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US warns world ‘should not be fooled’ by Xi’s ‘peace’ proposal as Chinese leader meets ‘dear friend’ Putin – as it happened

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Antony Blinken says China proposals could be ‘stalling tactic’ to help Russian troops in Ukraine as Xi Jinping meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow. This live blog is closed

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Mon 20 Mar 2023 15.03 EDTFirst published on Mon 20 Mar 2023 01.52 EDT
'We're a bit jealous of China': Vladimir Putin greets Xi Jinping in Kremlin – video

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Blinken warns world ‘should not be fooled’ by Xi’s ‘peace’ proposal

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has voiced scepticism over China’s “peace” proposals to end the Ukraine conflict, warning that they could be a “stalling tactic” to help Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine.

Blinken, speaking to reporters at a briefing, said:

The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms.

Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia this week after the international criminal court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin suggested Beijing did not think the Kremlin should be held accountable for its atrocities in Ukraine, Blinken added.

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Key events

Closing summary

It’s just past 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

  • China’s president, Xi Jinping, has arrived in Moscow in his first visit to Russia for four years. The state visit makes him the first world leader to meet Vladimir Putin since the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president. The pair held informal talks on Monday that lasted more than four hours, Russian state media reported, with formal negotiations to follow. The leaders are expected to sign joint declarations.

  • Russia and China “share the same, or some similar goals”, Xi told Putin during informal talks at the Kremlin on Monday. Upon his arrival, the state-owned news agency Tass reported that Xi had said: “China and Russia are good neighbours and reliable partners”. Xi also told him he was sure the Russian people would support Putin in the 2024 presidential election, although he has not publicly declared that he will seek another term.

  • Putin told Xi he welcomed Beijing’s proposal to end the “acute crisis” in Ukraine and he viewed the plan with respect. “You know that we are always ready for negotiating and we will discuss all those questions, including your suggestions,” the Russian leader told his Chinese counterpart at the Kremlin.

  • Ahead of the trip, Putin praised Xi as a “good old friend” in a newspaper article published in China, while Xi wrote in a Russian daily that his trip to Russia aimed to strengthen the friendship between the two countries and called for “pragmatism” on Ukraine.

  • Any future peace plan must require Russia to withdraw its troops from all Ukrainian territory, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, has reiterated. The formula for the successful implementation of China’s “peace plan” must include the restoration of Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”, Danilov posted on Twitter.

  • The US secretary of state has voiced scepticism over China’s “peace” proposals to end the Ukraine conflict, warning they could be a “stalling tactic” to help Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine.

  • Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, has written to Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to warn that the Ukrainian army is planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. In the letter published by his press service today, Prigozhin said the “large-scale attack” was planned for late March or the start of April. Separately, Prigozhin also intensified his attack on Shoigu, calling the minister’s son-in-law a “scumbag blogger”.

  • The prosecutor for the international criminal court (ICC) has said the world needs to “have the stamina” to enforce international law by trying those accused of war crimes in Ukraine, four days after the court took action against Vladimir Putin. Karim Khan also challenged the Kremlin to allow Ukrainian children abducted to Russia to return home, after his court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the grounds that they had overseen the forcible transfer of thousands of children.

  • EU ministers have reached a deal to supply Ukraine with 1m rounds of shells to bolster its defences against Russia’s invasion. EU foreign and defence ministers are still fine-tuning a €1bn plan for the joint procurement of ammunition by the Brussels-based European Defence Agency. Such an agreement would be a significant moment for the EU, which has limited experience of the joint purchase of military supplies. So far, about 15 countries are expected to take part in the voluntary initiative.

  • The US will send Ukraine $350m in weapons and equipment, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced. The latest aid package includes a large amount of various types of ammunition, such as rockets for the high-mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), Blinken said in a statement.

  • Norway has delivered eight Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a spokesperson for its armed forces has said. Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, said it would also send four special-purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needs the most.

  • Putin, speaking today before meeting China’s President Xi, said deepening ties between Moscow and African countries was a key goal for the Kremlin. In a televised address to delegates at a Russia-Africa parliamentary conference, Putin also said Russia would provide grain to African countries for free should the Black Sea grain deal not be extended in May.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

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The US is “concerned” that China will reiterate calls for a ceasefire that would leave Russian troops inside Ukrainian sovereign territory, the White House’s spokesperson, John Kirby, said.

Any ceasefire that does not address the removal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory “would effectively ratify Russia’s illegal conquests” and enable it to entrench its positions “and then to restart the war at a more advantageous time for them”, he warned.

The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, aided by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its terms without any viable pathway to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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The White House’s spokesperson, John Kirby, has been speaking at a news conference where he urged China’s president, Xi Jinping, to call on Vladimir Putin to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The “entire world would like to see this war end”, Kirby said, adding that the war “could actually end right now” if the Russian leader ordered his troops to withdraw from Ukrainian territory.

China’s “peace” proposal to end the Ukraine conflict includes “an essential point, and that’s respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries”, Kirby said.

