Tag: Russia-Ukraine War

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Scholz Calls Putin; Zelenskyy Says It Opened A ‘Pandora’s Box’

President Zelenskyy expressed concern that the call would weaken efforts to isolate Putin, describing it as “pandora’s box” and warning that it could lead to more conversations that might undermine Ukraine’s position.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first conversation in nearly two years on Friday, marking a significant diplomatic exchange amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.

Scholz, facing a snap election in Germany in February following the collapse of his coalition, urged Putin to engage in talks with Ukraine aimed at achieving a “just and lasting peace.”

According to Al Jazeera, a German spokesperson stated that Scholz reiterated Germany’s continued support for Ukraine “for as long as necessary,” condemned Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, and warned that the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia to assist in defending the Kursk region would escalate the conflict.

In response, Putin characterized the crisis as a direct result of NATO’s “aggressive” policies and emphasized that any potential agreements must take into account Russia’s security interests and territorial claims and address the root causes of the war, as reported by Al Jazeera.

“Possible agreements must take into account the interests of the Russian Federation in the area of security, proceed from new territorial realities, and most importantly, eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” the Russian leader said, Al Jazeera reported.

Putin also discussed the potential for “mutually beneficial cooperation” with Germany, particularly regarding energy trade, if Berlin shared that perspective.

Following the call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern that the call would weaken efforts to isolate Putin, describing it as “pandora’s box” and warning that it could lead to more conversations that might undermine Ukraine’s position.

“Now there may be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words. And this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation,” Zelenskyy said.

The call occurred during a critical period for Ukraine, with Russian forces making advances in eastern regions. Additionally, the re-election of Donald Trump in the US has raised concerns about the future of American support for Ukraine.

The timing of the call is seen as closely tied to the political shifts in both the US and Germany, as Trump’s return to the White House could alter US policy toward the war, while German domestic opinion, particularly in the East, increasingly calls for an end to military support for Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.

The phone call also took place as Russian force continue to make incremental gains in eastern Ukraine, with ongoing airstrikes targeting both military and civilian infrastructure. (ANI)

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Zelenskyy To Seek World Support At Swiss Summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping that the leaders gathered at the summit will try to pave the way for a future peace process that includes Russia”.

To put pressure on Russia to end its war with Ukraine, World leaders have gathered in Switzerland to attend Ukraine’s peace summit on Saturday. However, Russia and China abstained from the summit, reported The Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping that the leaders gathered at the summit will try to pave the way for a future peace process that includes Russia”.

“There are two days of active work ahead with countries from all corners of the world, with different peoples” who are united by the goal of bringing “a just and lasting peace for Ukraine closer,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 14 as he arrived in Switzerland.

The peace summit began on June 15 and will conclude on June 16, bringing together representatives from 92 countries and organisations, less than the 107 countries and international organisations that, according to Kyiv, have confirmed their attendance as of early June.

Despite being invited, China skipped the summit after Russia was frozen out of proceedings on the grounds it had dismissed Ukraine’s summit as “futile” and expressed no interest in attending, Al Jazeera reported.

With China’s absence, Western countries’ hope of isolating Russia has faded, while recent military reverses on the battlefield have put Ukrainian forces on the back foot.

Hopefully, according to Ukraine, the Peace Summit will address several key issues, including energy security, the exchange of captives, the return of deported children, and global food security, among other topics, reported The Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Swiss President Viola Amherd.

Zelenskyy added that the summit will enable the global majority to take concrete steps in areas that are important to everyone in the world, including, nuclear and food security, the return of prisoners of war and all deported persons, including deported Ukrainian children.

Meanwhile, US Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are among those expected to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the summit.

India, Turkey and Hungary, which maintained friendly relations with Russia, are also expected to join the summit, Al Jazeera reported.

Notably, Saudi Arabia is also one of the countries present at the summit, despite its earlier announcement in June that the country is not planning to attend the summit.

The Ukrainian President made a previously unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia on June 12.

Meanwhile, Brazil, the Holy See, the United Nations, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate are attending the summit not as full participants but as observers.

