrated’, because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious as to … why they haven’t capitulated,” Witkoff said during an interview with Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, aired on Fox News on Saturday. He continued: “Why, under this pressure – with the amount of sea power and naval power over there – why haven’t they come to us and said: ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? And yet, it’s sort of hard to get them to that place.” The US has also begun withdrawing its military from bases in Syria, Reuters reported, citing local sources, in a personnel drawdown from another potential target for an Iranian counterattack. The Trump administration has denied that the evacuation there is related to a potential strike on Iran. The US has sent two aircraft carriers, as well as dozens of warplanes, combat ships, and advanced aircraft including Awacs jets to the region in the largest buildup of US military firepower since before the Iraq war. The USS Gerald Ford, the second aircraft carrier deployed to the region, will be in position in several days and arrived in Souda Bay off of Crete, where the US has a major naval base.

More than 600 migrants die trying to cross Mediterranean so far in 2026, UN says

A least 606 people trying to reach Europe in search of refugee have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026, marking the “deadliest start to a year” in more than a decade, the UN’s migration agency said on Monday. The figure includes at least 30 people who are feared dead or missing after their boat capsized in severe weather off the coast of Greece on Saturday. Authorities rescued 20 people, including four minors, and recovered the bodies of three men and one woman, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said. The boat had left Tobruk, Libya, on 19 February and overturned about 20 nautical miles (37km) south of Kali Limenes, Crete. “This marks the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since IOM began recording such data in 2014,” the agency said, adding that it was “calling for increased search and rescue efforts in the central Mediterranean to save lives and ensure safe disembarkation, as well as for stronger regional cooperation”. In Italy, the bodies of 15 people – believed to have been among the hundreds who drowned while making the treacherous crossing from north African during violent storms in January – have washed up on beaches in Calabria and Sicily over the past week. Students found the body of a man wearing an orange life jacket near Tropea, a popular Calabrian seaside town. The body of a woman was found in the same area. Bodies have also been discovered on the small Sicilian island of Pantellaria. Bishops in Calabria and Sicily attacked migration policies on Sunday, saying the drownings were not isolated tragedies but the result of “inhumane political choices”. “We must stop measuring success by counting only those who arrive, while not considering those who die,” they said. Their condemnation comes a week after Italy’s far-right government approved a bill authorising naval blockades to stop boats from arriving during periods of “exceptional pressure”. It was the latest step in a crackdown on irregular immigration by Giorgia Meloni’s government, which has included tough measures against charity rescue ships, harsher jail terms for human smugglers and schemes intended to swiftly repatriate people. The bill came after the European parliament approved changes to EU asylum rules in response to pressure from member states, including Italy, for a harsher approach. Meloni said her government would deploy every tool at its disposal to “guarantee the security of our borders”. According to figures from Italy’s interior ministry, 66,296 people arrived by boat on Italian coastlines in 2025, slightly fewer than in the previous year and about half the figure for 2023, when Italyenacted and reinforced deals with Libya and Tunisia to stem the number of arrivals.

