Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday described relations with China as the best ever” in a video conference conversation with his counterpart from the Asian country Xi Jinping.
“Our relations gracefully withstand all tests, demonstrate maturity and stability, and continue to expand dynamically,” the Kremlin head told Xi.
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Putin says relations with China are ‘best ever’
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday described relations with China as “the best ever” in a videoconference conversation with his counterpart from the Asian country, Xi Jinping.
“Our relations gracefully withstand all tests, demonstrate maturity and stability, and continue to expand dynamically,” the Kremlin head told Xi.
According to Putin, relations between Moscow and Beijing are “the best in history and a model of cooperation between the great powers of the 21st century”.
Ukraine has reported Russian casualties since the start of the war
Ukraine has shot down five drones over Kiev
Ukraine’s air defense has shot down five Russian drones over the country’s capital Kiev. The military administration of that city reported that Shahed-type drones flew over Kiev during the early hours of this Friday.
One of the drone-dropped munitions even hit and damaged an administrative building in the Holosiivski district.
The air raid alarm is sounding in the Kiev, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions
Airstrike alerts were triggered in three central regions and the city of Kyiv earlier this Friday, due to possible Russian drone strikes.
The United States considers sending Bradley combat vehicles to Ukraine
The US government is considering sending Bradley combat vehicles to Ukraine as part of an additional military support package, authorities involved in the matter told Bloomberg.
The Ukrainian military has shot down 10 Russian drones
Ukraine’s Eastern Operational Command said its anti-aircraft missile units, together with ground forces air defense units, destroyed nine Shahed-type drones and one Marlyn drone in Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Zelensky: “Russia has fewer and fewer missiles”
The president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, assured this Thursday, after the new massive attack suffered during the day, that Russia has “less and less missiles” and that with these attacks it is entering a “dead end”.
“With each of these rocket attacks, Russia is only sinking deeper and deeper into a dead end. They have fewer and fewer missiles. Instead, the status of the world’s biggest terrorist will have consequences for Russia and its citizens for a long time to come. And every rocket only confirms that all this must end with a court of law,” he said in his usual nightly address.
Russia launched a massive new attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Thursday that left at least 3 injured in Kiev and 90 percent of the city of Lviv without electricity.
Zelensky argued that Russia “has fewer and fewer missiles.” Reuters photo
Power outages continue in several locations in Ukraine
Ukraine on Thursday denounced massive Russian bombing of its energy infrastructure, which left three dead and power outages in mid-winter in “most” of Ukraine’s territories.
“There are power outages in most regions of Ukraine tonight,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky acknowledged in his daily social media address.
“Due to significant damage to the grid, it is difficult for us to restore electricity in Kharkov, Kiev, Odessa, Mikolaiv, Kherson and Lviv regions,” the chairman of the Ukrenergo power company Volodimir Kudritsky complained in statements on Ukrainian television .
The Russian attacks left “three dead and six injured, including a child,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastirski said.
War-related cyberattacks against Ukraine are among the largest in 2022
Three cyberattacks “specifically targeting Ukraine as a direct result of the Russian invasion” topped the list of the 10 largest such attacks globally this year, compiled by cybersecurity firm Eset.
1. Ukraine under attack (cyber) takes the top spot as that country’s critical infrastructure once again found itself in the crosshairs of cybercriminals.
Early in the Russian invasion, Eset researchers worked with the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) to resolve a targeted attack on the country’s power grid involving destructive malware (malicious code) that the Sandworm group had attempted to distribute against high-voltage electrical substations.
2. HermeticWiper and IsaacWiper: Last February, HermeticWiper malware was detected on hundreds of devices from various organizations in Ukraine. The next day, a second destructive data wiping attack against a Ukrainian government network began, this time with the IsaacWiper malware.
3. Internet out of service in Ukraine: Just an hour before the invasion, a major cyber attack against the commercial satellite Internet company, Viasat, disrupted broadband service for thousands of people in the country and even in other parts of the Europe.
Belarus summons Ukrainian ambassador after rocket attack
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador on Thursday to express his firm protest against the fall of a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile on its territory during the massive Russian shelling of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
“This is a serious incident. The Belarusian side takes this matter very seriously. We demand that the Ukrainian side conduct a thorough investigation into all circumstances surrounding the launch of the aforementioned missile,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Anatoli Glaz said.
The diplomat expressed confidence that similar incidents would not happen again in the future, which, he warned, “could have catastrophic consequences for everyone”.
The map of the war in Ukraine
The Institute for the Study of War has released its latest report on the war in Ukraine, noting that Russian forces are likely to complete their Bakhmut offensive without having made significant gains.
A second Ukrainian who fled his country dies in Romania
Romanian authorities found the body of a Ukrainian who fled in violation of the law banning all men of military age from leaving on a mountain near the Ukrainian border on Thursday, rescue services said.
The find comes after another Ukrainian who had illegally crossed the border was found dead this week.
The two deceased were part of a group of six Ukrainians who entered Romania on December 24 and got lost in a snowy area at an altitude of 1,800 meters in the Maramures mountains, which are part of the Eastern Carpathians.
The four remaining men, injured during the flight and showing symptoms of hypothermia, were rescued and given medical treatment in Romania, which shares more than 600 kilometers of border with Ukraine.
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.