According to the reports, US President Joe Biden will not attend the summit, which eventually prompted Zelenksyy to say that his absence would “only be met by an applause by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, a personal, standing applause by Putin.”

“I believe that the peace summit needs President Biden, and other leaders need President Biden because they will look at the US’s reaction,” Zelensky said.

However, Biden is unable to attend the summit because it clashes with a campaign fundraiser, Kyiv Independent reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the event an important step towards progress.

“Many questions of peace and security will be discussed, but not the very biggest. That was always the plan,” he said, while speaking to Welt TV before travelling to Switzerland.

“This is a small plant that needs to be watered, but of course also with the perspective that more can then come out of it.”

Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will only put an end to its war in Ukraine if Kyiv surrenders the entire territory of four regions claimed by Moscow and abandons its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), CNN reported.

Ukraine, however, has rejected Putin’s demand and termed it a “complete sham” and “offensive to common sense.”

Putin’s speech, which came on the eve of the Swiss peace conference, mentioned Russia’s conditions for a “final end” to the war in more granular detail than at any previous time since the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv started in February 2022.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.(Xinhua/Li Xueren/IANS)

The Russian president further called the conference “another ploy to divert everyone’s attention.”

In addition to Ukrainian soldiers withdrawing from four regions, Putin said that Kyiv must demilitarise and that Western nations must lift their sanctions on Russia.

Putin’s demand indicates Russia’s failure to achieve its original war aims, when Moscow believed it could capture Kyiv in days and the rest of Ukraine in weeks, CNN reported.

However, Russia, nearly 28 months later, occupied around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed 10 years back. (ANI)

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Putin Wants Ukraine Surrender 4 Regions To Stop War

President Putin’s Friday remarks mentioned Russia’s conditions for a “final end” to the war in more granular detail than at any previous time since the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv started in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will only put an end to its war in Ukraine if Kyiv surrenders entire territory of four regions claimed by Moscow and abandons its bid to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), CNN reported. Ukraine has rejected Putin’s demand and termed it a “complete sham” and “offensive to common sense.”

In his remarks on Friday, Putin mentioned Russia’s conditions for a “final end” to the war in more granular detail than at any previous time since the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv started in February 2022.

Putin’s speech came on the eve of the Swiss peace conference set to be held in Switzerland, where Russia has not been invited. He called the conference “another ploy to divert everyone’s attention.”

In addition to Ukrainian soldiers withdrawing from four regions, Putin said that Kyiv must demilitarise and that Western nations must lift their sanctions on Russia.

Putin’s demand indicate Russia’s failure to achieve its original war aims, when Moscow believed it could capture Kyiv in days and the rest of Ukraine in weeks, CNN reported. However, Russia, nearly 28 months later, occupied around a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed 10 years back.

In comments to the foreign ministry, Putin termed Russia’s conditions for peace talks “simple,” starting with the total withdrawal of Ukraine’s soldiers from the entire territory of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russia only controls these regions partially but it had claimed the whole of four regions as part of the Russia’s territory in 2022.

Putin said that Ukraine should surrender not jut the territory on the Russian side of the frontline but the “entire territory of these regions.”

The Russian President said, “As soon as they declare in Kyiv that they are ready for such a decision and begin the real withdrawal of troops from these regions – and also officially notify about the abandonment of plans to join NATO – our side will immediately, at the same minute, make the order to cease fire and begin negotiations,” CNN reported.

Putin promised to “guarantee the unhindered and safe withdrawal of Ukrainian units and formations.” He stated that Russia acknowledges its role in global stability and stressed that his terms for ending the war in Ukraine would need to be cemented in international agreements.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine “does not trust” Putin’s “ultimatum,” which he said did not significantly differ from offers he has made before, CNN reported.

In his remarks at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Italy, Zelenskyy spoke about similarities between Putin’s tactics and those used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to conquer swaths of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, as per the CNN report.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak urged Ukraine’s allies to “get rid of illusions” and to stop taking Russia’s offers seriously, terming Putin’s terms as “offensive to common sense.”

