Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia from Monday September 18 to Thursday September 21 for discussions on security, his ministry announced. “At the invitation of Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Wang Yi […] will travel to Russia to participate in the 18th session of the China-Russia Strategic Security Consultations,” said a statement published on the ministry’s website.
Long-time allies, China and Russia frequently boast of their “limitless” partnership and their economic and military cooperation set to intensify. In a briefing, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that Wang Yi would meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and that the two men would “focus their efforts on strengthening collaboration on the international scene.” “There will be a detailed exchange of views on issues related to the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, as well as ways to ensure stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region,” a spokesperson said. .
Kim’s ‘sincere thanks’ to Putin after Russia trip (KCNA)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his “sincere thanks” to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his return trip after a nearly week-long visit to Russia, state media reported Monday. Centered on defense, the trip of the North Korean number 1 to the Russian Far East, which ended on Sunday, revealed potential military ties between the two countries, Kim Jong-un having reviewed a number of equipment such as Russian space rockets or submarines. The two men went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle.
The trip also revived Western fears that the isolated, nuclear-armed country could provide Moscow with weapons for its attack on Ukraine. At the end of this visit, which began on Tuesday, Kim Jong-un “presented his sincere thanks to President Putin and the Russian leaders” for “their special attention and cordial hospitality”, the official agency said on Monday. North Korean KCNA.
Russia says it has shot down Ukrainian drones, notably in Crimea and near Moscow
Russia claimed on the night of Sunday to Monday to have shot down several Ukrainian drones in annexed Crimea, in the Moscow region as well as those of Belgorod and Voronezh, close to Ukraine. “Drones were intercepted over the western, south-western, north-western and eastern areas of the Crimean peninsula, Istra (west) and Domodedovo (south) districts of the Moscow region, regions of Belgorod and Voronezh (southwest),” the Russian Defense Ministry detailed on Telegram.
Three drones were notably destroyed on Sunday evening above southwest Crimea and another in the Belgorod region, according to updates from the ministry. These devices bring to 13 the number of drones shot down by Russian defenses on Sunday, including nine in Crimea according to Defense reports, which did not report casualties or damage at this stage. “The production workshops of the Kharkiv armored plant, where the repair and restoration of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were carried out, were hit by a missile strike,” the Ministry of Defense said. defense.
Ukraine and Russia clash at the ICJ
Moscow and Kiev face each other from Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a procedure launched by Ukraine, which accuses Russia of having wrongly used allegations of genocide to justify its invasion in 2022. Representatives of the two nations at war will present their arguments before judges at the court’s seat, at the sumptuous Peace Palace in The Hague, in a dispute over the legitimacy or otherwise of the highest court of the UN to order the end of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin partly justified the February 24, 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine with unfounded accusations of “genocide” orchestrated by Kiev in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. Two days later, on February 26, 2022, Kiev took the matter to court, “categorically denying” this assertion and arguing that Russia’s use of “genocide” as a pretext went against the United Nations Convention on the 1948 genocide.
Ukraine regains ground, Washington and NATO see a long war
Ukrainian authorities said Sunday that their military forces had recaptured Klichchiivka, a tactically important town south of the town of Bakhmut on the eastern front, but the US military and NATO believe the war will be Lungue. “I especially want to mention the soldiers who are returning Ukraine its territories, step by step, in the Bakhmut sector,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message.
“Klichtchiïvka: bravo!”, he added, listing the units which took part in the operation. “Klichtchiïvka has been cleared of the Russians,” Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian land army, echoed on social networks. This town, with a few hundred inhabitants before the Russian invasion, was taken by Russian forces in January. This announcement comes after the Ukrainian armed forces declared on Friday that they had recaptured another locality, Andriivka, south of Bakhmut. The Russian military said on Sunday that this was not the case.