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BREAKING: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia won't seek re-election in 2024

U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say

WASHINGTON — U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war , according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.

The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.

They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine , officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.

And there is unease in the U.S. government with how much less public attention the war in Ukraine has garnered since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a month ago, the officials said. Officials fear that shift could make securing additional aid for Kyiv more difficult. 

Some U.S. military officials have privately begun using the term “stalemate” to describe the current battle in Ukraine, with some saying it may come down to which side can maintain a military force the longest. Neither side is making large strides on the battlefield, which some U.S. officials now describe as a war of inches. Officials also have privately said Ukraine likely only has until the end of the year or shortly thereafter before more urgent discussions about peace negotiations should begin. U.S. officials have shared their views on such a timeline with European allies, officials said.

“Any decisions about negotiations are up to Ukraine,” Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “We are focused on continuing to stand strongly in support of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence against Russian aggression.”

An administration official also noted that the U.S. has participated with Ukraine in discussions of its peace summit framework but said the White House “is not aware of any other conversations with Ukraine about negotiations at the moment.”

Questions about manpower

President Joe Biden has been intensely focused on Ukraine’s depleting military forces, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

"Manpower is at the top of the administration’s concerns right now,” one said. The U.S. and its allies can provide Ukraine with weaponry, this person said, “but if they don’t have competent forces to use them it doesn’t do a lot of good”

Biden has requested that Congress authorize additional funding for Ukraine, but, so far, the effort has failed to progress because of resistance from some congressional Republicans. The White House has linked aid for Ukraine and Israel in its most recent request. That has support among some congressional Republicans, but other GOP lawmakers have said they’ll only vote for an Israel-only aid package.

Before the Israel-Hamas war began, White House officials publicly expressed confidence that additional Ukraine funding would pass Congress before the end of this year, while privately conceding concerns about how difficult that might be. 

Biden had been reassuring U.S. allies that Congress will approve more aid for Ukraine and planned a major speech on the issue. Once Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the president’s focus shifted to the Middle East, and his Ukraine speech morphed into an Oval Office address about why the U.S. should financially support Ukraine and Israel.

Is Putin ready to negotiate?

The Biden administration does not have any indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate with Ukraine, two U.S. officials said. Western officials say Putin still believes he can “wait out the West,” or keep fighting until the U.S. and its allies lose domestic support for funding Ukraine or the struggle to supply Kyiv with weapons and ammunition becomes too costly, officials said. 

Both Ukraine and Russia are struggling to keep up with military supplies. Russia has ramped up production of artillery rounds, and, over the next couple years may be able to produce 2 million shells per year, according to a Western official. But Russia fired an estimated 10 million rounds in Ukraine last year, the official said, so it will also have to rely on other countries.

The Biden administration has spent $43.9 billion on security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to the Pentagon. A U.S. official says the administration has about $5 billion left to send to Ukraine before money runs out. There would be no aid left for Ukraine if the administration hadn’t said it found a $6.2 billion accounting error from months of over-valuing equipment sent to Kyiv.

Public support slipping

Progress in Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been very slow, and hope that Ukraine will make significant advances, including reaching the coast near Russia’s frontlines, is fading. A lack of significant progress on the battlefield in Ukraine does not help with trying to reverse the downward trend in public support for sending more aid, officials said.

A Gallup poll released this week shows decreasing support for sending additional aid to Ukraine, with 41% of Americans saying the U.S. is doing too much to help Kyiv. That’s a significant change from just three months ago when 24% of Americans said they felt that way. The poll also found that 33% of Americans think the U.S. is doing the right amount for Ukraine, while 25% said the U.S. is not doing enough. 

Public sentiment toward assisting Ukraine is also starting to soften in Europe. 

As incentive for Zelenskyy to consider negotiations, NATO could offer Kyiv some security guarantees, even without Ukraine formally becoming part of the alliance, officials said. That way, officials said, the Ukrainians could be assured that Russia would be deterred from invading again.

In August national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, “We do not assess that the conflict is a stalemate.” Instead, Sullivan said, Ukraine is taking territory on a “methodical, systematic basis.” 