‘Death to the dictator’: Iranian students hold protests for third day

Students at universities in Iran have held a third consecutive day of protest just over a month after the violent suppression by security services of mass street demonstrations left thousands dead. The protests came amid tensions between Iran and the US. Washington has built up military forces and pressure in the Middle East as it negotiates with Tehran – with the next round in Geneva on Thursday. Donald Trump has warned “really bad things will happen” if there is no deal. Iran would retaliate “ferociously” against any attack, the foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said on Monday. The demonstrations on Monday spread to campuses including all-women Al Zahra University in Tehran, where anti-government slogans were chanted and an Iranian flag was burnt and torn, but did not move to the streets. A Telegram channel for Iranian students, Anjmotahed, said an attack by the Basij state-backed militia at Sharif University in Tehran left several students injured and an ambulance arrived at the campus. Universities have sent text messages to students warning them of disciplinary consequences. In a bid to ridicule Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, some students climbed up trees in the campus and hung toy mice from its branches – a way of saying he was hiding underground like a mouse. Reports said students chanted “death to the dictator”, “for every one killed, a thousand will follow” and “the blood that has been spilled will never be washed away”. Student representatives who met Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, at the weekend told him that it was an insult to claim that terrorists had been responsible for the killings during the January protests. “The response to the people’s protests had been given in bullets,” they said. The renewed protests serve as a further reminder that Trump has not yet fulfilled his pledge to “Iranian patriots” during the January demonstrations that “help is on its way”. Domestic media coverage of the university protests has been kept to a minimum as the authorities directed universities to ban photographed demonstrators from campus. Students in Iran are supposed to be free from police interference, leading to clashes between students and authorities. Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s resident from 1997 to 2005, has called for the release of all those arrested, saying they are accused of nothing but despair and protest. Often seen as less critical of the regime than other reformists, Khatamai’s remarks mark a change from his initial response to the protests, which he said had been engineered by the US and Israel. Separately Iranian reformists complained they had been banned from standing for Tehran city council, the first time such political interference – which is common in parliamentary and presidential politics – had spread to local authority level. Khamenei is facing the gravest crisis of his 36-year tenure, with an economy struggling under the weight of international sanctions and growing unrest since the major protests in January. In a further ominous sign for the government, five political parties representing Iranian Kurds have agreed to form a coalition to bring down the government. The statement said the Iranian government had lost all legitimacy but remained standing due to the fragmentation of the opposition. It said the coalition stood in solidarity with other nations in Iran and are willing to work in solidarity with all opponents of the Islamic Republic. The fragmented signs of internal dissent comes at an awkward time for the government as the secretary of the Supreme National Council Security Council, Ali Larijani, prepares to meet Omani mediators on Tuesday in Muscat ahead of the major talks on a future nuclear deal due to be held in Geneva on Thursday. The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has said Iran will put forward proposals to reassure the US that Iran has no plan or means to build a nuclear bomb. The US willingness to accept Iran’s proposals heavily depends on Trump’s personal response, but Iran appears to be willing to revert to what is known as the Additional Protocol, an agreement that gives the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate enhanced access to Iran’s bombed nuclear sites. In Geneva, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi told the UN Human Rights Council that countries should turn to diplomacy instead of sanctions and war. Speaking at the council session, Gharibabadi warned if war did break out its effects “will not be limited to just the two sides, but will encompass the region”. He said states that have tried “sanctions and war with Iran” should “experience diplomacy and respect”. He added: “It is unfortunate that human rights advocates want to teach the Iranian people, who got rid of the Pahlavi dictatorship 47 years ago, a lesson in democracy!” Iran was on Monday reported to have in December agreed a secret €500m arms deal with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles to help fill the major hole in Iran’s air defences. The agreement, signed in Moscow, commits Russia to deliver 500 man-portable Verba launch units and 2,500 9M336 missiles over three years.

Violence in Mexico after military kills notorious drug cartel boss – a visual guide

