In an attempt to work on a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron is in Beijing this week urging Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “bring Russia to its senses” regarding the war in Ukraine. Xi has become a bit of a global mediator in recent weeks after successfully brokering a rapprochement between former Arab rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov accused the U.S. of “playing with fire” and engaging in a hot “hybrid war” with Russia and blamed Washington for increasing nuclear tensions.
The Ukrainian battle for Bakhmut has not been going well for Kyiv, with reportedly high losses and dwindling munitions and other resources in the east, and despite numerous reports of a much anticipated Spring counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, the talk has shifted from a planned counteroffensive to a need for compromise.
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On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced its latest round of military aid for Ukraine, totaling $2.6 billion.
On Saturday, a Kyiv court ordered that Metropolitan Pavel, a Ukrainian Orthodox bishop and head monk at the historic Pechersk Lavra Monastery, be put on house arrest. The bishop is suspected of justifying the Russian invasion, which has been made a criminal offense in Ukraine. Pavel has denied the accusations stating that he has “never been on the side of aggression.”
According to The Bell, on Sunday evening, Russia’s best-known pro-war blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in an IED explosion in a bar while delivering a speech in St. Petersburg. Official reports indicate that at least 30 people were also injured in the blast. The assassination of Tatarsky is expected to have greater repercussions than the murder of Daria Dugina last summer, who was the daughter of the nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group claimed at least partial victory over Bakhmut by raising both the Russian and Wagner group flags over government administration buildings in the city.
Austria has joined several Western countries that appear to be becoming weary of sacrificing their money, tax dollars, military equipment, and weapons stockpiles for Ukraine as its war against Russia enters its second year. Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged this week that “Ukraine fatigue” is setting in and noted that support for the war is waning.
A week after Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Xi to visit Ukraine soon in remarks he made in a recently published Associated Press interview.