Podolyak said, “There is no novelty in this, no real peace proposals and no desire to end the war. But there is a desire not to pay for this war and to continue it in new formats. It’s all a complete sham.” (ANI)

ALSO READ: ‘Russian advance in Kharkiv slows after lifting of arms curbs’

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Kiev Struggles With US Weapon Restrictions

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for permission to use US weapons on Russian territory but was currently denied by the US to avoid further escalation.

Kiev is at a disadvantage in its defence against Russian forces due to restrictions on using US weapons against targets on Russian soil, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The latest report from the US think-tank released on Friday says that Russia exploits these restrictions by launching attacks from protected areas near the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for permission to use US weapons on Russian territory but was currently denied by the US to avoid further escalation.

The US approach to date has severely limited Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian attacks in the north of the Kharkiv region, it said.

According to the Pentagon, the US is providing the weapons so that Ukraine can liberate its occupied territories, but not for attacks on Russia.

Ukraine’s goal is to attack bases in Russia with Western weapons to destroy them even more effectively than with its own less powerful drones and missiles.

Russia, on the other hand, is warning of an escalation in the war if weapons from NATO countries are used against them.

ALSO READ: No plans to capture city of Kharkiv, says Putin

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US to Send Patriot Missiles to Ukraine in Largest-Ever Military Aid

Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base.

The USD 6 billion military aid is the largest security assistance package that the US has committed to date

United States has announced an additional aid of USD 6 billion to Ukraine, which will enable for procurement of weapons, including critical interceptors Patriot and NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) air defence systems, the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday.

The additional commitment of USD 6 billion through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) will allow for the procurement of new capabilities for Ukraine from US industry, Austin said.

“This is the largest security assistance package that we’ve committed to date,” Austin told a news conference at the Pentagon, adding that the US would “move immediately” to get the supplies to Ukraine.

The USAI aid package also includes counter-drone systems and support equipment; significant amounts of artillery ammunition and air-to-ground munitions; and maintenance and sustainment support.

The USD 6 billion is part of a USD 60 billion aid package signed into law by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, which also includes USD1 billion in more immediate aid, Austin said.

The Department of Defence (DoD) announced that the “historic new security assistance package” will address Ukraine’s ongoing battlefield needs and demonstrate unwavering US support for Ukraine.

Launch of a MIM-104 Patriot missile.

Austin and Air Force General Charles Q Brown Jr, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the press conference following a virtual meeting of the 21st Ukraine Defence Contact Group which saw the participation of Ukranian Minister of Defence Umerov and General Syrskyi.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the start of the virtual meeting and sought more air defence systems to be sent to Kyiv to help protest against Russian strikes.

Austin said that he had convened the Ukraine Defence Contact Group for the first time at Ramstein Air Base exactly two years ago. The group comprising some 50 members of allies and partners from around the world, marshals military assistance for Ukraine.

Contact group members have committed more than USD 95 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, the US Defence Secretary said.

“Over the past two years, the members of this Contact Group have committed more than 70 mid- to long range air-defense systems, along with thousands of missiles. We’ve provided more than 3,000 armoured vehicles, including more than 800 main battle tanks. We’ve given Ukraine tens of thousands of anti-tank missiles. This year, more than a squadron of donated F-16s will start to arrive in Ukraine, along with pilots and maintainers trained by members of this Contact Group,” Austin said as per a Pentagon readout of the remarks made by Austin at the opening of the 21st Ukraine Defence Contact Group.

The US Defence Secretary noted Czech Republic’s “extraordinary initiative” to procure thousands of artillery shells from third countries for Ukraine. “And the UK has announced its largest single package of equipment ever, worth approximately USD 620 million. Or consider Germany’s bold announcement that it will donate another Patriot system to Ukraine,” he said.

“Ukraine is in dire need of more air-defence systems. And it urgently needs more interceptors. That’s going to be a huge priority for us all today. Ukraine also needs more artillery and armour to defend its citizens and reclaim its stolen territory,” Austin said.

