Summary of the day so far …

 

1h ago

11.01 GMT

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Summary of the day so far …

• China’s president, Xi Jinping, has arrived in Moscow on his first visit to Russia for four years. The state visit makes the Chinese leader the first world leader to meet with Vladimir Putin since the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president. The pair are scheduled to have informal talks on Monday, with more formal negotiations to follow. The two leaders are expected to sign joint declarations.
• Upon his arrival, state owned news agency Tass reported Xi had said “China and Russia are good neighbours and reliable partners”. The Chinese president said he expects that the visit to Russia will give a new impetus to the development of Russian-Chinese relations and strategic cooperation.
• Ahead of the trip, Putin praised Xi as a “good old friend” in a newspaper article published in China while Xi wrote in a Russian daily that his trip to Russia aimed to strengthen the friendship between the two countries and called for “pragmatism” on Ukraine.
• China’s foreign ministry said on Monday the international criminal court (ICC) should take a just position. China will continue to take an objective and just role in the Ukraine crisis, and play a constructive role in peace talks, spokesperson Wang Wenbin told the media at a regular news briefing.
• The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin will have serious consequences for international law.
• Justice ministers from over 40 countries the are meeting in London today to discuss raising funds for the ICC to pursue Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The conference is being co-hosted by the UK and the Dutch government
• EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has spoken ahead of a meeting today on arms procurement for Ukraine. He told the media: “Together, foreign affairs and defence (ministers) will, I hope, finish the agreement on providing ammunition to Ukraine”. French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said “We need to help Ukraine quickly and straight away.”
• The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called the international criminal court’s arrest warrant against Putin a “turning point” in the conflict. In Zelensky’s nightly address, he said the warrant marked a “truly significant international legal result for Ukraine, for justice … The moment after which it becomes undeniable that the end of this aggression for Russia will be the full range of its responsibility.”
• The British Ministry of Defence claims in its daily intelligence briefing that “Over the past three weeks, Russian forces have made creeping gains around the Ukrainian-held Donbas town of Avdiivka”. It assesses the situation to be “Tactically … similar to that in the larger town of Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces continue organised defence, but their supply lines to the west are increasingly threatened by the Russian envelopment operation.”
• The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces says the military has repelled 69 Russian assaults in five areas over the past 24 hours.
• A Russian court on Monday froze all Volkswagen assets in Russia, court documents seen by Reuters showed.
• That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of our live coverage.