China vows to maintain ‘fair’ stance on Ukraine war after Putin and Xi meeting

Putin said he expect President Xi to make a state visit next year in a public show of solidarity from Beijing

China has vowed to maintain what it described as its “objective and fair” stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine following a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

President Xi said Beijing and Moscow should closely coordinate and cooperate in international affairs and emphasised Russia’s willingness to engage in negotiations over Ukraine, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said in its report on the video call between the pair.

Mr Putin said on Friday he was expecting President Xi to make a state visit next year in a public show of solidarity from Beijing and said he aimed to boost military cooperation with China.

“We are expecting you, dear Mr Chairman, dear friend, we are expecting you next spring on a state visit to Moscow,” Mr Putin said.

“This will demonstrate to the whole world the strength of Russian-Chinese ties on key issues.”

But an official Chinese readout of the meeting made no mention of a visit and stressed that Beijing, which has neither backed nor condemned the invasion of Ukraine, would maintain its “objective and fair” stance.

Afterwards, the United States said it was concerned by China's "alignment with Russia”, and said it had warned Beijing of consequences should it give Russia military assistance for its war against Ukraine or help it evade Western sanctions.

“We are monitoring Beijing's activity closely," a State Department spokesperson said. “Beijing claims to be neutral, but its behaviour makes clear it is still investing in close ties to Russia.”

Meanwhile, at least three people were killed in a second successive night of Russian drone and rocket attacks on Ukraine, following one of its fiercest assaults on infrastructure that caused power cuts in freezing temperatures.

Moscow’s forces attacked the country with 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight Thursday to Friday, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia unleashed fresh shelling in two areas close to the border.

Residents in Kyiv were forced to rush to air raid shelters as sirens wailed across the capital city at 2am local time. Several explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard south of the city.

Ukrainian military chiefs said Russian forces shelled 20 settlements around the bombed-out town of Bakhmut in the east and more than 25 settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Russia’s defence ministry boasted it had carried out a “massive strike” on energy and military industrial targets on Thursday to disrupt Ukraine’s ability to repair equipment and move troops.

Civilians were wounded, homes were destroyed and power was cut off in some areas.

Ukraine’s military said it came under attack from 16 “kamikaze” drones, all of which it had shot down.

People attend the funeral for Ukrainian soldier Gennadiy Afanasyev, 32 (Getty Images)

Seven drones had targeted Kyiv, the capital’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The drones came alongside 85 missile strikes, 35 airstrikes, and 63 strikes from multiple rocket launch systems in 24 hours, the general staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks, on energy infrastructure, were mostly repelled.

However, the areas where the loss of power was “especially difficult” included Kyiv, Odesa and Kherson in the south, and Lviv near the Polish border.

“But this is nothing compared with what could have happened if it were not for our heroic anti-aircraft gunners and air defence,” Mr Zelensky said.

A Ukrainian serviceman writes an inscription reading ‘Happy New Year’ on a mortar shell before firing towards positions of Russian troops (Reuters)

Ukrainian forces were holding their positions against Russian troops in the eastern Donbas region and making small advances in some areas, he added.

The military had strengthened its anti-aircraft capability and would further strengthen it in the new year to protect both itself and the entire European continent, the president vowed.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg called on member states to supply more weapons to Ukraine, saying: “It is in all our security interests to make sure Ukraine prevails and Putin does not win.”

Britain said on Friday it had given Ukraine more than 1,000 metal detectors and 100 kits to deactivate bombs and to help clear minefields.

A resident looks at damage from a Russian drone strike (Reuters)

Defence minister Ben Wallace says the UK will give the country £2.3bn in military aid next year, the same as this year.

Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults, analysis has found.

More than 600 incidents appear to violate the laws of war, according to the Associated Press and Frontline.

Some of those attacks were massacres that killed dozens or hundreds of civilians and as a totality, it could account for thousands of individual war crimes. Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told AP: “Ukraine is a crime scene.”