The first meeting between the US and China during the G20 summit, two years after Biden’s election: Russian invaders, the Ukrainian railways, and the crisis of Ukraine
Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a columnist for The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views she expresses are her own. CNN has more opinion on it.
The president of the US and the leader of China met for the first time on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Monday, two years after Biden was elected.
If democracy is good in the US, it will be disappointing to other autocrats hoping that deep divisions in the country will show that democracy is not as good as their system would have you believe. The midterms brought the American President to the table with a stronger hand to play.
The perfect moment for this meeting to occur was from the standpoint of the United States and for democracy, and there is more to this than the US House of Representatives and Senate.
The president of Ukraine returned to Kherson, the one provincial capital that Russian invaders had captured, as Biden and China’s president were meeting.
Kamyshin is taciturn and has a ready supply of one-liners. He said it was very fast to get trains to Mariupol, a city being flattened by Russian bombardments. He says the government had contingency plans in case of war, even though the full-scale Russian invasion wasn’t unexpected. The plan of the Ukrainian Railways is always there. That plan was on paper and that led to the problem. It was not relevant.
Putin and Xi, the world’s leading autocrats, looked ascendant, unstoppable even. The Western democracies appeared to have been roiled by often violent protests against Covid-19 restrictions. There was a plan for victory in Ukraine. Xi was hosting the Olympics, basking in attention, and preparing to solidify his control of China.
The adventures of Putin turned into a disaster, as the Ukrainians retained their country with surprising resilience and as Biden and his allies launched a strong push to back the country.
Tellingly, Putin chose not to attend the G20 summit in Bali, avoiding confrontations with world leaders as he increasingly becomes a pariah on the global stage.
Zelensky, Putin and the Future: A Conversation with Xi Biden in Washington, D.C., April 21st, 2000
Biden is only one of the many leaders with a strong hand. China has a new leader with a third term and he can rule for as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about elections, about a critical press or a vociferous opposition party. He is essentially the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.
There are a lot of tough problems that Xi has to face. China is hesitant to reveal economic data because of the slowed down economy. China’s Covid-19 vaccine, once a tool of global diplomacy, is a disappointment. And partly because of that, China is imposing draconian lockdowns as the rest of the world gradually returns to normalcy after the pandemic.
Demonstrating that democracy works, defeating efforts of authoritarian countries such as China and Russia to undermine it and proving that wars of aggression, aimed at suppressing democracy and conquer territory, won’t succeed are two things that are crucial in the competition between the two systems.
A global affairs analyst named Michael Bociurkiw is currently based in Odesa. He is an associate fellow at the Atlantic Council and used to work for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a regular contributor to CNN Opinion. The opinions he gives in this commentary are of his own. CNN has more opinion.
Zelensky said the swap of prisoners with Russia was a first step towards ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which claimed the lives of over 14,000 people, at the time.
In Paris, I saw Zelensky pull up to the lysée Palace in a small car while Putin drove in a limo. The host, the French President, did not hug Putin but shook hands with Zelensky.
Beyond the man himself, there is Zelensky the brand. It’s almost impossible these days to dissociate the Ukrainian leader from his olive green t-shirts; worn when meeting everyone from Vogue journalists to military commanders and world leaders.
Zelensky: The first Ukrainian politician to lead a war in Ukraine, and what he learned from his victory in Kyiv
Failure to demonstrate progress on the battlefield with the billions of dollars worth of military kit could cause unease among Western backers. capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.
Zelensky was shaped into a kid who learned to respond to being bullied by growing up in the rough and tumble neighborhoods of Central Ukraine.
“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.
This, after all, is the leader who when offered evacuation by the US as Russia launched its full-scale invasion, quipped: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Amid the fog of war, it all seems a long, long way since the heady campaign celebration in a repurposed Kyiv nightclub where a fresh-faced Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.
As Russian troops began to amass on Ukraine’s borders in the weeks preceding the February assault, around 55% of Ukrainians said they didn’t trust Zelensky to lead them into war. It was probably influenced by not keeping some of his campaign promises, and failing to launch an effective fight against corruption in the judiciary.
He is in a group that includes people he used to work with in the entertainment industry, as a TV comedian. Even during a war, a press conference on the platform of a metro station does not need to be boring.
