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China says certain countries must stop 'fuelling the fire'
Helen Davidson
China’s new foreign minister has accused the US of shifting blame for the Ukraine war on to China, in an apparent pushback against warnings from Washington that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, at the launch of a Chinese government paper on its global security initiative, Qin Gang said China was “deeply concerned” about the war in Ukraine escalating and possibly “spiralling out of control”.
Beijing signed a no-limits partnership with Moscow just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine one year ago. Since then, it has refused to condemn the invasion and some senior Chinese officials have offered explicit support for Russia’s aims. However it has presented itself as a neutral party, accusing the US and Nato of fuelling the conflict.
Since the outbreak of the crisis, China has taken an objective and impartial stance based on the merit of the issue,” Qin said on Tuesday.
We urge certain countries to immediately stop fuelling the fire, stop shifting blame to China, and stop hyping up Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.”
China’s top diplomat to visit Moscow
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is due to visit Moscow shortly, and may possibly even meet Putin, according to Russian officials.
A source close to the visit organisers told Russian state media outlet Tass that Yi “is expected to arrive on Tuesday”.
“We would like a political solution to provide a peaceful and sustainable framework to Europe,” Wang said ahead of his visit during a stop in Hungary.
The Kremlin did not rule out a meeting between Putin and Yi, with Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling state media: “We do not rule out a meeting between Mr. Wang Yi and the president. He will indeed be in Moscow.”
Over the weekend, US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned against Beijing providing material support to Moscow’s invasion, prompting China to tell the US to keep out of its relationship with Russia.
Chinese weapons supplies to Russia would risk a potential escalation of the Ukraine war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one side and Ukraine and the US-led Nato military alliance on the other.
Zelenskiy also warned that there will be a “world war” if China decides to support Russia in its war on Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv would like Beijing “to be on our side” in an interview with Die Welt.
If China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I do think that China is aware of that,” he said.
Biden promises Kyiv extra $500m in military aid
The US will deliver a new package of additional US aid to Ukraine worth $500m (£415m) including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems, and air surveillance radars.
Joe Biden made the announcement during a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday.
The defence package includes anti-armour systems, air surveillance radars and more ammunition for “US-provided Himars and Howitzers that Ukraine is using so effectively to defend their country,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.
It also includes Javelin anti-armour systems, about 2,000 anti-armour rockets, four forward-observation vehicles, two tactical vehicles, munitions, medical supplies and other equipment, according to the Biden administration.
“Russia alone could end its war today,” Blinken said. “Until it does so, we will stand united with Ukraine for as long as it takes to strengthen its military on the battlefield so that they will be in the strongest possible position at any future negotiating table.”
As we approach the anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, I'm in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 20, 2023Amid the diplomacy taking place today across Europe, the war in Ukraine rages on.
Here are some of the latest images to come out of Ukraine today.
Putin to deliver major war update in state of the nation address
Vladimir Putin will today deliver his state of the nation address to Russia’s Federal Assembly where he will address both houses of parliament and set out his aims for the second year of his invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian president will update Russia’s political and military elite on the state of what he calls his “special military operation” in Ukraine with many eager to know what his plans are for the year ahead.
The address comes at a highly symbolic time, almost a year to the day when Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state television:
At such a crucial and very complicated juncture in our development, our lives, everyone is waiting for a message in the hope of hearing an assessment of what is happening, an assessment of the special military operation.”
Putin will also give his analysis of the international situation and outline his vision of Russia’s development after the west imposed sweeping sanctions on it, the Kremlin said.
The speech is due to begin at 9am GMT in central Moscow.
The Kremlin is also planning to hold a celebratory concert at the Luzhniki Stadium later in the day, and then to convene extraordinary sessions of the Duma and Federation Council on Wednesday.
Biden arrives in Poland
Joe Biden arrived in Warsaw late on Monday evening where he is set to meet with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, along with other leaders of countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
During a surprise visit to Kyiv ahead of his planned trip to Poland, the US president said:
When (Russian President Vladimir) Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.
The cost that Ukraine has had to pay is extraordinarily high. Sacrifices have been far too great. ... We know that there will be difficult days and weeks and years ahead.”
Biden is set to deliver a speech on how the US has helped rally the world to support Ukraine and stress American support for Nato’s eastern flank.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold.
Vladimir Putin is set to deliver his anticipated state of the nation address to Russia’s Federal Assembly due to begin at 9am GMT in central Moscow.
The Russian president will update Russia’s political and military elite on the state of what he calls his “special military operation” in Ukraine and set out his aims for the second year of his invasion. The address comes at a highly symbolic time, almost a year to the day when Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has arrived in Warsaw where he is set to meet with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, along with other leaders of countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
It’s 7am in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Joe Biden visited Kyiv on Monday to announce a new package of additional US aid to Ukraine worth $500m (£415m) including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems, and air surveillance radars. The timing of his visit – before a planned address by Vladimir Putin on Tuesday – was seen as a deliberate rebuke of the Russian president.
The US president arrived in Warsaw late on Monday evening where he is set to meet with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, along with other leaders of countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he and Biden spoke about “long-range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine, even though it wasn’t supplied before”. But no new commitments were detailed.
EU foreign ministers discussed jointly procuring ammunition to provide to Ukraine during a meeting in Brussels. “It is the most urgent issue. If we fail on that, the result of the war is in danger,” the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said before the meeting. Borrell said the EU needs to ensure that Ukraine has enough ammunition to continue its fight against the Russian invasion, regarding the advance payments scheme as a vital medium-term solution, but wants ammunition delivered from national stocks now.
Vladimir Putin’s state of the nation speech on Tuesday will be accompanied by a celebratory concert at the Luzhniki Stadium on the same day. He is then set to convene an extraordinary sessions of the Duma and Federation Council on Wednesday.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is expected to visit Moscow with proposals for a political settlement to the war. Over the weekend, US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned against Beijing providing material support to Moscow’s invasion, prompting China to tell the US to keep out of its relationship with Russia. “We would like a political solution to provide a peaceful and sustainable framework to Europe,” Wang said ahead of his visit during a stop in Hungary.
Zelenskiy also warned that there will be a “world war” if China decides to support Russia in its war on Ukraine. Zelenskiy said Kyiv would like Beijing “to be on our side” in an interview with Die Welt. “If China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I do think that China is aware of that,” he said.
Russia claimed its forces have taken control of a village near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city home to the longest-running battle of Moscow’s offensive. The Russian defence ministry said that volunteer fighters had “fully liberated” the settlement of Paraskoviivka with the support of regular forces, including paratroopers and artillery. The statement did not mention Russia’s mercenary group Wagner which claimed to have captured village on Friday.
The head of the Russian mercenary Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has acknowledged a “major problem” with ammunition supplies for his fighters, accusing Russian officials of deliberately denying his fighters sufficient ammunition. In an emotional seven-minute-long audio message published on his official Telegram channel, he said he was required to “apologise and obey” to someone “high up” who he has a “difficult relationship with” in order to secure ammunition.
English (US)