China intends to elevate its cooperation with Russia “to a higher level,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Wednesday during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Beijing, where according to state broadcaster CCTV the two countries agreed to strengthen their economic ties. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Chinese officials have refrained from directly condemning, has brought the two powers closer together in the past year — to the disapproval of Western governments.
The United States is trying to distance itself from an incident in the Russian region of Belgorod, where two heavily damaged U.S.-made Humvees were seen in a video verified by The Washington Post on the Russian side of a border station. Moscow alleged that militias made up of Russians fighting on Ukraine’s side attacked a border post. It is unclear whether the militias used the Humvees and whether Ukrainian forces provided them to the group.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
But when it comes to its own commercial deals, Russian oil and gas present more of a dilemma for Ukraine, David L. Stern reports from Kyiv.
Last year, about 300,000 barrels of oil a day passed through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine. Ukrainian officials claim that allowing the transit of Russian oil provides leverage over Moscow and gives Ukraine much-needed revenue — though it’s not clear exactly how much, if anything, Russia is paying for the transit.