Mexico is on alert after cartel gunmen went on a violent rampage of revenge in response to federal forces killing their leader, a notorious mob boss known as “El Mencho”. Authorities had attempted to capture Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes in the western state of Jalisco on Sunday but the raid led to a firefight that fatally wounded the infamous leader and killed six of his accomplices, according to officials. Retaliatory cartel attacks since the raid have killed 25 members of the National Guard and one security guard, according to Mexico’s security minister, Omar García Harfuch. He said 30 cartel operatives were killed as well as one bystander. El Mencho, 59, was one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers. He led the heavily armed Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which had become the country’s most powerful criminal organisation. The defence minister, Ricardo Trevilla said information leading to the capture and death of Mexico’s most-wanted man stemmed from a romantic partner. In the country’s west, schools were closed and international travellers left stranded, as cartel foot soldiers blocked roads by torching cars and buses. Several foreign governments issued travel warnings. The president, Claudia Sheinbaum, urged calm and authorities said all of the more than 250 cartel roadblocks across 20 states had been cleared. It is unclear if the violence will continue. Previous operations to kill or capture organised crime bosses have led to eruptions of bloodshed and chaos, as cartels retaliate against the government. Efforts to remove kingpins have also often left dangerous power vacuums which provoke more bloodshed as rival factions fight for control. David Mora, Mexico analyst for International Crisis Group, said he expected to see violence spike. “El Mencho was a very powerful figure who ran a very centralised organisation. There is no clear direct heir or successor,,” he said. This could create a struggle for control within the group, he added, while other cartels may seize the moment to launch turf wars. Authorities in Puerto Vallarta, a popular seaside tourist destination in Jalisco state, issued public advice to stay indoors when violence erupted. Videos shared on social media showed cars and buildings ablaze in Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, with tourists walking on the beach with smoke rising in the distance. In nearby Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city which is scheduled to be one of the 2026 World Cup host cities, the streets were almost empty on Sunday as fearful residents stayed home. More than 1,000 people were also stuck in Guadalajara’s zoo overnight, according to its director, Luis Soto Rendón, to shield from the chaos outside. . “We decided to let people stay inside the zoo for their safety,” he said. “There are small children and senior citizens.” In a fast moving situation, rumours spread that large airports were shut after videos showed people running for cover in airport halls. The government said that while some flights had been diverted, the airports in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and Tepic were operating normally. The ministry of foreign affairs released a statement on Monday that appeared to be an attempt to reassure people. “In Mexico, the rule of law prevails, and under the leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum, work continues every day to ensure security and wellbeing in our country,” it said. Donald Trump has recently threatened direct military action against cartels and the White House confirmed that the US provided intelligence support to the raid. Mora, of International Crisis Group, said the operation was a way for Sheinbaum to show Trump that Mexico can handle the cartels by itself, without US forces being involved. “This is the Mexican government telling the White House: ‘Look, our strategy is working,’” he said.

Mexican drug cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ tracked through romantic partner