As for his skills as comforter in chief, I remember well the solace his nightly televised addresses brought in the midst of air raid sirens and explosions in Lviv.
The Zelensky legacy revisited: How Putin and the Russian government grappled with geopolitical physics and economic crises
“By wearing T-shirts and hoodies, the youthful, egalitarian uniform of Silicon Valley, rather than suits, Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such,” Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian and author of “Red, White, and Blue on the Runway: The 1968 White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style,” told NPR.
Zelenska has shown she is an effective communication in international fora with her smarts, style and levelheadedness. She met with King Charles during a visit to a refugee assistance center in London. Zelenska was not included on the cover of Time magazine, even though the supporting text gave reference to her.
Despite the strong tailwinds at Zelensky’s back, there are subtle signs that his international influence could be dwindling. For example, last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7 imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude – despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 in order to inflict more pain on the Kremlin.
Within Ukraine, the economy continues to stumble from the impact of war and persistent missile and drone attacks on critical power infrastructure – including at least 76 strikes on Friday. Ukrainians are enduring long periods without heat, electricity and water during the winter. If the Ukrainians can defeat Russia, they are prepared to endure hardship for at least two to five years.
All this adds up to a complex path ahead for the Zelensky administration, especially if liberating Crimea from Russia is part of the definition of victory envisioned by most Ukrainians. The tough guy from the town shows no sign of changing his mind for the time being.
“Paradoxically, Zelensky achieved the thing that Putin most wanted to achieve but failed … to rally support domestically with a patriotic war in order to deflect and distract from his abject failures at home. Michael Popow, a New York-based business analyst, told me that Putin felt that being shown up by a comedian must be painful for him.
As Zelensky said in a recent nightly video address: “No matter what the aggressor intends to do, when the world is truly united, it is then the world, not the aggressor, determines how events develop.”
At the security conference on Saturday, Beijing’s top diplomat referred to the conflict in Ukraine as a war and said that Beijing was ready to present its peace proposal.
He said that Moscow would have to face prosecution at an international court if they wanted to invite Russia to the summit.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the U.S. embassy: a warm welcome to the United States, a long-time friend of Ukraine
Kuleba also said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the results of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. last week, and he revealed that the U.S. government had made a special plan to get the Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. The training can take up to a year.
Kuleba said during the interview at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023, adding that diplomacy always plays an important role.
This summit isn’t about making a favor to a particular country, but it could be held at the United Nations. “It’s about bringing everybody on board.”
At the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Kuleba said: “He is an efficient mediator and an efficient Negotiating, and most importantly, he is a man of principle and integrity.” We would be glad to have his active participation.
“They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.
Zelenskyy’s trip to the U.S. was his first overseas trip since the war started. Kuleba praised Washington’s efforts and underlined the significance of the visit.
“This shows how both the United States are important for Ukraine, but also how Ukraine is important for the United States,” said Kuleba, who was part of the delegation to the U.S.
State of Ukraine: Preparing for the War in Ukraine and the Security and Security Processes in the Nearby World – The Case of Ukraine
He said that the U.S. government developed a program for the missile battery to complete the training faster than usual “without any damage to the quality of the use of this weapon on the battlefield.”
While Kuleba didn’t mention a specific time frame, he said only that it will be “very much less than six months.” And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine.
Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying the message of Ukraine in the war and needs an international audience.
Russia should be stripped of its membership in the United Nations and exclusion from the world body, argued Ukraine on Monday. Kuleba said they have long “prepared for this step to uncover the fraud and deprive Russia of its status.”
The UN Security Council was reconstituted after the demise of the Soviet Union, but Russian never completed the legal procedure necessary for membership.
In a surprise Europe tour, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met leaders in London, Paris, and Brussels and made a call for allied fighter jets to support his country.
On the ground. There were Russian attacks on the central Poltava region as well as the Bilohorivka and Kreminna areas in the eastern Luhansk region, Ukrainian officials said. Several civilians were injured in Russian rocket attacks, according to the General Staff. Heavy shelling could be heard on the Luhansk-Kharkiv border.
For the second year in a row, the Ambassador to the United States of Ukraine attended President Biden’s State of the Union speech but the war in Ukraine received far less attention.
There’s “strong indication” Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead to supply anti-aircraft weapons to separatists in Ukraine, according to the international team investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
You can read past recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. You can also listen to the State of Ukraine podcast and get updates throughout the day.
