With world powers manoeuvring to respond to the bloody three-week invasion, Washington said that President Joe Biden has warned Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of the “consequences” of any support for Russia.
The United States fears that China could deliver financial and military aid to Moscow, transforming an already explosive transatlantic standoff into a global confrontation.
In the nearly two-hour phone call, Xi said that war is “in no one’s interest”, but showed no sign of giving in to US pressure to join Western condemnation of Russia.
However, Moscow’s diplomatic isolation deepened as Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats, following in the steps of Bulgaria.
The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other top global lenders warned on Friday that the “devastating human catastrophe” unfolding in Ukraine risks “extensive” economic fallout around the globe.
Historically, Ukraine has been a grain-exporting breadbasket for the world.
“The entire global economy will feel the effects of the crisis through slower growth, trade disruptions, and steeper inflation,” the lenders said.
Italy announced Friday it would tax the extra profits made by energy firms off the back of spiking prices and Belgium delayed by a decade a plan to scrap nuclear energy in 2025, also spooked by the huge spike.
READ ALSO: Zelensky calls for fresh talks as Russian soldiers enter Mariupol
Undeterred by reports of military setbacks or international condemnation, Putin held a large triumphalist rally in a Moscow football stadium on Friday featuring a sea of Russian flags, pro-Kremlin pop stars and chants of “Russia! Russia! Russia!”
Marking eight years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, tens of thousands of people took part, many wearing ribbons with the letter “Z” that features on Russian tanks invading Ukraine.
According to AFP, Putin said the Russian military was in Ukraine “to rid these people from their suffering and genocide”.
Negotiations stalled
For many Ukrainians, Russia’s actions on the ground and from the air make a mockery of that justification, and of the stop-start peace talks that have been proceeding this week.
But in a call to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin accused Ukrainian authorities of stalling talks by “putting forward more and more unrealistic proposals”.
“Nevertheless, the Russian side is ready to continue to search for solutions in line with its well-known principled approaches,” the Kremlin said.
Russia’s top negotiator said Friday that Moscow and Kyiv had brought their positions “as close as possible” on a proposal for Ukraine to become a neutral state.
But Mikhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelensky taking part in the negotiations, said his country’s position had not budged.
“All statements are intended, inter alia, to provoke tension in the media,” he wrote on Twitter.
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