But a Western official acknowledged there has not been a lot of movement by either side in some time, and with the cold weather approaching it will be tough for either Ukraine or Russia to break that pattern. The official said it will not be impossible, but it will be difficult. 

U.S. officials also assess that Russia will attempt to hit critical infrastructure in Ukraine again this winter, attempting to force some civilians to endure a frigid winter without heat or power.

Administration officials expect Ukraine to want more time to fight on the battlefield, particularly with new, heavier equipment, “but there’s a growing sense that it’s too late, and it’s time to do a deal,” the former senior administration official said. It is not certain that Ukraine would mount another spring offensive.

One senior administration official pushed back on any notion of the U.S. nudging Ukraine toward talks. The Ukrainians, the official said, “are on the clock in terms of weather, but they are not on the clock in terms of geopolitics.”

Courtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Carol E. Lee is an NBC News correspondent.

Kristen Welker is the moderator of "Meet the Press".

Vladimir Putin to make first foreign trip since Ukraine invasion

Putin’s last known visit outside Russia was to Beijing in early February, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled a ‘no limits’ friendship treaty.

Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Pavel Zarubin, the Kremlin correspondent of the Rossiya 1 state television station, said Putin would visit Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and then meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo for talks in Moscow.

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Russia’s vladimir putin defends global food crisis stance, ‘taking it back’: vladimir putin likens self to peter the great, who is vladimir putin | start here, putin blasts ‘stupid’ western sanctions as economic ‘blitzkrieg’.

In Dushanbe, Putin will meet Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon, a close Russian ally and the longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state. In Ashgabat, he will attend a summit of Caspian nations including the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan, Zarubin said.

Putin’s last known trip outside Russia was a visit to Beijing in early February, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled a “no limits” friendship treaty hours before both attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

Russia’s February 24 invasion has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more, and led to severe financial sanctions from the West, which Putin says are a reason to build stronger trade ties with other powers such as China, India and Iran.

Russia says it sent troops into Ukraine to degrade its neighbour’s military capabilities, keep it from being used by the West to threaten Russia, root out nationalists, and defend Russian speakers in eastern regions.

Ukraine calls the invasion an imperial-style land grab .

Jackets off?

World leaders, meanwhile, mocked Putin’s tough-guy image at a Group of Seven (G7) lunch in Germany on Sunday, joking about whether they should strip down to shirtsleeves – or even less.

“Jackets on? Jackets off? Do we take our coats off?” United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked as he sat down at the table in Bavaria’s picturesque Elmau Castle, where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was hosting the summit of seven powerful democracies.

The leaders – from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union – pondered the dilemma.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested they wait for the official picture before disrobing but then Johnson quipped, “We have to show that we’re tougher than Putin” and the joke kept rolling.

“We’re going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display,” Trudeau said, referring to Putin’s infamous 2009 photo op of himself riding shirtless on a horse.

“Horseback riding is the best,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, without apparently weighing in on the clothing issue itself.

Johnson interjected: “We’ve got to show them our pecs.”

The leaders posed – jackets on – for photos before reporters were hustled out of the room, leaving the sartorial debate behind closed doors.

'As befits a thief'; Putin makes surprise visit to occupied Mariupol, gets ready to host Xi: Ukraine live updates

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a weekend visit to the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, inspecting reconstruction work and visiting the home of at least one local resident, the Kremlin said in a statement  Sunday.

Putin arrived Saturday night in the port city that has been under Russian control since May and was illegally annexed by Moscow in September. 

"As befits a thief, Putin visited Ukrainian Mariupol, under the cover of night," the Ukraine Defense Ministry tweeted. "First, it is safer. Also, darkness allows him to highlight what he wants to show, and keeps the city his army completely destroyed and its few surviving inhabitants away from prying eyes."

Putin flew in by helicopter, and then drove through the city inspecting reconstruction work in several neighborhoods, the statement said. It was Putin's second trip to newly annexed territories , this time after visiting Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia's illegal takeover of the Black Sea peninsula. 

