German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his intention on Tuesday to discuss a “just peace” in Ukraine with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Beijing.
This trip comes at a time when Xi Jinping, who has never explicitly condemned the Russian war against Ukraine, is under fire from Western criticism for his displayed proximity to Moscow and President Vladimir Putin.
The visit also takes place at a time when the European Union has engaged in a standoff with China, which it accuses of distorting the European market by flooding it with low-cost products.
Joe Biden on Monday reiterated a pressing call for Congress to adopt a budget of tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine, currently blocked by the Republican opposition.
“Congress must adopt this funding” for Ukraine “and it must do it now, now,” the American president told journalists while receiving Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the White House. An envelope of 60 billion dollars for kyiv, requested by the Democratic president, has been blocked in the American Congress for months, just like another envelope for Israel.
“As the Czech Republic knows too well, Russia will not stop at Ukraine and the impact on NATO would be significant,” said Joe Biden. Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop, endangering Europe, the United States and the whole world if we do not stop him in Ukraine,” he added.
“We are getting dangerously close to a nuclear accident” in Zaporizhia, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Monday, noting that it was “impossible” to know who was responsible for the recent attacks against the Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
The Zaporizhia site (ZNPP), occupied since March 2022 by Russia in southern Ukraine, suffered a series of drone attacks from April 7, with Moscow and kyiv mutually blaming each other for responsibility.
Like every day, the editorial staff of 20 minutes is mobilized to give you all the information on the conflict. This Friday is the 779th day of the conflict. Monday was marked by new deadly bombings in the Kharkiv and Donetsk region.