Summary of the day so far …

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/mar/21/russia-ukraine-war-live-russian-cruise-missiles-destroyed-in-crimea-says-ukraine-xi-and-putin-to-hold-formal-talks?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-6419887a8f08b6360ce30fbb#block-6419887a8f08b6360ce30fbb

 

 

From 2h ago

12.44 GMT

Xi Jinping arrives at Kremlin for start of formal talks with Putin

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has arrived at the Kremlin for the start of formal talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

 

The pair were seen shaking hands and standing side by side for the playing of the national anthems before heading into talks, footage from Russian state television showed.

 

3h ago

11.00 GMT

Summary of the day so far …

• Ukraine’s defence ministry has said an explosion in the Crimean city of Dzhankoi destroyed Russian cruise missiles intended for use by Moscow’s Black Sea fleet. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry, circulated footage he said reportedly showed the train station area in the city. The claims have not been independently verified.
• Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are holding a second set of talks on Tuesday. The Chinese president’s trip to Moscow has been viewed as a major boost for his strategic partner Putin. The Chinese leader is expected to continue to position himself as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war during his two-day visit to Russia – his first state visit since Putin’s invasion.
• Xi met Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday morning, and invited both Mishustin and Putin to visit China later this year.
• China’s state media has extensively and positively covered the visit. Most coverage has focused on Xi’s comments and talking about how strong the relationship is. None of the pieces mentioned the recent ICC arrest warrant for the Russian president over alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.
• Iryna Vereshchuk, who is one of Ukraine’s deputy prime ministers and is the minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, has said there is no confirmed time agreed for a mooted call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Xi.
• In his nightly address, Zelenskiy thanked Europe and the US for their latest aid packages, saying “Our European partners have agreed on a joint plan to accelerate the supply of shells for our artillery … This is a strategic step. It gives us confidence in our unity, in the immutability of the movement towards victory over the terrorist state.”
• Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida is en route to Kyiv for talks with Zelenskiy. Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed Kishida riding a train from Poland heading to Kyiv early Tuesday. Kishida, who is to chair the Group of Seven summit in May, is the only G-7 leader who hasn’t visited Ukraine and was under pressure to do so at home.
• Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that two of its Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers made a routine flight over the Sea of Japan. The defence ministry said the flights were carried out in compliance with international law and were made over neutral waters.
• Russia’s foreign ministry said it had protested to Canada’s top diplomat in Moscow over comments by the Canadian foreign minister about “regime change” in Russia. On 10 March Canada’s foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly said “We’re able to see how much we’re isolating the Russian regime right now – because we need to do so economically, politically and diplomatically – and what are the impacts also on society and how much we’re seeing potential regime change in Russia.”
• New Zealand’s foreign ministry says it is aware of “reports” of the death of a New Zealander in Ukraine. The ministry said in an unattributed statement “These reports have not been able to be officially verified at this time”. National news outlets, including Radio New Zealand, reported that the person was a former New Zealand soldier. The defence ministry declined to comment.
• The leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church said on Tuesday he will work with Lithuania’s government to potentially establish a new branch in the Baltic nation to ensure that believers would no longer be under the sole supervision of Moscow. Lithuania’s government said some of the country’s Orthodox believers, including Ukrainian refugees, object to the current organisation, which is a unit of the Russian Orthodox Church. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.