The news comes less than two days after the International Criminal Court (ICC)  issued arrest warrants  for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, an official in his office responsible for children's rights. The court cited their alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. 

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that as the civilized world announced the arrest warrants, "the murderer of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins" of the city and its graves.

"The criminal always returns to the crime scene," Pololyak tweeted. "Cynicism & lack of remorse."

Developments:

►Putin, speaking on state television, said he did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine until 2022 because Russia's military and economy were not sufficiently prepared when Moscow invaded Crimea in 2014.

►A shortage of explosives in European Union countries, the result of spiking demand during the war, is limiting the bloc's ability to supply Ukraine with the ammunition it has requested, the Financial Times of London reported . 

►The People’s Friendship University of Russia in Moscow has replaced a vice rector  after an exhibition featured a Ukrainian flag. The exhibition, held last month, was devoted to national communities and featured a section on Ukrainian culture.

►Putin signed two bills into law in recent days that significantly increase fines and jail time for disparaging Russian forces in Ukraine – and for selling Russian arms to Ukraine or its supporters.

►The leader of the Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigohzin, says Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch counteroffensives in five directions in mid-April. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War says Prigohzin urged Russian forces to prepare by preserving ammunition and equipment.

PUTIN ARREST WARRANT: Biden calls arrest warrant for Putin 'justified'; widespread attacks hit Ukraine

OPINION: Don't send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Just look at Laos.

Putin ready to welcome his 'good old friend' Xi

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his appreciation for China's mediation attempts on the eve of hosting his "good old friend" Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader who will visit Moscow beginning Monday.

"We are grateful for the balanced line of (China) in connection with the events taking place in Ukraine, for understanding their background and true causes,'' Putin said in an article the Kremlin said was written for a Chinese newspaper, according to Reuters . "We welcome China's willingness to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis."

China and Russia have the common goal of wanting to reduce U.S. global influence, and weeks before the war began last year they pledged a partnership with "no limits.''

The Biden administration has warned Beijing not to provide the Kremlin weapons to use in Ukraine. China professes neutrality in the conflict while condemning Western sanctions and the U.S. role in assisting Ukraine.

Zelenskyy sees arrest warrant for Putin as 'a turning point' 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrated the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Putin , calling it "a turning point'' during his nightly video address Sunday.

"(He has) responsibility for every strike on Ukraine, for every destroyed life, for every deported Ukrainian child,'' said Zelenskyy, who three times in his update referred to Russia as "the evil state.''

In Friday's announcement, the ICC accused Putin of being personally responsible for the abductions of thousands of Ukrainian children. It was the first time the court issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

"The evil state will be held accountable for every act of terror against Ukrainians,'' Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine lobbies for expedited EU membership

A Ukraine official will discuss her nation's progress toward meeting seven criteria for European Union membership at a meeting of EU affairs ministers Monday as Ukraine scrambles to meet a self-imposed but unlikely two-year deadline for membership. 

Olha Stefanishyna, deputy prime minister for European integration, said Kyiv will have completed implementation of most of the criteria ahead of a progress report likely to be presented in May. The Ukraine parliament will have passed a law fulfilling the crucial criteria of media reform by that time, she said.

"The concept of reforming law enforcement agencies has been prepared and must be approved by the president's decision," she added, telling European Pravda "we are close (for) anti-corruption, law enforcement and judicial."

The government plans to address the issue of oligarch influence through anti-monopoly and anti-corruption measures – without drawing up a controversial "oligarch register," she said.

"In times of war, naming and shaming, i.e., naming certain persons who are subject to this law, is not a priority," she said.

Poland and some other neighbors of Ukraine are strongly supporting a quick process for Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron said last year it could take decades.

Russia facing big losses of soldiers, equipment almost daily

Ukraine defense forces claimed to "eliminate" more than 700 Russian troops in a single day on Saturday, also destroying 21 tanks and 25 other combat armored vehicles. On Sunday, Ukraine reported that Russia had carried out more than a dozen airstrikes of various types, hitting a residential building in the Vasylivsky district and civilian infrastructure objects in Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and other regions.