We encourage President Xi to advocate for this exact essential key point, which must include the withdrawal of Russian forces from sovereign Ukrainian territory consistent with the UN charter.

The US hopes Xi will “press President Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals and schools, war crimes and atrocities”, he said.

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Talks between Putin and Xi end after more than four hours - reports

Talks between Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and China’s Xi Jinping have concluded, Russian state media reported.

The talks lasted for four and a half hours, state-run Ria news agency reported.

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Talks between Putin and Xi ‘still going on after four hours’ – reports

The Kremlin has said talks between China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin were still continuing after almost four hours, Russian news agencies reported.

State-run Ria news agency quoted the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as saying:

The conversation is still going on.

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Norway has delivered eight Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a spokesperson for its armed forces has said.

The donation of the Leopard tanks to Kyiv “will be decisive to their ability to conduct offensive operations and retake the lands occupied by Russia”, Lt Col Lars Jensen, the commander of Norway’s armoured battalion, was quoted saying in a statement.

🇳🇴#Norway has handed 8 #Leopard 2A4 tanks, 4 armored repair and recovery vehicles and one mobile counter-battery radar to #Ukraine, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense reported. pic.twitter.com/YP2vx0PwNB

— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 20, 2023

The country’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, announced in February that Norway would send eight Leopard 2 tanks and other equipment to Ukraine.

Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, said at the time that it would also send four special purpose tanks from its armoured engineering and bridge layer category, with the exact selection depending on what Ukraine needed the most.

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Jennifer Rankin
Jennifer Rankin

EU ministers have reached a deal to supply Ukraine with a million rounds of shells to bolster its defences against Russia’s invasion.

EU foreign and defence ministers are still fine-tuning a €1bn plan for the joint procurement of ammunition by the Brussels-based European Defence Agency. First proposed by Estonia and inspired by the bloc’s joint purchase of Covid vaccines, such an agreement would be a significant moment for the EU, which has limited experience of the joint purchase of military supplies. So far, about 15 countries are expected to take part in the voluntary initiative.

Ministers are also discussing a separate €1bn proposal to reimburse member states that supply Ukraine with ammunition, via the EU’s European Peace Facility (EPF). Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the EU has pledged €3.6bn to fund arms and non-lethal aid for Ukraine via the EPF, a fund created in 2021 to strengthen security. Under the latest plan, €1bn from the EPF would be earmarked to fund ammunition for Ukraine.

An EU source said the agreement covered both the €1bn joint procurement plan and €1bn EPF funding for ammunition, although final details are still being ironed out.

Read the full story here:

Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin intensified his attack on Russia’s defence chief Sergei Shoigu, calling the minister’s son-in-law a “scumbag blogger”.

In an audio message published on his social media channels, Prigozhin compared Aik Gasparyan, a Wagner fighter and convicted armed robber who he called a “hero” with Shoigu’s son-in-law, the fitness blogger Alexei Stolaryov.

Which one is better - Hayk, who committed a crime, came out and became a real hero, or a scumbag blogger who remains a vile creature.

Stolaryov is the husband of Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of the Russian defence minister who is believed to be close with her father.

Prigozhin has previously feuded with Russia’s top brass over military tactics and the right to recruit convicts from Russian prisons for the war in Ukraine. He has also accused the country’s top military leaders of “high treason.”

In a separate letter published on Monday, Prigozhin told Shoigu that the Ukrainian army was planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his Wagner forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

The letter was the first time Prigozhin has published such correspondence with the defence minister.

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The European Defence Agency has said 17 EU countries plus Norway agreed today to jointly procure ammunition to help Ukraine and to replenish their own stockpiles.

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Norway have signed the so-called project arrangement.

In a statement, the Brussels-based agency said:

The project opens the way for EU member states and Norway to proceed along two paths: a two-year, fast-track procedure for 155mm artillery rounds and a seven-year project to acquire multiple ammunition types.

More EU member states have “already expressed their intent to join the initiative soon following national procedures”, it added.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner group, has written to Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to warn that the Ukrainian army is planning an imminent offensive aimed at cutting off his forces from the main body of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

In the letter published by his press service today, Prigozhin said the “large-scale attack” was planned for late March or the start of April.

He asked Shoigu to “take all necessary measures to prevent the Wagner private military company being cut off from the main forces of the Russian army, which will lead to negative consequences” for Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The letter marks the first time Prigozhin has published such correspondence with the defence minister, whom he has frequently criticised over the conduct of the war, Reuters reports.

Prigozhin, who did not say how he knew of Ukraine’s plan, said he would also provide his own proposals to counter the Ukrainian offensive.

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Blinken warns world ‘should not be fooled’ by Xi’s ‘peace’ proposal

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has voiced scepticism over China’s “peace” proposals to end the Ukraine conflict, warning that they could be a “stalling tactic” to help Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine.

Blinken, speaking to reporters at a briefing, said:

The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms.

Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia this week after the international criminal court’s arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin suggested Beijing did not think the Kremlin should be held accountable for its atrocities in Ukraine, Blinken added.