The Russian War on Crime and Human Rights in China’s Proposed Solution to the Ukraine–Russian War as Seen by the Deputy Minister of State Wang
Territorial and sovereignty integrity of all countries will be respected in China’s proposal, Wang said, adding that Beijing will continue to work for peace.
Throughout his visit to Europe and Russia, Mr. Wang’s public comments have reflected China’s fraught efforts to maintain Beijing’s close strategic alignment with Moscow.
And European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told CNN on Saturday: “We need more proof that China isn’t working with Russia, and we aren’t seeing that now.”
On Friday, Beijing released a 12-point position on the “political solution” to the crisis in a document calling for peace talks to end the year-long war. The release was criticized by Western leaders who said that China had already taken Russia.
With China’s growing diplomatic clout on the world stage and its ambition to challenge the US-led global order in mind, this week’s visit to Russia by the leader of the country is a timely opportunity to showcase it.
Ukrainians pushed Russian troops back even after they were expected to fall in the days after the invasion. They’ve continued to fight. Russia is focused on taking land in Ukraine’s east. Both sides have gained territory over the course of the year but now the war seems to be at a turning point.
The chairman of the Joint Service believes that this is a critical moment. The battlefield is difficult, and as bloody, and it’s going to play a big part in both President Zelenskyy and President Putin’s decisions as to whether or not to go.
“For whom do we document all these crimes?” The head of the Center for Civil Liberties told us. “Because I’m not a historian, I’m a human rights lawyer, and we document human pain in order sooner or later to have all these Russians … brought to justice.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu in the Wake of the Third World War and the Challenge for the Rules of Law in the Context of the Rule of Law
Speaking to NPR’s Leila Fadel, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said his country is learning lessons from the war in Ukraine and keeping a wary eye on China.
They are expansionist motivated. They want to continue to expand their sphere of influence. They are going to keep expanding their power. If they are not stopped, they will continue marching, according to the man.
In the past year, the West has funneled billions in aid and weapons to Ukraine because the outcome has global consequences. Victory by Russia could mean new rules to the world order that global powers have lived by to avoid a third world war.
This moment finds the U.S. negotiating worsening foreign policy crises with former Cold War adversaries in the Kremlin and a new adversary in the form of a Chinese leader. The international rule of law is under scrutiny by both these rivals and they are rejecting the same norms that have underpinned the international system for decades.
Natalia’s family car is shelled by Russian forces in the first days of the Ukrainian War: How Chinese President Biden could support Russia?
Natalia believes the family car was shelled by the Russian forces in the first days of the war. Her husband was killed with her nephew. Vova survived the attack but was hospitalized for months with seven bullets in his body.
The audio for this story was edited and produced by Danny Hajek. Carol Klinger is involved with additional editing and production help. Hanna Palamarenko and Tanya Ustova provided reporting and translation help.
Russian military pundits were angry and embarrassed at the surprise visit by President Joe Biden toUkraine on Monday, as they tried to understand how he could possibly support the Russian invasion of the country.
The sharpening of the fault lines between Russia and China is underscored by the two trips that took place just a few days before the anniversary of the war.
The accusations would mark a major escalation of China’s support for Russia in the midst of a war that could easily spiral out of control.
Wang said that China doesn’t want to add fuel to the fire and that it’s against reaping benefits from the crisis.
There are many reasons why China may not be in a hurry to see the war in Ukraine end.
He asked Europeans to think about what role Europe should play in bringing lasting peace to Europe.
The trip to Moscow could help convince some in Europe to take a more America-skeptic position on questions of security and economic cooperation, according to Rana Mitter, a professor of Chinese history and politics at the University of Oxford.
The Impossible Phenomenology of the Russia-China War on the Bald, the High Desert, and the Prospects for Peace
“The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship,” Blinken said.
The US was slammed by the Foreign Ministry of China for blaming and spreading false information.
Any effort by China to supply arms for the Ukraine war would not shift the strategic balance of the battlefield – but it would be a grave and hostile new front for the US-China rivalry.
“Who is calling for dialogue and peace? And who is handing out knives and encouraging confrontation? The international community can see what’s going on.
CNN reports that the US officials were concerned enough with the intel to share it with their allies and partners. According to the US readout, the issue was raised and warned of its consequences in a meeting with Wang on the sidelines of the conference.
