‘Our interaction is important for strategic stability on the planet,’ Dong Jun says after meeting with Sergey Shoigu; both chiefs back continued military cooperation.

Observers say Ukraine will be high on the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to France, Serbia and Hungary next month, while the West will be watching Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to China for signs Beijing is supporting Moscow’s war efforts.

Court documents allege that suspect Dylan Earl was connected to the proscribed terrorist group the Wagner Group, the domestic Press Association news agency reported.

Ukraine sidelines US-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now, in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack, US officials said.

Purpose is to enlist China’s help in ending the companies’ activities that allegedly violate sanctions on supplying products with military applications to Moscow.

But American treasury secretary says the policy option is something Washington ‘would be prepared to use if necessary’.

Trip would be the long-time leader’s first abroad since his re-election, amid Western claims that China is propping up Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

Europe must not become a vassal of the US, he said, as he outlined his vision for a more assertive EU on the global stage.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Beijing that Hungary is a ‘European country of unique influence’.

The weapons, with double the striking distance, were used for the first time to bomb a Russian airfield in Crimea and Russian forces in another occupied area.

Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday that provides billions of dollars of new US aid to Ukraine, notching a rare bipartisan victory for the president as he seeks re-election.

Trade, Ukraine among topics on the agenda, with Blinken expected to pressure China to urge its firms to stop supplying dual-use goods to Russia or face more punitive measures.

It is the Russia’s highest-profile corruption case since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022

The US Congress gave final approval to a long-delayed US$61 billion aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday. Ukraine hopes to quickly get fresh supplies to the war zone as Russia makes battlefield gains.

The move comes as Kyiv faces manpower shortages in the fighting against Russia, and is tied to a new law that includes tougher penalties against draft dodgers.

Report on possible sanctions on Chinese banks draws sharp rebuttal from Foreign Ministry, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads for talks with Chinese leaders.

In a phone call on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked US President Joe Biden for unblocking US$61 billion in military aid. US Senate is to take up the measure on Tuesday.

America’s top diplomat pledges to keep raising atrocities with responsible governments days before he is expected to meet senior officials in Beijing.

Ukraine says its soldiers will benefit from the aid package as Western leaders laud the US move, noting it will help ‘make us all safer’.

The Russian president ‘frightens people, he keeps them in fear’, said Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the dissident who died in a Siberian prison camp in February, in an interview.

A long-delayed US$61 billion in funding for Kyiv’s forces has cleared the House but still needs a vote in the Senate.

Special envoy Li Hui’s latest mission to Europe was met with scepticism, and could be seen as ‘signalling’ to the Global South that China is a responsible power.

The Ukrainian president is seeking more air defence systems from Western allies after a drone of fatal drone and missile attacks from Russia.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson relied heavily on lawmakers from the rival party to overcome a blockade from his conservatives colleagues.

Ukraine said that, for the first time since Russia’s invasion, it had downed a Russian long-range bomber used to fire cruise missiles at its cities.