Mexican authorities tracked down and killed “El Mencho”, one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, by following a romantic partner to his safe house near a picturesque mountain town, the country’s defence secretary has revealed. In a press conference, officials provided the first details about the operation that led to the death of the leader of Mexico’s most powerful organised crime group, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The raid on Sunday prompted a surge of retaliatory violence by cartel gunmen, which all but shut down entire areas of western Mexico. The 59-year-old cartel leader, whose real name is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, was fatally injured as the Mexican military attempted to capture him in the operation, which was supported by intelligence from Washington. The US has been pushing its southern neighbour to take more aggressive action against groups trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine. Defence secretary, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, said El Mencho’s bodyguards opened fire on the military as it encircled the cabin in a wooded area outside the town of Tapalpa, about 80 miles south-west of Guadalajara. The gunfire forced a helicopter into an emergency landing – in an echo of a failed 2015 attempt to capture El Mencho, when his gunmen brought down a helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. Fighting continued as El Mencho fled the cabin into a nearby forest, where he was wounded and captured. He died while being transferred for medical treatment in Mexico City. Aside from El Mencho, seven of his men were killed in the firefight, while two soldiers were wounded. Rifles and grenade launchers were seized. The operation immediately set off a wave of violence across Mexico, with cartel gunmen blocking almost 100 major roads, torching vehicles and lashing out at security forces, especially in the states of Jalisco and Michoacán. Security minister, Omar García Harfuch, said that 25 members of the national guard were killed and 14 wounded in those clashes, along with 34 gunmen and one bystander. Another 70 people were arrested across the country. Trevilla confirmed that Hugo César Macías Ureña, alias “El Tuli”, a close ally of El Mencho’s who coordinated the rash of violence after his death – and even offered a bounty for every dead soldier– was also killed in a confrontation. By Monday, authorities reported having cleared all blockades across the country. “Mexico is at peace, calm, and we are working in all the states,” said Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum. However, there were still reports of burning vehicles in Michoacán, and schools remained closed in many states as a precaution. Some airlines are yet to resume normal service to the cities of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, both in Jalisco, which took the brunt of the cartel’s fury. Stephen Woodman, a security analyst in Guadalajara, said the violence “kicked off pretty immediately” as news broke of the operation on Sunday morning. “[These groups] have plans in place to coordinate quickly in the event of a major arrest, to cause the maximum amount of trouble,” he said. “It was quite overwhelming with reports coming in all over the place.” The sense of panic was compounded by the amount of misinformation, some using AI-generated photos and footage, that swirled around social media. “You had to question everything,” he said. As the chaos spread, the Jalisco governor, Pablo Lemus Navarro, urged the state’s 8 million citizens to stay at home and suspended public transport. Woodman ventured out in the late afternoon, once the initial action seemed to have died down. “It was eerily quiet: everything shut, no traffic,” he said. “But there was a very strong smell of smoke in the air.” It was an alarming reminder of the cartel’s capacity to instil fear and panic in Mexico’s second-largest city, which is scheduled to be one of the 2026 World Cup host cities. Other video footage showed tourists on the beach as huge clouds of smoke rose into the skies above Puerto Vallarta, a popular resort city on the west coast known for its spectacular Pacific beaches. Most flights into the city were suspended and international airlines cancelled dozens of trips. Authorities there had issued a public advisory to stay indoors, and routes to airports may be blocked, the UK Foreign Office said in a travel advisory on Monday. The US embassy in Mexico City also issued a security alert, urging citizens to “shelter in place” in affected regions. While less internationally famous than the Sinaloa cartel of the now imprisoned Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Jalisco group is a household name in Mexico, where it is infamous for its displays of ultraviolence and its huge weapon arsenal, which it has shown off in military parades. The cartel, which was founded about 16 years ago, has also been accused of attempting to assassinate Mexican government officials – including García Harfuch, whose car was riddled with hundreds of bullets in an upmarket neighbourhood of Mexico City in 2020, wounding him and killing two of his bodyguards and a bystander. Washington had offered a $15m (£11m) reward for his capture, and the White House confirmed that the US provided intelligence support to the operation. Senior US officials celebrated the killing, which follows months of pressure from Donald Trump over the influx of drugs and migrants across the 1,954-mile (3,145km) border between the two countries. The Trump administration has designated the Jalisco cartel as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, and the US president has even threatened direct military action against cartels that he has claimed “are running Mexico”. Writing on X, Christopher Landau, the US deputy secretary of state, called El Mencho “one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins”. He posted: “This is a great development for Mexico, the US, Latin America, and the world.” While the killing may relieve pressure on the Mexican president from Trump, it will also create a cartel power vacuum. Sheinbaum has previously criticised the discredited “war on drugs” strategy, in which military action often triggers major violence only for new cartel leaders to emerge. Chris Dalby, an organised crime expert who has written a book about the Jalisco cartel, said one of the biggest questions now facing Mexico was who – if anyone – would fill the dead criminal’s boots. “If no one can, if the CJNG finally splinters, you have four or five different lieutenants with the manpower, the weaponry and the criminal empires to build their own fiefdoms – and that could plunge Mexico into almost record levels of violence,” Dalby said. Some sources have cited El Mencho’s stepson, Juan Carlos, as a possible successor with enough backing to hold the cartel together. “If [he] can unite the CJNG we may avoid that kind of civil war,” Dalby said, although he believed that was far from guaranteed.