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Summary of the day so far

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

  • China’s president, Xi Jinping, has arrived in Moscow in his first visit to Russia for four years. The state visit makes the Chinese leader the first world leader to meet with Vladimir Putin since the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president. The pair held informal talks on Monday, with formal negotiations to follow. The two leaders are expected to sign joint declarations.

  • Ahead of the trip, Putin praised Xi as a “good old friend” in a newspaper article published in China, while Xi wrote in a Russian daily that his trip to Russia aimed to strengthen the friendship between the two countries and called for “pragmatism” on Ukraine.

  • Russia and China “share the same, or some similar goals”, Xi told Putin during informal talks at the Kremlin on Monday. Upon his arrival, the state-owned news agency Tass reported that Xi had said “China and Russia are good neighbours and reliable partners”. Xi also told Putin that he was sure that the Russian people would support Putin in the 2024 presidential election, although he has not publicly declared that he will seek another term.

  • Putin told Xi he welcomed Beijing’s proposal to end the “acute crisis” in Ukraine and that he viewed the plan with respect. “You know that we are always ready for negotiating, and we will discuss all those questions including your suggestions,” the Russian leader told his Chinese counterpart at the Kremlin.

  • Any future peace plan must require Russia to withdraw its troops from all Ukrainian territory, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, has reiterated. The formula for the successful implementation of China’s “peace plan” must include the restoration of Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”, Danilov posted to Twitter.

China's Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin – video
  • The prosecutor for the international criminal court (ICC) has said the world needs to “have the stamina” to enforce international law by trying those accused of war crimes in Ukraine, four days after the court took action against Vladimir Putin. Karim Khan also challenged the Kremlin to allow Ukrainian children abducted to Russia to return home, after his court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the grounds that they had overseen the forcible transfer of thousands of children.

  • EU countries have agreed on a plan to give 1m artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year by digging into their own stockpiles and teaming up to buy more. Not all the details were immediately available but the plan approved by the ministers was based on a proposal from EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, to spend €1bn on shells from stockpiles and €1bn more on joint procurement.

  • The US will send Ukraine $350m in weapons and equipment, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced. The latest aid package includes a large amount of various types of ammunition, such as rockets for the high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), Blinken said in a statement.

  • Putin, speaking today before meeting with China’s President Xi, said deepening ties between Moscow and African countries was a key goal for the Kremlin. In a televised address to delegates at a Russia-Africa parliamentary conference, Putin also said Russia would provide grain to African countries for free should the Black Sea grain deal not be extended in May.

  • Leaders of Ukraine’s Moscow-Patriarch-affiliated Orthodox Church arrived near Ukraine’s presidential administration on Monday in an attempt to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The church has been under pressure since November after Ukraine’s security services began a number of investigations into the church, saying they suspected the church of spreading pro-Kremlin narratives. The church leaders say they want to clarify their pro-Ukrainian position with Zelenskiy.

  • Kremlin staff involved in Vladimir Putin’s 2024 presidential re-election campaign have been banned from using their iPhones because of concerns that the devices are vulnerable to western intelligence agencies, according to a report.

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Russia and China ‘share similar goals’, Xi tells Putin

China’s president Xi Jinping told Vladimir Putin that Moscow and Beijing “share similar goals” and called the Russian leader his “dear friend” during an informal meeting at the Kremlin.

Xi told Putin:

It is true that both of our countries share the same, or some similar goals. We have exerted efforts for the prosperity of our respective countries … we can cooperate and work together to achieve our goals.

Xi also said he was sure that the Russian people would support Putin in the 2024 presidential election, although he has not publicly declared that he will seek another term.

As Xi’s words were translated into Russian, Putin looked his Chinese counterpart in the eye and smiled briefly. Putin also used the term “dear friend” to his guest during the meeting.

Xi Jinping gestures while speaking with Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow. Photograph: Sergei Karpuhin/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA

The pair are scheduled to have dinner tonight and hold formal talks tomorrow. The menu includes blini with quail and mushrooms; sterlet sturgeon soup; pomegranate sorbet, nelma – an Arctic fish – with vegetables; venison with cherry sauce; pavlova; and wines from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.

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The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has described an agreement by the bloc’s member states on a plan to give 1m artillery shells to Ukraine as a “historic decision”.

EU foreign and defence ministers, meeting today in Brussels, approved the plan based on Borrell’s proposal to spend €1bn on shells from stockpiles and €1bn more on joint procurement.

A historic decision.

Following my proposal, Member States agreed to deliver 1 mio rounds of artillery ammunition within the next 12 months.

We have a 3 track approach:
1) €1 bn for immediate delivery
2) €1 bn for joint procurement
3) commission to ramp up production capacity pic.twitter.com/CCNOaxE4bk

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 20, 2023

Ministers discussed a plan for the joint procurement of 155mm ammunition by the Brussels-based European Defence Agency. Such a move marks a significant moment for the EU, which has limited experience of the joint purchase of military supplies.

Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said his country would be among those joining the joint procurement initiative, describing it as “new territory” for the EU. He said:

Our goal has to be to ship a significant amount of munitions to Ukraine before the end of this year.

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