Zelensky once again visits the troops resisting the bloody front in Bahmut

Chinese leader Xi Jinping was expected to call the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to discuss Beijing’s peace plan, which the Kremlin has rejected until, Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, Kiev and its Western allies show a willingness to dialogue. So, while the news is coming from the Asian giant, Zelensky decided to go for the giveaway encourage your soldiers who are fighting on the front in Bakhmuta city where fighting with Russian forces has not stopped since August.

In a video posted Wednesday on the website of the Ukrainian presidency, Zelensky is shown inside a kind of large hangar with soldiers from his army, first in formation and then talking to him. The press release states that “the head of state is on a working visit to the first positions in the Bakhmut area.” Although the date is not given, it seems that it must have been this Wednesday or Tuesday.

The note also states that the president listened to the appropriate military report on “the operational situation and the course of the conflict in this sector of the front, spoke with the military, thanked them for their sacrifice for Ukraine and proceeded with the awarding of decorations.”

“I have the honor to be here today, in the east of our country, in Donbass, and reward our heroes, thank them, shake their hands. Thank you for defending the homeland, sovereignty, Eastern Ukrainesaid Zelenski. During the tour, a minute of silence was held for the fallen veterans, and the president had the opportunity to see the soldiers housed in the field hospital. “I would like to thank the representatives of the medical teams of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their professionalism, for their work,” he said.

In February, it was taken for granted that Ukrainian troops would have to withdraw from Bakhmut in the face of a strong attack by Russian mercenaries from Wagner’s group. But they held out, and although Moscow’s forces control the eastern part of the city and partially surround it from the south and north, Zelensky and his generals decided in the middle of the month that they would not surrender it. On Monday, the head of this private army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, assured that his men control about 70% of the city. The previous time the Ukrainian president was there in December.

Attacks from Russian territory

On Wednesday, Zelenski published a video on Telegram, which was apparently obtained from security cameras, of the moment a missile hits a nine-story building in Zaporizhia. “Russia is bombing the city with beastly cruelty. It is hitting residential areas where ordinary people and children live (…), it is trying to destroy our cities, our country, our people,” he said.

The city’s deputy mayor, Anatoly Kurtiev, reported that a man was killed in the attack, who died in hospital, and more than 30 injured, including two minors. In addition, another unexploded rocket was reported on the roof of a house. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, another attack took place, this time by Iranian-made Shahed drones, on a student residence and a vocational training center in the city. Ržisevin Kyiv regionabout 80 kilometers south of the capital.

According to police chief Andrije Nebitov, it was seven dead, including a minor, and nine injured. Two of the affected buildings were partially destroyed, according to photos released by authorities of 21 drones launched from Russia’s Bryansk region. The Ukrainian Air Force claimed 16 were shot down.

Zelensky commented on this attack by noting that “every time the word peace is heard, a new order is given in Moscow to carry out criminal attacks. The success of Ukrainian forces on land, in the air and at sea is actually what brings peace closer.” In his words, “full compliance with the regime of sanctions against Russia effectively restores the strength of the United Nations Charter.” World unity must restore global stability.”

In China, Putin finds a way to escape isolation

Backed into a corner by Western sanctions and an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, Russian President Vladimir Putin found a way out of isolation in China, both politically and economically, as well as on the Ukrainian battlefield. .

Moscow does not remember such an ostentatious reception for the head of state as the one hosted by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. No Western leader has ever enjoyed such warm treatment in the gold and marble halls of the Kremlin. Xi was treated as what he is, the last straw for Russia, which is relying on China and other countries, such as India, to survive the European embargo and boycott of the military campaign in Ukraine.

“We envy them a little,” Putin admitted in a rare open confession for a Russian leader hardly inclined to show even an ounce of weakness. The leader of the Asian giant left the Kremlin assuring his Russian counterpart that changes are taking place right now, the likes of which have not been seen in 100 years. “And we are the ones who initiate these changes,” he added. “I agree,” Putin replied with a half-smile.

Russia needs an ally in its current struggle with the West in Ukraine, and it has found one in China, which also has its ups and downs with Washington over Taiwan.

Putin and Xi have marked the new red lines of the multipolar world order, which are summed up in the categorical rejection of Western hegemony in all international affairs. The dictate of NATO and the dollar is over. Two-thirds of trade is already done in rubles and yuan.

In this new world, there will be no blocs that try to impose their ideology, their interpretation of human rights or oppose “democracy to autocracy”, according to the joint declaration signed by both leaders.

Russia warns of the greatest danger of a nuclear conflict in recent decades

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned yesterday that the risk of a global nuclear conflict is now the highest in decades, alluding to tensions with the West over Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. He specified, however, that Russia still claims that “the world must be free and safe from the nuclear threat.”

A Russian diplomat admitted that now Russia, “actuallyin open conflict with the United States”, which he accused of being “practically” part of the conflict in Ukraine. Because of this, Russia cannot behave “as before”, and the direct consequence is the suspension of the last valid nuclear disarmament agreement between Russia and the US- a, START III or New START.

On the other hand, he considered that the possibility of Moscow’s return to START III, whose implementation was suspended last month by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has absolutely no “political sense”. “Before it was necessary to reach an agreement, now it is impossible. From a legal point of view, we have completely suspended the contract,” he emphasized.

The Swedish parliament overwhelmingly approves joining NATO

The Swedish parliament approved yesterday with 269 votes for and 37 against the country’s entry into NATO, a historic decision ending two centuries of military non-alignment. The expected resolution had the support of six out of eight clubs with parliamentary representation, and only the Party for the Environment and the Socialist Left voted against.

Sweden’s entry into NATO, along with Finland, was prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was approved at the alliance’s June summit in Madrid, after Turkey lifted its veto at the last minute in exchange for certain conditions. Twenty-eight of the thirty member countries have already ratified the agreement, except for Turkey and Hungary.