For the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has signaled it will mediate to end fighting between the two countries.
On Monday (March 6th), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China is ready to work with the international community by playing a constructive role in the peace talks.
Russia, meanwhile, has announced a ceasefire in four cities, including the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, according to various international media reports.
The country’s foreign minister also said he had requested for continued diplomatic talks to resolve the issue. In addition, the Chinese Red Cross will provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Netflix, a US-based video streaming platform, has announced that it is suspending its operations in Russia until further notice. TickTock, a video-sharing platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has also announced a suspension of live streaming and uploading of new content to Russia.
The U.S. official said the United States was monitoring the situation in Kharson and Mikolaiv. It shows that Russian forces are still trying to encircle Kiev, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol. However, he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Ukraine’s security forces
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also warned against a no-fly zone. Last Saturday, he said that if a country launched a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Moscow would assume that the country was also involved in the war.
Britain’s Home Secretary Preity Zinta also said Russia’s behavior was a direct threat to international legal co-operation. However, Patel did not specify the reasons behind such requests from Western countries. He says Western countries want to corner Russia diplomatically and economically by attacking Ukraine.