Diplomatic failure in the run-up to war in Ukraine | Letters

Shaun Walker’s outstanding piece of work on the run-up to the Russian invasion in 2022 (A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them, 21 February) is by no means the only example of defence and intelligence analysts foreseeing catastrophic acts of war. Ironically, one of the classic examples, exhaustively analysed, is the US failure to anticipate the deadly Japanese attack on Hawaii, with all its monstrous consequences, despite a myriad of clear signals. David Kahn, the US historian and author, attributes this fatal myopia to “mirroring”, which made analysts incapable of imagining Japanese tactics. Couple this with Simon Tisdall’s typically forensic article on the diplomatic failure since 2022 (Ukraine is the biggest and most consequential of all the American betrayals, 21 February) to demonstrate how out of touch the Nato top brass and their acolytes were recently in frantically calling for massive rearmament. The evolution of the war reflects far more on failed diplomacy and the increasing vulnerability of traditional military logistics to soft power and anarchic warfare. The drones steer the war while the heavy artillery merely pulverises infrastructure, resulting in a costly stalemate. There can now be no doubt, as Tisdall has argued so consistently, that there is a fatal weakness in the west, but it is in the level of commitment and ability to seek diplomatic, financial and intelligence routes to overthrow Vladimir Putin. The generals, meanwhile, are dinosaurs. Neil Blackshaw Alnwick, Northumberland • Thanks for your intelligence profile of the lead up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The points about US and British intelligence lacking credibility due to false information about the Iraq war are important to remember. Unsurprisingly, no one in either government seems to understand why no one took their advice on board. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but think, if they were so certain in the UK, why the chaotic response to the post-invasion human displacement? In 2022, when intelligence became reality, the EU gave fleeing Ukrainians the right to live and work there for three years. The UK kept its doors closed and demanded visas, while also providing no visa service in Ukraine. The Home Office minister for safe and legal migration, Kevin Foster, scrambled to address the catastrophe, tweeting about the “seasonal work scheme”. The government then rolled out programmes that relied on the goodwill of the UK population to assist traumatised refugees. Four years later, Ukrainians still have none of the legal rights or recognition of refugees, despite the word being repeated ad nauseam by politicians. Ukrainians are in perpetual limbo – neither refugees nor migrants – and must renew the right to reside here every 18 months. Try building a career, renting a house or even getting an education with that slim “legal” status hanging over you. These policies show it isn’t just Europe that wasn’t paying attention. Edie Shillue Belfast • If by 2021 UK and US intelligence “had it right all along” about a decision by Russia for an invasion of Ukraine, as your special report says, did the British government seriously think that by sending the then foreign secretary Liz Truss to ride a tank in Estonia that November, they would frighten Vladimir Putin’s military into abandoning the invasion that came three months later? Mark Lewinski-Grende Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Chickens coming home to roost in eastern Europe | Letters

Of all the disappointments, betrayals and incompetence of Keir Starmer’s government, none is greater than the naive sycophancy shown to Donald Trump over Ukraine and much else. So, Simon Tisdall is absolutely correct: it is high time for European nations, especially the UK, to “tell Trump to get lost” and to take far more positive action to support the Ukrainians in their resistance to Russian aggression (Ukraine is the biggest and most consequential of all the American betrayals, 21 February). But it is not only Trump – and to an extent his predecessors – at fault. In the 1980s and 90s, when the reformers, Mikhail Gorbachev et al, were trying to bring a “new Russia” and a new European detente into being, and when subsequently the USSR collapsed, the west had the opportunity to support democratic reforms and to begin the dissolution of Nato and the Warsaw Pact. Those of us in European Nuclear Disarmament and the wider peace movement were urging support for this embryonic reform process in eastern Europe and a peace-oriented foreign policy in western European governments. Instead, the west facilitated the rise of “gangster capitalism” in Russia, and extended Nato’s frontier eastwards, thus enabling the rise of paranoid authoritarians, notably Vladimir Putin. Chickens are now coming home to roost. Richard Taylor Pooley Bridge, Cumbria • Simon Tisdall is spot on about the American betrayal of Ukraine. In February 1939 Eleanor Rathbone, MP for the Combined English Universities constituency, defined appeasement as “a clever plan of selling your friends in order to buy off your enemies”. It is worse today. Over Greenland the US, like Russia, is acting as a predatory hegemon. Rev Canon John Longuet-Higgins Hartpury, Gloucestershire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

‘Political sabotage’: EU leaders accuse Hungary of undermining support for Ukraine

