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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway.

We are recording this at 14 hours GMT on Thursday the 29th of February.

In his state of the nation address ahead of elections next month

President Putin says Russia has the upper hand in Ukraine. Hamas health officials say

more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, and South Korean doctors

refused to return to work despite the threat of possible arrest.

Also in the podcast, France moves a step closer to becoming the first country to

entrine the right to abortion in its constitution and... I'm a leap year baby and

I'm always amazed how many people don't know really what it is.

They kind of know it's that weird extra day you get every few years but

everyone's always quite wow I've never met a leap year baby before.

The people who can only celebrate their birthday once quite wow I've never met a leap baby before.

The people who can only celebrate their birthday once every four years.

But first, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine now into its third year President Putin has

said his forces have the upper hand. In his state of the nation speech ahead of elections

next month he claimed most Russians backed what he called

the war in eastern Ukraine but after the French president recently refused to

...