Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv; Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns of WW3 if China supports Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned China against backing Russia in the war against Ukraine as Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has cautioned if China supports Russia in the war against Ukraine “there will be a world war”.
The Ukraine president’s chilling words coincided with US President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday.
It comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday warned Beijing was “considering providing lethal support” to Moscow ranging “from ammunition to the weapons themselves”.
According to The Sun, Mr Zelenskyy told German daily Die Welt: “For us, it is important that China does not support the Russian Federation in this war. In fact, I would like it to be on our side.
“At the moment, however, I don’t think it’s possible.”
He added: “But I do see an opportunity for China to make a pragmatic assessment of what is happening here.
“Because if China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I do think that China is aware of that.”
Beijing has denied Blinken’s claim.
“It is the United States and not China that is endlessly shipping weapons to the battlefield,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday, when asked about the US claims.
“We urge the United States to earnestly reflect on its own actions, and do more to alleviate the situation, promote peace and dialogue, and stop shifting blame and spreading false information,” Mr Wang told a regular briefing.
A defiant Mr Zelenskyy said Russia does not stand a chance of winning its war, after Mr Biden promised additional arms supplies on a surprise visit to Kyiv.
“This is an unequivocal signal that Russian attempts to win will have no chance,” Mr Zelenskyy said on Monday, referring to Mr Biden’s visit and new pledges of military support, which includes $500 million ($A725 million) in military aid.
“Together we will protect our cities, our people from the terror of Russia.”
It comes as Mr Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv — his first trip to the country since Russia’s invasion began nearly one year ago.
Mr Biden’s historic visit is a show of support for the war-torn country that comes at a critical moment in the conflict, as Russia prepares for an expected new offensive, CNN reports.
Mr Biden met with Mr Zelenskyy, as well as First Lady Olena Zelenska, at Kyiv’s presidential palace.
“It’s good to be back in Kyiv,” Mr Biden said when he arrived and was greeted by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.
Mr Biden said he had visited Kyiv to reaffirm the United States’ “unwavering” support for Ukraine, announcing new military aid and a fresh swath of sanctions.
“As the world prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, I am in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Mr Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
“When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong,” Mr Biden said.
MISSION TO GET BIDEN INTO KYIV REVEALED
It was an unprecedented trip almost unheard of for a US president.
But Mr Biden’s secret mission to get to Kyiv involved news blackouts and spy planes which ensured his visit was not revealed to the public until the moment he emerged in the Ukrainian capital.
Although kept secret from the rest of the world, Vladimir Putin was tipped off about the trip through a “red phone line” to the Kremlin.
Mr Biden ordered his team to notify the Russian President of the visit just hours before his departure.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Russia was told “for deconfliction purposes”.
“And because of the sensitive nature of those communications I won’t get into how they responded, or what the precise nature of our message was,” he said.
Mr Biden, 80, was expected to visit Poland to discuss the possibility of increasing the presence of US troops in the country.
But instead his team executed a highly secretive journey to Kyiv which even involved the White House on Sunday night issue a false public schedule for the president's Monday morning plans.
The usual 13-person strong travelling press pool was scaled down to one reporter and a single photographer who both had their phones taken away as they were sworn to secrecy.
Mr Biden’s team was also stripped back, with just a few of his closest advisers, a tiny medical team and his Secret Service detail joining the venture.
In central Kyiv, there were phone and internet blackouts in an unprecedented lockdown while US spy plane could be seen on public circling over Poland on the border with Ukraine.
Footage shared on social media showed massive motorcades moving through the city, which sparked speculation of a high-profile visit by a foreign leader — with the trucks and outriders being seen in the US Embassy.
“Unlike previous visits from presidents to war zones, like Iraq and Afghanistan the US obviously does not have a military presence on the ground in Ukraine, which made a visit from a sitting president all the more challenging,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said.
“But this was a risk that Joe Biden wanted to take.”
SEAN PENN ATTACKS VLADIMIR PUTIN
US actor Sean Penn launched a scathing critique of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Berlin over the weekend where he was promoting his latest film, Superpower.
Penn lashed out at Mr Putin, calling him a “creepy little bully” and a “war criminal”.
Speaking at the press conference for the documentary film, which debuted at the Berlinale film festival, Penn was asked what he likes and does not like about Mr Zelenskyy, who is featured in the film.
“I don’t like a creepy little bully threatening him [Zelenskyy] and his country,” said Penn.
“I do like that there’s no threat that scares Zelenskyy or the Ukrainians.”
Later in the interview, Penn refused to refer to Mr Putin by name, instead calling him “the war criminal to whom you refer.”
Superpower covers the period from the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 up until recent missile attacks.
In March last year Penn said that he would melt down his Oscars which he received for best actor in Mystic River in 2003 and Milk in 2008 if the Academy did not allow Mr Zelenskyy to speak at the 2022 ceremony.
Penn said the Oscar he famously gave Mr Zelenskyy is “ready to be melted any time he wants it to be melted.”
A demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine will take place on the Berlinale Palast red carpet on Friday 24, on the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
FRANCE TO SEND TANKS TO UKRAINE
France said it will begin delivering the armoured vehicles it has promised Ukraine in its war against Russia by next weekend.
The vehicles, of the AMX-10 type and sometimes described as “light tanks”, are used for armed reconnaissance and attacks on enemy tanks.
The first vehicles will be sent to Ukraine “by the end of next week”, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu told Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday.
He declined to specify the number of vehicles in the first batch, saying he did not want to give Russia any “strategic information”.
According to the French defence ministry, AMX-10s are highly mobile, “powerfully armed” and offer protection against light infantry fire.
Their combat weight is around a third of that of France’s Leclerc battle tanks.
The French armed forces have begun to replace AMX-10s, first developed in the 1970s, with more modern vehicles called Jaguar.
President Emmanuel Macron promised in early January that France would send AMX-10s, after months of hesitation because of fears that increased weapons deliveries could further escalate the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
NETHERLANDS EXPELS RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS
The Dutch foreign ministry on Saturday announced the expulsion of several Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam, accusing Moscow of using diplomatic cover for spying.
It was the latest development in a dispute over Russia’s failure to grant visas to Dutch diplomats to staff their embassy in Moscow and the consulate in Saint Petersburg.
“It is unacceptable that Russia is trying to place spies in the Netherlands under diplomatic cover,” Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted later Saturday.
“That is why we are limiting the number of Russian diplomats in the Netherlands.” The Russian diplomats being told to leave have two weeks to depart the country, while Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam had to be closed from Tuesday, said the ministry statement.
HUNGARY SIDES WITH RUSSIA
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to maintain ties with Moscow and urged others to do the same, even as the EU tries to maintain a united front against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
“We will keep our economic relations with Russia, and this is what we propose to our allies as well,” Mr Orban said in his annual state-of-the-nation address on Saturday.
“The Hungarian government does not consider the suggestion that Russia is a threat to the security of Hungary or Europe to be realistic,” he added.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv; Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns of WW3 if China supports Russia
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