European leaders have accused Hungary of sabotaging support for Ukraine on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, after a defiant Budapest blocked fresh economic measures against Moscow. Germany, France and other EU states failed to persuade Viktor Orbán’s government on Monday to approve the latest EU sanctions package and a loan meant to help Kyiv meet its military and financial needs. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, described Hungary’s actions as “political sabotage”. The row threatens to overshadow a carefully choreographed display of solidarity between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his key European partners. Several EU leaders are expected to visit Kyiv on Tuesday, including the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The anniversary follows a brutal and freezing winter in which Russia has systematically dismantled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with drone and ballistic missile attacks, leaving millions without power. Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv have been badly affected. Despite worsening conditions for civilians, the mood in the capital is surprisingly upbeat. In interviews this week Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine was “definitely not losing”. Since late January his armed forces have recaptured 400 sq km in the south of the country. A further round of peace talks are expected to take place in Geneva later this week, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, indicated. Budanov admitted it was no secret the negotiations with Russia, brokered by the US, “aren’t going smoothly”. “We are clearly moving forward,” he said. So far, the Kremlin has refused to modify its original maximalist demands. It wants Ukraine to hand over the entire Donbas region, including areas Russia does not control. Zelenskyy has ruled this out, despite coming under pressure from Donald Trump’s envoys to agree. Speaking to the BBC, Zelenskyy said giving up Donetsk oblast would mean “abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there”. He suggested Putin had “already started world war three”, adding: “The question is how much territory he [Putin] will be able to seize and how to stop him.” European countries have stepped up assistance to Ukraine after the White House last year ended all direct military aid. But their efforts have been sabotaged by Hungary and Slovakia, close US allies and the most Moscow-friendly members of the EU. Both depend heavily on Russian oil imports. Budapest says it will block further sanctions against Russia until Ukraine resumes the delivery of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. On Monday, Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico said he was cutting emergency assistance to Ukraine because of the halt in oil deliveries. Ukraine says the Kremlin is responsible for the interruption. It claims Russian bombs knocked out the pipeline last month. On Monday, Ukrainian long-range drones damaged an oil pumping station in Russia’s Tatarstan region, which is part of the Druzhba network. Arriving for a meeting in Brussels, Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, complained that Ukraine was behaving in “a very hostile manner” towards his country. “Please ask Ukrainians why they have stopped the oil deliveries to Hungary,” he said, accusing the European Commission of siding with Kyiv. Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, hit out at Hungary’s decision to block a €90bn (£79bn) loan to Ukraine. It was “shocking”, he suggested, given the fact that Budapest was itself invaded in the 20th century by Soviet troops. He said Orbán’s anti-Ukrainian rhetoric was aimed at a domestic audience, before elections in March. Sikorski added: “I would have expected a much greater feeling of solidarity from Hungary for Ukraine. Instead the ruling party has managed to create a climate of hostility towards the victim of aggression, and … now is trying to exploit that in the general election.” Other senior European figures paid tribute to Ukraine’s resilience. Speaking at a pro-Kyiv event in Berlin, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Tuesday’s anniversary marked “four monstrous years of war”. “I appeal again to our European partners – do not let up in your support, in our common support, for Ukraine,” he said. Merz added: “We are standing at a crossroads that could decide on the wellbeing of our whole continent. No one can say today whether the weapons will fall silent in Ukraine in six weeks, in six months or even later. But we are working for them to fall silent as quickly as possible.” The French president, Emmanuel Macron, described his country’s commitment to Ukraine as “unwavering” during a meeting with Finland’s leader, Alexander Stubb, another significant Ukraine booster. Putin “is not winning the war” but is not ready to make peace either, Stubb said in Paris. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK and the man considered to be the best-placed challenger to Zelenskyy in a future presidential election, sought to downplay any immediate interest in the country’s top job – though he did not rule out running after the end of the war. Following a speech in London, Zaluzhnyi said suggestions that he wanted to pursue the presidency amounted to “pub talk” – and said he did not have “the slightest chance to think about what happens after the war”. Only after the end of martial law in Ukraine could there be “discussion about my personal future”, he said. In a report on Monday, the World Bank estimated Ukraine needs $588bn (£435bn) to rebuild from the destruction caused by Russia’s all-out 2022 attack. The figure is 12% higher than last year. The frontline Donetsk and Kharkiv regions would require the most investment, while Kyiv would need $15bn to recover, it said.