Previously, Beijing had carefully avoided actions that could trigger secondary sanctions, which would deal a devastating blow to an economy hampered by three years of costly zero-Covid policy.
Though Beijing claimed impartiality in the conflict and no advance knowledge of Russia’s intent, it has refused to condemn Moscow and parroted Kremlin lines blaming NATO for provoking the conflict.
Despite its claims of neutrality and calls for peace talks, Beijing has offered Moscow much-needed diplomatic and economic support throughout the invasion.
Mr. Wang arrived in Moscow this week after a tour of Western Europe, where he sought to persuade European leaders that Beijing is not supporting Mr. Putin’s war and wants to encourage a peaceful exit from the fighting.
“Biden in [Kyiv]. Russian journalist Sergey Mardan wrote on his Telegram channel about the humiliation of Russia. “Tales of miraculous hypersonics may be left for children. It’s like spells about the holy war we are having with the entire West.
A former Federal Security Service (FSS) officer has suggested that Biden could have visited the front lines in eastern Ukraine and escaped unharmed.
“Wouldn’t be surprised if the grandfather (he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway) is brought to Bakhmut as well… AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM,” Girkin said.
Some of them have hundreds of thousands of followers, and provide analysis of the conflict for large swaths of the Russian population, but many of them have criticized what they consider to be a soft approach on the battlefield by the generals.
CNN has reached out to the Kremlin, which has not yet publicly commented on Biden’s trip. The trip was dismissed by the former Russian President.
Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, is known for making belligerent pronouncements in an apparent bid to shore up his nationalist credentials.
The debate about Biden’s visit will be a distraction for Putin, who will discuss the ongoing invasion in a speech to the Federal Assembly on Tuesday.
The Kremlin informed reporters that foreigners will not be invited to the event but that participants of the military operation will be.
Putin is expected to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine in the coming weeks, more than one year after he began Europe’s biggest land war since World War II with a failed assault on Kyiv and central Ukraine.
Biden made a dramatic visit to Kyiv on Monday, which was accompanied by wailing air raid sirens, and his speech in Warsaw on the same day reinforced the West’s support forUkrainian resistance to Russia.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, at the Kremlin on Wednesday, working to keep China in Russia’s corner amid a flurry of diplomacy across Europe by Beijing.
In the days before his visit to Moscow, the Chinese president wrote an article for a Russian newspaper saying that the two countries have fostered a new model of major-country relations.
The U.S.-Russia War in Kiev: President Biden, the West, and the Ukrainian People’s Love for the Country, and What the West Has to Say
This new foreign policy picture is not just a problem for the American diplomats. With the amount of US and Western weaponry sent to Ukraine decreasing, questions exist about military capacity and whether defense spending is sufficient. Key Republicans meanwhile are accusing Biden of snubbing voters facing economic and other problems, even as he tries to position Democrats as the protectors of working Americans as the 2024 campaign dawns.
And Biden vowed, “President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail, and the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail,” he added.
That could be the case. Putin made clear in his speech that there would be no end to the war soon. The war was crucial to Russia’s existence and part of an effort by the West to attack it, he told the Russians, who were also warned that further bloodshed would be set in motion if Russia did not prevail.
To Western ears, Putin seems to be living in an alternative reality. Biden stated that he spoke to the people of Russia. The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today.”
The leader of the Russian state will probably be watching Biden’s involvement in the war with conservatives in the US. On the day that Biden was with Ukrainians in Kyiv, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implied that the future of the country would not be a priority for him in the White House.
“The fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that, and steamrolling, that has not even come close to happening,” DeSantis said on Fox. “I think they have shown themselves to be a third-rate military power.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/politics/president-biden-vladmir-putin-china-ukraine/index.html
Biden’s visit to the United Nations highlights the status of the nuclear deal with the US and the role of its nuclear ties with China
The fact that Biden visited shows that the estrangement between the US and Russia is almost over.
In the paper, Beijing said nuclear weapons would not be allowed and that talks should start as soon as possible. The nuclear treaty with the US was suspended by Putin this week.
Russia doesn’t have enough resources to start a new arms race with the US given that it’s struggling and its forces are under intense pressure. But the collapse of one of the last building blocks of a post-Cold War thaw between Russia and the US exemplifies the almost total lack of communication between the rivals.