Responding to a reporter’s query Austin said, “I would point out that it’s not just Patriot, that you know, they need. They need other types of systems and interceptors, as well. And so I would caution us all in terms of making Patriot the silver bullet. I would say that it’s going to be the integrated air and missile defence, as we’ve said so many times before, that really turns the tide. And so there are other capabilities that they need that — that we really pushed hard to get, and we may be able to the Ukrainians a bit faster.”

Urging allies to deter Russia from further aggression, the US Defence Secretary said, “If Ukraine fell under Putin’s boot, Europe would fall under Putin’s shadow.”

USAI is an authority under which the United States procures capabilities from US industry or partners.

“So the announcements this week underscore America’s enduring commitment to Ukraine’s defence. I’m also proud of all the capabilities that our allies and partners have provided to Ukraine. Our contact group partners have contributed most of the counter-UAS systems provided to Ukraine and most of the 155-millimeter artillery systems, most of the tanks, most of the armoured personnel carriers, most of the infantry fighting vehicles and more,” Austin said. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Blinken Urges China to Tame North Korea

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‘China Aiding Russia’s Defence Base Expansion Amid War’

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (L, Center) and Zhang Youxia (R, Center), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspect the guard of honor in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 4, 2019. Chinese and Russian senior military officials have agreed to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries to jointly maintain global peace and stability. (Photo by Li Xiaowei/Xinhua/IANS)

An official from the Joe Biden administration reportedly claimed that the Chinese and Russian entitles have also been working jointly to produce drones inside of Russia.

Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, China is helping Russia ramp up its defence industrial base at such a large scale that Moscow is now undertaking its most ambitious expansion in military manufacturing since the Soviet era, CNN reported, citing senior Biden administration officials.

One of the official claimed that the Chinese and Russian entitles have also been working jointly to produce drones inside of Russia.

The support from China is having a significant impact on Russia’s ability to continue its assault on Ukraine, while Ukraine’s military has been plagued with equipment and weapon shortages. The challenge for Ukraine is exacerbated by Republicans in the US Congress continuing to block a vote on a new American military aid package to Kyiv.

“One of the most game changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC (People’s Republic of China) to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base. Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC inputs,” said a senior administration official, adding that Chinese “materials are filling critical gaps in Russia’s defense production cycle,” CNN reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting in New York. (File Pic: Xinhua/Han Fang/IANS)

According to the report, this week Gen. Chris Cavoli, the commander of US European Command, told lawmakers that Russia has been “quite successful” at reconstituting its military since it invaded Ukraine more than 2 years ago, and its capacity has largely “grown back” to what it was before the invasion. US officials are now making clear that China is largely responsible for that rapid build-up.

As a demonstration of this deepening China-Russia partnership: in 2023, 90 per cent of Russia’s micro-electronics imports came from China, which Russia has used to produce missiles, tanks, and aircraft, a second official said.

Russia’s rapidly expanding production of artillery rounds is due, in large part, to the nitrocellulose coming from China, officials said. This comes as Russia appears on track to produce nearly three times more artillery munitions than the US and Europe, CNN reported earlier this year.

Beyond the defence hardware, China is helping Russia to improve its satellite and other space based capabilities for use in Ukraine, and providing imagery to Russia for its war on Ukraine, the officials said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sign the statements on elevating bilateral ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in Moscow, Russia, June 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren/IANS)

Some of this information comes from downgraded US intelligence, officials said.

The support from China is compensating for the significant setbacks that Russia’s defense industry experienced early in the Ukraine war due to US sanctions and export controls.

President Joe Biden raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month, following other officials repeatedly raising the concerns with their Chinese counterparts, officials said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also raised the matter with US allies during his recent Europe trip, the officials said. The US has not seen any interruption to the ongoing Chinese support since that Biden-Xi phone call, though sometimes it takes time to see changes come to fruition.

China continues to steer clear of providing Russia with lethal weaponry, which the US has warned against since the beginning of the Ukraine war, but in many cases, the inputs can be just as impactful as lethal weaponry, CNN reported.

US officials said it is imperative for the US and its allies to persuade China to stop this practice, though success will be hard to measure. Earlier this year Xi heralded a new year of growing coordination with Russia during a call with President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivered China a warning of ‘significant consequences’ if Chinese companies provide support to Russia for the Ukraine war during her trip to the country.