"There are dead and wounded, high-rise buildings, private residential buildings and schools have been damaged," the Ukraine military said, issuing a warning that the threat of probability of strikes throughout Ukraine "remains high."

Mariupol remains symbol of Ukrainian resistance

The  Mariupol  that Putin visited bears little resemblance to the city of 13 months ago. Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov in the bitterly contested Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, was left in ruin by Russia's unrelenting bombing in the early weeks of the war.

A Russian airstrike slammed into a maternity hospital less than two weeks after Russian troops invaded its neighbor, and a week later about 300 people were reported killed in the bombing of a theater serving as the city’s largest bomb shelter. Evidence suggested that the real death toll could have been closer to 600 .

The fierce battle for the city finally ended when the a small group of Ukrainian fighters surrendered after holding out for 83 days in the sprawling Azovstal steel works in eastern Mariupol. Their determination symbolized Ukrainian tenacity in the face of Moscow’s aggression.

The city, formerly home to more than 430,000 people, has been under direct Russian control since May. 

MARIUPOL THEATER BOMBING: Blast was a deliberate war crime

LIFE BECAME SUFFERING: Illustrated stories from the siege of Mariupol.

Russian official: Mariupol annexation is permanent

Speaking to the state RIA agency Sunday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin made clear that Russia was in Mariupol to stay. He said the government hoped to finish the reconstruction of its devastated downtown by the end of the year.

“People have started to return. When they saw that reconstruction is underway, people started actively returning,” Khusnulin told RIA.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Discover Thomson Reuters

UPDATE 1-Russia's Putin to visit Kazakhstan on Nov.9

By Reuters Staff

(Changes source, adds details; pvs dateline MOSCOW)

ALMATY, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Kazakhstan on Thursday, Nov.9, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s office said on Monday.

The two leaders will meet in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to discuss bilateral matters, it said in a statement. Putin and Tokayev will also join by video link a Kazakh-Russian business conference that will be held in the city of Kostanai.

It would be only Putin’s third known trip abroad since the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in March for the Russian leader on war crime charges, something the Kremlin strongly rejects.

Kazakhstan, like China and Kyrgyzstan, the two other countries Putin has visited recently, is not a signatory to the ICC.

The ICC, which accused Putin of illegally deporting children from Ukraine, obliges the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. (Reporting by Reuters Editing by Gareth Jones)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Kyiv Independent

Putin arrives in Kazakhstan for talks with Tokayev

Posted: November 9, 2023 | Last updated: November 9, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan for talks with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to strengthen "neighborliness and cooperation," Agence France Presse reported on Nov. 9.

The visit comes only a week after the Nov. 1 trip of French President Emmanuel Macron to Astana in an effort to strengthen economic ties and expand uranium imports. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited the Central Asian country a day later.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin's visit is not connected to the trips of the European leaders: "It is not associated with any other contacts (made by Kazakhstan). We will further develop our good neighborliness and cooperation with Kazakhstan."

"Our strategic partnership is truly forward-looking," Putin commented ahead of the meeting with Tokayev.

The Kazakh president said on Nov. 8 that his country is ready to increase the transport capacity of Russian oil and gas.

Join our community Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight. Support us

"We are interested in making full use of our transit potential and are ready to further increase the volume of Russian gas transportation," Tokayev said, as Moscow seeks to create a "gas union" including the two countries and Uzbekistan to coordinate gas trade.

Following the high-level meeting between the two leaders, Putin is scheduled to participate in the 19th Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum via videoconference and sign a number of agreements.

Kazakhstan has historical ties with Russia and a considerable ethnic Russian minority. It is also a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), along with Russia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Tajikistan.

However, the country sought to distance itself from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has been balancing out Russia's influence by also developing relations with China and the West.

Read also: How Russia loses allies, influence amid its aggression against Ukraine

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As the West courts Russia's neighbors, Putin shows he won't give up its backyard without a fight

• Russia signaled this week that it will not take Western efforts to build ties with Central Asia lying down.
• Moscow is conducting its own diplomatic push in the region traditionally seen as its own "backyard."
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Kazakhstan Thursday, making his presence felt a week after French president Emmanuel Macron visited the oil- and mineral-rich country.