Even if the war in the Ukraine ends, there will still be no return to normal ties between Washington and Moscow because the Biden administration accused Russia of crimes against humanity.
The US Secretary of State said Tuesday the US would be willing to discuss the nuclear situation with Russia even though other things were happening.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that such a step would cross a US red line but did not specify what consequences could result.
China, which has its own economic problems, may be unwilling to risk US sanctions that could result from sending arms to Moscow. Beijing might have an interest in prolonging it because it could distract the US and its military resources from Biden’s growing efforts to respond to China’s dominance in Asia.
The long-dragging conflict could drive into Europe the divisions of the US and it could affect China’s foreign policy goals. Biden may be less able to fulfill his foreign policy goals on the global stage due to political dissent in Washington.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin meets Wang Yi in Moscow: A show of unity as NATO escalates in the Ukraine crisis and promoting dialogue between Russia and China
In this photograph, provided by Russian state media, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, at the Kremlin in Moscow on Wednesday.
Mr. Putin is looking to shore up alliances as the Ukraine war approaches its first anniversary and the early stages of Russia’s new offensive to swallow up territory appear to be sputtering. The NATO members from the alliance’s eastern flank were gathering in Warsaw in a show of unity, as Mr. Putin and Mr. Wang met.
In his opening remarks Mr. Putin noted the economic aspects of the relationship between Russia and China and said that they could reach 200 billion dollars by the year’s end.
“Everything is moving forward, developing, we are reaching new frontiers,” Mr. Putin said. We are talking about economic issues.
China helped broker a deal to reestablish diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A position paper by the Chinese government laying out principles for resolving the Ukraine conflict was published in February. And on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China would “play a constructive role in urging peace and promoting talks.”
Kamyshin and the First Train From Kyiv to Krasnoyarsk: Magic Days of the First Ukrainian Railways
After Russian troops left Kherson on November 11th, Alexander Kamyshin, CEO of the Ukrainian Railways, came with some railway workers and some special forces to the city. They reached the central train station before the regular army arrived to protect the city. Six days later, the first train from Kyiv rolled into liberated Kherson.
Kamyshin says that it was a magic day. The people were moving their hands while seeing the train. Trust me, it was unforgettable. That’s one of the days to remember forever.”
Kamyshin and Ukraine’s rail workers have had to make countless small, but enormously consequential decisions that weren’t part of the pre-invasion script. They abandoned ticketing in order to make it easy for anyone who needed to travel. The trains were slowed to make sure there were no casualties in case of an accident. They changed the rules on pets so that evacuees could bring them as they fled—Ukraine Railways estimates 120,000 animals have traveled over the past 12 months.
During the first three weeks of the war last year, as Russian troops pushed into central and southern Ukraine, the railway’s main focus was on evacuations and on moving humanitarian aid into towns and cities being bombed and shelled. Passenger trains went west toward the Polish border carrying refugees, then returned to the front filled with supplies.
In Mariupol, a port city on the Black Sea close to the Russian border that was bombarded relentlessly until resistance finally collapsed in May 2022, rail workers managed to get trains in and out several times before the tracks were destroyed. The stranded crews were able to flee by road, but two trains are stuck there.
The Ukrainian crisis: How will the West help us? – Vladimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, at a news conference in Kyiv
“Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukrainian crisis,” the paper stated. The peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported and encouraged.
“There isn’t much leverage involved. The document lays out broad, general principles, but no real reason why you might want to cease and desist, right? There is no big appeal in the thing you are getting. Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said there is no big cost if you don’t comply.
But the Chinese position paper also took several digs at the West for its approach to the war. It says unilateral sanctions only create more problems, and it called for the abandonment of a so-called “cold war mentality”.
KYIV, Ukraine — In a wide-ranging, hourslong news conference in a basement in the heart of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he was confident his country could win the war this year, expressed hope that China would not provide lethal military aid to Russia and implored Israel to get off the fence and side with his nation.
He kept asking about China and calling out allies if he felt they could be doing more to help Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky initially ignored the question about the reports that Beijing was considering giving Moscow lethal weapons. When it was raised a second time, he said that working to ensure China did not arm Russia was one of his top priorities.
Mr. Zelensky had the question translated a second time and then engaged the reporter directly, telling her that it was not about geography or geopolitics but basic principles.
