Key events
Russian PM says China-Russia relations at ‘unprecedented high level’
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is in Beijing, where, before signing bilateral agreements with China, he said – according to Reuters:
“Today, relations between Russia and China are at an unprecedented high level.”
He said Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in March was further evidence of the “special” nature of bilateral relations between the two countries.
US popular support for Washington’s support for Ukraine has faded a bit but remains widespread, according to a survey by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Norc.
The Associated Press reports that the poll found that half of people in the United States support the Pentagon’s ongoing supply of weapons to Ukraine for its defense against Russian forces. That level is almost unchanged over the past year, while about a quarter oppose maintaining the military lifeline, which has now topped $37 billion.
Large majorities among both Democrats and Republicans believe Russia’s attack on Ukraine was unjustified, according to the poll conducted last month.
And about three out of four people in the United States support the United States playing at least some role in the conflict, the poll found.
Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak Intelligence consultancy and author of several books on the Russian military, has told Reuters that the two groups involved in the fighting in Belgorod are made up of anti-Kremlin Russians, ranging from liberals and anarchists to the neo-Nazis. The Guardian has not independently verified this claim.
“They hope that in some small way they can contribute to the downfall of the Putin regime. But at the same time, we have to realize that these are not independent forces … They are controlled by Ukrainian military intelligence,” he said.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak reiterated Kiev’s position that it had nothing to do with the operation.
The US says it does not “enable or encourage” Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, but that it is up to Kiev to decide how to conduct military operations.
Reuters has put together an interesting analysis of what Belgorod means for Russia’s military operations.
A two-day incursion from Ukraine into Russia’s western borderland could force the Kremlin to divert troops from the front lines as Kiev prepares a major counteroffensive and deal a psychological blow to Moscow, according to military analysts interviewed or cited by the agency.
Although Kiev has denied any role, the biggest cross-border raid by Ukraine since Russia invaded 15 months ago was almost certainly coordinated with Ukraine’s armed forces as they prepare to try to retake territory, the experts said. The Guardian has not verified this.
“The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements,” said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
Ukraine says it plans to launch a major counteroffensive to retake occupied territory, but Russia has built vast fortifications in the neighboring country’s east and south in readiness, Reuters reports.
The incursion took place far from the epicenter of the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and about 100 miles (160 km) from the front lines in the northern Kharkiv region.
“They have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area, even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming,” Melvin said.
Russia’s military said on Tuesday it had dispatched militants who attacked its western Belgorod region with armored vehicles the day before, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the rest back into Ukraine.
West prepared to support Kiev “for years”, says Sunak
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told a defense conference in London that Ukraine’s Western allies are prepared to support the country in the war “for years”, FT. reports.
He added that Russia’s strategy of “waiting out . . . for people (in the West) to get tired, bored . . . will not work,” the newspaper reported.
“We are now leading a conversation with allies about what long-term multilateral and bilateral security agreements we can enter into Ukraine.”
Beijing and Moscow to cooperate on “new level”
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China was willing to cooperate with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a “new level”, reports Reuters.
Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a “good” development trend, and the scope of investment between the two is also continuously upgraded, Li told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.
Mishustin was the highest-ranking Russian official to visit the Chinese capital since Moscow sent thousands of its troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top stories this morning: Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Wednesday that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a ‘new level’.
His comments come as Russia’s prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, visits Moscow, where he is expected to sign bilateral agreements with China today.
And British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told a conference in London that Ukraine’s Western allies are prepared to support the country “for years”, FT. reports. Sunak also said that Russia’s strategy of “waiting out . . . for people (in the West) to get tired, bored . . . will not work” and that Britain was “leading a conversation with allies about what long-term multilateral and bilateral security agreements we can put in place with Ukraine.”
We’ll have more on these stories shortly.
Here are the other important recent events of the war:
-
Moscow claiming to have repulsed an attack led by Ukraine-affiliated militias led to a series of chaotic battles in Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, over the past two days. Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said late on Tuesday that measures had been taken to stop terrorism after the cross-border attack was called off. It came just hours after Moscow claimed to have pushed the fighters back across the border. Gadkov said Russia’s Defense Ministry and security agencies are still engaged in a “collection campaign”.
-
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has arrived in China, Moscow’s foreign ministry said, for a visit where he will meet President Xi Jinping and sign a series of agreements on infrastructure and trade.
-
Training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets has started in Polandsaid EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. He told a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels: “I am glad that finally the training of the pilots for the F-16 has started in several countries. It will take time, but the sooner the better… For example in Poland .”
-
Borrell also said that EU countries had provided 220,000 artillery shells and 1,300 more missiles Ukraine since March. The member states are discussing increasing Europe’s military budget by an additional 3.5 billion euros, of which 1 billion euros would be earmarked for Ukraine.
-
The Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi has stopped operations because Russia does not allow ships to enter it, in effect, it cuts away from an agreement that allows safe exports of grain from the Black Sea, a Ukrainian official said.
-
A court in Moscow extended the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovichimprisoned in Russia on espionage charges in late March. During a brief hearing, the court ordered Gershkovich to remain in prison until August 30, Russian news agencies reported. The United States demanded Gershkovich’s immediate release.
-
US President Joe Biden has chosen a new leader for the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command, a joint position that oversees much of America’s cyber warfare and defense. If confirmed, Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh will oversee highly influential U.S. efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s cybersecurity and share information with Ukrainian forces fighting Russia’s invasion.
-
Ukrainian forces still controlled the southwestern edge of the city of Bakhmut and fighting in the city itself has decreased, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar claimed on Tuesday. She wrote on the messaging app Telegram that Kiev forces had made some progress “on the flanks north and south of Bakhmut” and that Russian forces, which say they have taken the city itself, were continuing to clear areas they control.
-
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited marines at the Vuhledar-Maryinka defense line in the Donetsk region, as part of the celebration of the National Day of Ukrainian Marines.
-
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia carried out 20 missile strikes on Monday against Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv oblasts. used cruise missiles, Iskander-M ballistic missiles and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in the past 24 hours. It also claimed that Russia launched 48 airstrikes using Shahed drones, targeting both civilian and military targets with up to 90 attacks using multiple launch rocket systems.
-
A top Russian official facing Western sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine has visited Saudi Arabia and conversed with his counterpart in the kingdom. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev’s visit to Riyadh came days after Zelenskiy addressed an Arab League summit held in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
-
Germany is exploring options to support a coalition of countries that plan to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, That’s what German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said. He added that any potential German contribution could only be minor, as Germany itself does not own any of the US-built jets.
-
Ukraine is investigating Belarus’ alleged role in the forced transfer of children from Russian-occupied territories, This is stated by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office for Reuters. The announcement came in response to a report by the Belarusian exile opposition which claimed that 2,150 Ukrainian children, including orphans aged six to 15, were taken to so-called recreational camps and sanatoriums on Belarusian territory.
[pub1]