CNN said in its report that the Biden administration also issued an executive order targeting third country banks that facilitate support to the Russian defense industrial base and following that action, the US has been touch with banks around the world to build up compliance systems to avoid inadvertently being caught up in this trade, which would result in US sanctions. (ANI)

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Russia Confirms Readiness For Dialogue With Ukraine

Moscow : Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of State Council via a video conference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, July 04, 2023.(Photo:IANS/Kremlin)

President Putin noted that Moscow is in favour of resuming negotiations, but such talks must not be aimed at “imposing any schemes that have nothing to do with reality”, reports Asian Lite News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his readiness for dialogue with Ukraine, and that an aborted 2022 peace deal could serve as the basis for resuming the negotiation, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

In a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin noted that Moscow is in favour of resuming negotiations, but such talks must not be aimed at “imposing any schemes that have nothing to do with reality”.

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the Kremlin.

Peskov on Friday added that the “Istanbul agreements,” a draft peace pact reached in March 2022 between Russia and Ukraine, could serve as the basis for resuming talks, despite that there have been many changes since then, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said the Kremlin does not feel the Ukrainian side is ready for negotiations with Russia.

ALSO READ: Zelensky slams allies as Russia intensifies attacks

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Erdogan, Zelensky Discuss Grain Deal in Istanbul

“The latest status of contacts on the continuation of the [Black Sea Grain] initiative and the search for lasting peace in the region” topped the agenda of their meeting

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky here to discuss the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the Turkish presidency said.

The two leaders addressed the latest developments about resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has been suspended since last July, the office said on Friday on its website as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

“The latest status of contacts on the continuation of the initiative and the search for lasting peace in the region” topped the agenda of their meeting, according to the office.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the initiative between Russia and Ukraine, establishing a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships transporting food and fertiliser exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports in July 2022.

According to the presidency, the two leaders convened at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul at 7 p.m. local time and held a press conference afterward.

ALSO READ: Ukraine Mulls Counter-Offensives in 2024

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US, EU Sanctions Extend to China Firms Supporting Ukraine War

US-China flag

While primarily targeting Russians and Russian entities, US and EU sanctions also included mainland Chinese individuals and firms, including those in Hong Kong, for aiding the Russian military.

The sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on Friday, against several people and companies for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine also included several companies from China, the Voice of America (VOA) reported.

Although most of the sanctions were against Russians and Russian firms, the US and EU measures also included Chinese individuals and companies based in mainland Chinese cities as well as Hong Kong for supplying the Russian military.

Moreover, they also included sanctions against Russian prison officials over the suspicious death of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

Russia’s foreign ministry denounced the sanctions as “illegal” and said it would respond by banning some EU citizens who provided military assistance to Ukraine from entering Russia, according to VOA.

Chinese officials did not issue an immediate response to the sanctions.

However, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, commented on the expected sanctions on Tuesday at a regular briefing and said China follows an “objective and impartial position on the Ukraine crisis” and has “worked actively to promote peace talks.”

She further said that they “have not sat idly by, still less exploited the situation for selfish gains.”

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning (Screengrab from X)

Moreover, Ukrainian officials and media reports have also accused Chinese companies of supplying key electronics and dual-use technologies, including drone components, to Russia’s military since its invasion of Ukraine two years ago. However, Beijing has denied their claim, according to VOA.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen preempted Friday’s official announcement on social media, stating, “I welcome the agreement on our 13th sanctions package against Russia. We must keep degrading Putin’s war machine. With 2000 listings in total, we keep the pressure high on the Kremlin. We are also further cutting Russia’s access to drones.”

Reportedly, the sanctioned individuals and companies are banned from doing business with US or European firms.

However, legal and political analysts disagreed on the effectiveness of the sanctions.

Lawyer Mark Handley, a partner at the Philadelphia-headquartered law firm Duane Morris LLP, said being sanctioned will certainly affect their international business. “Things like international insurance companies or shipping could get very complicated once they are on the sanctions list.”