The fate of Israel and Ukraine in the early years of the Cold War: a conversation with Mr. Zelensky in Beijing, China, and in Moscow
Does China believe that innocents should not be killed? There should be no occupation of a nuclear power plant. Is that respect for the rights of a nation enough for an invader to leave?
He said he is already starting public diplomatic relations, but switched to English to stress that he is open to direct talks with China. We have many issues, so we have to speak to each other.
Iran is already providing attack drones to Russia, and the West has warned the Moscow is also seeking to acquire ballistic missiles. It was in this context that Mr. Zelensky was asked about Israel. Why are Israel and Ukraine not stronger allies?
He said that he understood Israel’s long and complex history with Russia but said that he had wished for Israel to take a firmer stance against it since the start of the war.
The Ukrainian leader said the darkest moment of the war for him personally was when he saw the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers for the first time, in Bucha. “It was horrible,” he said.
Over more than two and half hours, questions about how and when Ukraine could win the war, were the most frequent — even if that answer would only be determined on the battlefield.
Russian-Brussan President Alexander Lukashenko meets China on a State-Dependently-Induced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
The United States had warned that Beijing may be considering assisting Moscow in its assault on Ukrainian soil, as China prepares to welcome Putin for a state visit.
Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko is scheduled to hold talks with Chinese officials in Beijing from Tuesday to Thursday at the invitation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China’s Foreign Ministry announced Sunday.
His trip comes after the two leaders agreed to upgrade their countries’ ties to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” during a September meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan, which Putin also attended.
The visit from Lukashenko, a man who allowed Russian troops to use his country for their initial incursion intoUkraine, coincides with growing tensions between the US and China, which could be related to fears that Beijing is about to supply lethal aid to the Kremlin.
In an interview with Chinese state news agency Xinhua released ahead of his visit, Lukashenko is cited as saying the position paper was a testimony to China’s peaceful foreign policy and a new and original step that would have a far-reaching impact.
The European Union not recognizing the results of Lukashenko’s election win sparked mass pro-democracy protests in the country, and led to a brutal government crackdown.
Last year, trade between the two countries went up by more than thirty percent, to more than five billion dollars, due to the Belt and Road development initiative launched a decade ago.
In a call between China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Sergei Aleinik of Belarus on Friday, China pledged its support for the country in its efforts to safeguard national stability and development.
The Ukrainian forces are mostly holding their positions in the east of the country at a high price, according to one commander.
There are no Serbian nationals in the group of mercenaries in Ukraine, according to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the group. The Serbian President accused him of trying to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine.
Xi & Putin: China as a major global power and peacekeeper in the coming era of the Second World Confinement Summit
But in many Western capitals the optics of the visit will look very different – two autocrats who have long described themselves as firm friends shaking hands and banqueting while a conflagration in Europe rages.
And it comes just days after China scored a major diplomatic victory by brokering a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, helping the two archrivals restore diplomatic ties.
The International Criminal Court charged Putin and his children’s rights commissioner with crimes. The court said the two are “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation” and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia.
China’s top leader will now be dining with a suspected war criminal whom he has called a “best friend,” and affirming his “no limits” partnership with a global pariah whose brutal invasion has killed tens of thousands of people and wreaked havoc on the global economy.
For Xi, who this month locked up a rare third term as China’s president, the Russia trip offers a chance to strengthen relations with a key neighbor and partner-of-convenience. At the same time, the trip could help burnish China’s credentials as a global heavyweight.
American officials say they are watching for signs that China is giving weapons to Russia during the upcoming summit between President Xi and President Putin.
The Moscow trip will be focused on improving China-Russia relations. And for Xi, that means it will most likely be a win, says Suisheng Zhao, a professor at the University of Denver.
In a signed article, which was published in Russian state media Monday, the man who will be in Russia in two weeks vows to open a new chapter in Sino-Russian relations.
The People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, published a letter the same day from Putin filled with praise for “Comrade Xi” and his view that Western powers will one day come for China.
Brian Hart, who is a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Xi is hoping to portray China as a major global power and peacekeeper during his trip.
The timing of the long-anticipated meeting is no coincidence, as it allows the Chinese leader to capitalize on the momentum of Beijing’s recent diplomatic win in the Middle East to shape – or give the appearance of shaping – the trajectory of the war in Ukraine, he said.
