Leaders will hold first phone call since the invasion of Ukraine on Friday, amid speculation that Beijing could provide financial or military support to Moscow
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US President Joe Biden will warn his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday that he will face “costs” if Beijing rescues fellow authoritarian ally Russia from intense western sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The two leaders’ first phone call since a video summit in November will be a chance to air differences as the United States spearheads an unprecedented pressure campaign on Russia, placing China in a geopolitical bind.
The UK Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence report, which said logistical problems continue to beset Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine. Russia is being forced to divert “large numbers” of troops to defend its supply lines rather than continuing its attacks in Ukraine, it said.
About 130 people have been rescued so far from the basement of a theatre hit by a Russian airstrike in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, officials said.
In Kharkiv, a rescue worker has died and another was injured after a shopping centre was shelled on Thursday, sparking a fire that has burned through the night. Two residential buildings were also damaged in the attack.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy cautioned Russian troops against drawing a comparison to hostilities back in 2014. Ukraine is “different now”, he said.
The World Health Organization said it had so far verified 43 attacks on health care facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured, including health workers.
More than 320,000 Ukrainian citizens have returned to help their country fight since Russia began its invasion, according to the state border guard service of Ukraine.
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