However, Pieter Cleppe, editor-in-chief for BrusselsReport.eu, told VOA, “Historical research has shown that sanctions mostly fail, especially when prolonged, as is the case with Russia. The targeted country learns to cope with them.”

He added, “While sanctions may impoverish ordinary Russians, they have failed to halt the Russian offensive, which should be the goal.”

The Yermak-McFaul International Working Group on Russian Sanctions and the Ukrainian think tank KSE Institute published a report in January, showing that sanctioned technology has still been reaching Russia’s military through third-country intermediaries, which the EU and the US hope the fresh measures will stop.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.(photo;twitter.com/vonderleyen)

Junhua Zhang, senior assistant researcher at the Brussels-based European Institute for Asian Studies, said the EU’s highest expectation “is for China to align with the EU in resisting Russia’s aggression, which is unrealistic. The EU’s minimum expectation is for Chinese companies not to work for Russia, but strictly speaking, only fools would have such an expectation.”

“Just consider (Chinese President) Xi Jinping sees Putin as his best friend, and those below him will act accordingly, a point that Europeans also recognize,” Zhang added, as reported by VOA.

However, others argued that sanctions on Chinese firms could push Beijing to reconsider.

Aliona Hlivco, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and managing director at the London-based think tank the Henry Jackson Society, said that sanctions against Chinese companies could prove useful in deterring Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“China is currently attempting to improve relations with the West, so reinforcing China’s compliance with international norms could be opportune,” Hlivco said.

It is pertinent to mention that the EU is China’s second-largest trading bloc partner after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In 2023, while Russia lost most of its European market owing to the sanctions, the bilateral trade between China and Russia hit a record high of USD 240 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 per cent, VOA reported.

However, trade between the US and China in 2023 fell for the first time since 2019 by 11 per cent to USD 664 billion, according to customs data.

According to the Commerce Department, the US imported more goods from Mexico than China for the first time in 20 years. (ANI)

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Russia Resumes Missile Assault on Ukraine

Ukraine war pictures.(photo:instagram)

The air raid in Kyiv lasted for nearly two hours, but air defences successfully intercepted all missiles heading towards the Ukrainian capital

In the resumption of hostilities, Russia fired a barrage of cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets early on Friday morning, marking the end of an almost 80-day pause, CNN reported, citing Ukrainian officials.

The air raid in Kyiv lasted for nearly two hours, but air defences successfully intercepted all missiles heading towards the capital, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration. Although some homes in Kyiv suffered damage from “downed enemy targets,” the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said.

A missile striking Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region resulted in one fatality and four injuries, as announced by Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Kharkiv region, overnight strikes claimed one life and left several others injured. Damage was reported in Kupiansk district and Kharkiv city, including a damaged residential building and numerous affected apartments and cars.

According to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region’s military administration, Russia targeted Kharkiv with six S-300 missiles, prompting an investigation by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office.

The missile barrage, consisting of 19 missiles across Ukraine, marked the first such attack in over two months. Western intelligence assessments had warned of a potential escalation in Russia’s bombardment of civilian infrastructure during the winter.

File pic shows smoke rising in the sky in Kiev, Ukraine. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo/IANS)

Of the 19 missiles launched, 14 were reportedly destroyed in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, as reported by CNN.

“After a long pause of 79 days, the enemy resumed attacks with cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS strategic aircraft. Preliminarily, approximately 10 bomber missile carriers fired cruise missiles of the Kh-101/555/55 type from the Engels city area, Saratov region,” stated Popko on Telegram.

The last significant cruise missile attack on Ukraine occurred on September 21, with 43 missiles launched and 36 intercepted, as per Air Force Command’s official Telegram account. In November, Russia launched a major drone attack with 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones, followed by another 48 Shaheds on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Deputy Chief Vadym Skibitsky had forewarned in November that Russia might deploy a combination of missiles and drones to target Ukrainian infrastructure during the winter. Despite improved Ukrainian defences this winter, Skibitsky cautioned that Russia’s strikes would be more sophisticated than last year’s primitive attacks, CNN reported. (ANI)

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