The war will be a lot taller than was previously thought. Hart said that the key question was whether or not the Chinese leader tried to shape Russia’s behavior in the war.
Days before the visit, the Russian defense military said Russia, China and Iran have completed three-way naval exercises in the Arabian Sea – sending a powerful message of defiance to the Western alliance.
The plan only generated a warm reception from Moscow and Kyiv, and was criticized by the west for lacking substance – and failing even to recognize Russia’s violation ofUkraine sovereignty.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said any framework offered by Beijing would be “one sided and reflect only the Russian perspective.”
“Neither Moscow nor Kyiv appear ready to make the concessions needed to bring the war to an end, and that is not something Beijing can fundamentally change,” he said.
Beijing is not the only country looking for a solution to the nuclear problem: China’s president Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow
The Biden administration said it is watching China’s President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow “very, very closely” as top officials express concerns about any calls for a ceasefire at this time.
“These are two countries that don’t have a heck of a whole lot of trust between one another, but they find common cause in pushing back on the West, in pushing back on American leadership,” he said.
China’s leader Xi Jinping lands in Moscow on Monday to show support for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and probe possible steps toward peace in Ukraine.
A China expert said that he doesn’t have to achieve much to accomplish this goal as he can cast his visit to Moscow in the context of some grand international diplomacy.
“The mood has been set.” The framework has been set. The idea is that China might be able to make peace where other countries can’t. But the actual solution still looks in some ways much, much more vague, much more fluid,” said Mitter.
The Chinese are not really aiming to be the real problem-solver in this situation, according to a senior fellow at the Stimson Center.
Haenle, of the Carnegie Endowment, says during the Six Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, in which he took part, Beijing excelled at bringing negotiators to the table. But he says Chinese officials rarely pressed any of the parties to move the ball down the field.
“We always believed that the United States, South Korea, Japan and other countries were trying to find a way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue and the Chinese were looking for something to do with that,” he said.
U.S.-Russia Warplane Collision in the Black Sea and Implications for the End of the Crimea-Protected Ukraine War
“Whether they’ll play an active role in ending the Ukraine conflict, I think, is probably something that we will not see here in the near term,” Haenle said.
The costs will definitely be affected by the benefits. “His most fundamental foreign policy objective now is [to] try to defend China’s interests against American confrontation.”
The International Monetary Fund made a rule change that could allow a reported multibillion dollar loan to Ukraine, which the war-battered country has been seeking.
The ninth anniversary of the peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine is a subject most governments condemn and consider illegal.
A Russian warplane collided with a U.S. drone, forcing the American uncrewed aircraft to crash into the Black Sea, the U.S. military said. U.S. officials said the drone was flying in international airspace when two Russian fighter jets intercepted it, one of them clipping the drone’s propeller. Russia’s government denied the collision but awarded the pilots of the two fighter jets.
The first NATO countries to fight Russian forces will be Poland and Slovakia. The U.S. has refused Ukraine’s request for F-16s.
Russia and Ukraine extended the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to safely ship Ukrainian grain and seed abroad, which was due to expire Saturday.
The epoch of war: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Kiev to confront the Russian invasion of the Ukraine
In meetings in Tehran, leaders praised their countries’ ties. Wedged between Ukraine and Russia, Belarus is a Kremlin ally and has followed its footsteps in warming up to China and Iran, which has supplied attack drones to Russia.
Russia now has the lowest approval rating in America since Soviet times, with just 9% of the U.S. public surveyed saying they have a favorable view of the country, according to Gallup.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making a surprise trip to Ukraine on Tuesday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – a day after Chinese leader Xi Jinping met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Kishida has previously spoken out forcefully against Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor, warning last year that “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.”
Last month, on the eve of the invasion’s one-year anniversary, Japan pledged $5.5 billion in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, quadrupling Tokyo’s previous contributions.
And during his visit to New Delhi on Monday, Kishida announced a new plan to invest $75 billion in the Indo-Pacific, according to Reuters – widely seen as a bid to deepen ties with countries in South and Southeast Asia and to counter China’s influence.
India is the only asian nation that has decided not to condemn the invasion of Russia and continue purchases of Russian oil.
In an apparent rebuke, Modi told Putin that it was not the time for war.