Russia Ukraine conflict dwell: Kyiv pressured to drag again US Abrams tanks as Putin sends nuclear warheads to Belarus

US secretary of state Antony Blinken raised issues on Friday about China’s assist for Russia’s army, one of many many points threatening to bitter the recent enchancment in relations between the world’s largest economies.

Blinken raised the matter throughout five-and-a-half hours of talks with China’s prime diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing, the latest high-level contact between the international locations which have lowered the acrimony that pushed ties to historic lows final 12 months.

“The secretary mentioned issues about PRC assist to the Russian protection industrial base,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller mentioned, including the 2 sides additionally mentioned Taiwan, the South China Sea and different flashpoints.

The PRC is brief for China’s official identify, the People’s Republic of China.

Spain will ship a small variety of Patriot missiles to Ukraine, El Pais newspaper reported on Friday, in response to stress from EU and NATO allies to ship extra army support to Kyiv.

With Russia having stepped up air assaults on Ukraine, EU governments have been urged to provide extra protecting methods to Kyiv, particularly international locations like Greece and Spain which have such arms of their arsenal.

Greece mentioned on Thursday it might not have the ability to present air defence methods to Ukraine.

El Pais, quoting unidentified authorities sources, mentioned on Friday that Spain had dominated out delivering Patriot anti-aircraft launchers however it might provide the Ukrainian army with missiles for the system.

“The switch of a small variety of missiles has come after the defence ministry refused at hand over to Ukraine the battery it has had deployed since 2013 on the Turkish-Syrian border,” El Pais mentioned.

“It will probably be a really restricted quantity, because the Spanish conflict reserve is round 50 items and interceptors are very costly.”

The defence ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the report however on Thursday a Spanish diplomatic informed overseas reporters that Madrid wanted to step up its dedication to Ukraine.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned Greece can’t supply air defence methods like Patriots or S-300 to Ukraine responding to stress from EU and NATO allies to ship extra army support to Kyiv.

With Russia having stepped up air assaults on Ukraine, EU governments are underneath stress to provide extra protecting methods to Kyiv particularly international locations like Greece and Spain which have such methods of their arsenal.

“Greece is just not going to ship S-300 or Patriot to Ukraine,” Mitsotakis mentioned in an interview in Skai TV late on Thursday.

European Union ministers mentioned on Monday they have been trying urgently at present extra air defences to Ukraine however they stopped wanting concrete pledges of the Patriot methods that Kyiv values most.

“We have been requested and we defined why we can not do it,” Mitsotakis mentioned including that these methods are “important to our deterrent functionality.”

Defence is a really delicate difficulty for Athens given the tensions with Turkey, particularly for a conservative authorities.

Greece has despatched to Ukraine prior to now hundreds of rockets, explosives, IVFs autos, excessive explosive incendiaries, ammunition and anti-tank rockets.

The US will host on Friday a digital assembly of Ukraine worldwide support donors, days after Congress emerged from a half-year of impasse to approve a $61 billion support bundle for Ukraine.

Russia yesterday mentioned that Poland was taking part in a “very dangerous game” by contemplating the potential of internet hosting US nuclear weapons.

Polish president Andrzej Duda earlier mentioned he had invited prime minister Donald Tusk for talks on 1 May about the potential of nuclear weapons from Nato states being deployed in Poland.

Mr Duda has reiterated his position that Poland could be prepared for such a risk, prompting Mr Tusk to say he would love a clarification from the president.

Russian state information company RIA quoted deputy overseas minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that such discussions have been provocative.

“If they follow the path of further escalation – and this is how the discussions can be assessed, these so far verbal games with nuclear weapons – then a further round of tension will occur. And in general, this game is very dangerous, its consequences may be hard to predict,” he mentioned.

Russian overseas ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned any US nuclear missiles in Poland might turn into targets within the occasion of a Russia-Nato conflict.

“It is not difficult to assume that if American nuclear weapons appear on Polish territory, the corresponding objects will immediately join the list of legitimate targets for destruction in the case of direct military conflict with Nato,” she informed reporters.

The United States has secretly supplied Ukrainian armed forces with long-range ballistic missiles which have already been used to strike targets deep inside Russian territory, based on US officers.

Our White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg studies:

A US citizen arrested on drug prices in Moscow amid hovering Russia-US tensions appeared in courtroom yesterday and had his case adjourned till mid-May.

Robert Woodland is going through prices of trafficking giant quantities of unlawful medicine as a part of an organized group — a prison offence punishable by as much as 20 years in jail. He was remanded into custody in January, and the trial started within the Ostankino District Court in late March.

“Our position is that there is, I may say, no evidence of drug sales in the materials on the case,” his lawyer Stanislav Kshevitskii informed reporters.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg yesterday cautioned Western allies towards changing into as depending on China as they’d been on Russia.

“In the past, we made the mistake of becoming dependent on Russian oil and gas,” he mentioned.

“We must not repeat that mistake with China. Depending on its money, its raw materials, its technologies – dependencies make us vulnerable.”

China has strengthened commerce and army ties with Russia in recent years because the United States and its allies imposed sanctions on each, however significantly Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.

China-Russian commerce hit a report of $240.1bn in 2023, up 26.3 per cent from a 12 months earlier, Chinese customs knowledge exhibits. Chinese shipments to Russia jumped 46.9 per cent in 2023 whereas imports from Russia rose 13 per cent.

Last month, Reuters reported that Russian president Vladimir Putin will journey to China in May for talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping, in what could possibly be the primary abroad journey of his new presidential time period.

China should cease supporting Russia’s conflict in Ukraine if it needs to take pleasure in good relations with the West, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg mentioned yesterday, warning Beijing in unusually harsh phrases it can not have it each methods.

During a go to to Berlin, the chief of the Western army alliance mentioned Beijing’s assist was very important to Moscow’s conflict effort because it was propping up Russia’s conflict economic system by sharing high-end know-how like semiconductors.

“Last year, Russia imported 90 per cent of its microelectronics from China, used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft. China is also working to provide Russia with improved satellite capabilities and imaging,” Mr Stoltenberg mentioned.

“China says it wants good relations with the West. At the same time, Beijing continues to fuel the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two. They cannot have it both ways,” he warned.

Even amid conflict, Ukraine finds time for the glittery, pop-filled Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps now much more than ever.

Ukraine’s entrants within the pan-continental music competitors — the feminine duo of rapper alyona alyona and singer Jerry Heil — set off from Kyiv for the competitors yesterday.

In wartime, which means a protracted prepare journey to Poland, from the place they’ll journey on to subsequent month’s competitors in Malmö, Sweden.

French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday warned that Europe might “die” if it fails to build its personal strong defence as Russia’s conflict in Ukraine rages on, or if it fails to undertake main commerce and financial reforms to compete with China and the US.

Mr Macron urged Europeans to turn into extra formidable in a fast-changing world to face the challenges of conflict, fierce commerce competitors, vitality shortage, local weather change and growing authoritarianism.