Russia signaled this week that it will not take Western efforts to build ties with Central Asia lying down, with Moscow conducting its own diplomatic push in the region traditionally seen as its own "backyard."

Keen to maintain Russia's dwindling sphere of influence in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Kazakhstan Thursday, making his presence felt a week after French president Emmanuel Macron visited the oil- and mineral-rich country, and its neighbor Uzbekistan.

On Thursday, Putin will meet the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Talks are aimed at "the further development of Russian-Kazakh relations, prospects for further interaction within "the Eurasian space, as well as current regional and international problems," the Kremlin said.

Russia wants to maintain its foothold in Central Asia — a region comprised of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — amid growing economic competition from China, and rising geopolitical interest from the West, much to Russia's growing disdain and disapproval.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently disparaged the West's charm offensive in Central Asia —after a number of high-profile meetings between Central Asian leaders and their U.S. and European counterparts this summer — accusing the West of "luring" Russia's "neighbours, friends and allies" away from it.

Putin, meanwhile, said ahead of his Kazakh trip that a number of countries are acting in a way that is "directly aimed" at weakening power in the post-Soviet space and urged members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a regional intergovernmental organization made up of Russia and other former Soviet republics — to beef up their collective security.

"The actions of some countries are directly aimed at shaking the legitimate power, social stability and traditional values ​​in the CIS countries, at violating our traditional close trade, cooperation, and cultural ties," he said, adding that Russia and its neighbors face common threats ranging from terrorism to organized crime, radicalism and extremism.

The CIS currently includes Russia and former Soviet republics such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its membership has dwindled in recent years, however, as some former Soviet states have aligned their positions much more firmly with the West.

The Baltic States chose not to participate in the organization when it was founded after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Georgia withdrew its participation after a short-lived war with Russia in 2008 and Moldova suspended its involvement after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv, for its part, formally ended its participation in the CIS in 2018.

Putin remains confident

Despite recent departures from the CIS, it's likely that its current members will remain in situ and that Russia is secure enough in its political and economic relationships with its neighbors and allies — for now.

"I think Russia is confident that its position is more secure there than elsewhere. Obviously, Putin will want to do things to shore it up but it's not worried about the U.S. sort of displacing it entirely anytime soon," Max Hess, fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and author of "Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West," told CNBC Wednesday.

"The highly kleptocratic and undemocratic natures of all of the regimes in the region, including those that do business with the West, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and those who don't like Turkmenistan, and the nature of those regimes [make] it easy for Russia to find points of leverage and to use individual ties and business relationships," Hess said.

Central Asia's effort not to alienate or antagonize Russia, and to placate it where necessary (Kyrgyzstan's 2009 closure of a U.S. military air base which supplied U.S.-led troops fighting in Afghanistan was heavily influenced by Moscow) while also trying to forge its own independent international trade and foreign policies, has borne fruit, with China becoming a significant trading partner for Central Asian countries.

Central Asia now has to walk the line between appeasing Russia — which is still a large trading partner and longtime political ally — and seeking new economic opportunities and advantageous alliances with wider Asia and the West.

"Central Asia obviously has to keep a fine balance and tread that line," Hess said. He added that Kazakhstan is an example of a country looking to appease the West, with talk of Russian sanctions enforcement, while Kazakh businesses "were also looking for ways to take advantage of the situation."

"China has undoubtedly become the key player, at least economically," Hess said.

"In some countries, this Chinese economic dominance is far more pronounced, in Turkmenistan, for example, which now exports almost all of its gas to China. And Russia has no need for the tiny amount of gas that it is still is contracted to buy from Turkmenistan," he noted.

"We've seen a few interesting cases in the years past, where Russia hasn't necessarily been happy about everything with China's relationship, including some of its handling of relations and position as the primary partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which both of them are members, but I think it doesn't see the U.S. as anywhere near the same level of threat or competition."

Given Central Asia's desire to forge new partnerships while keeping Russia on side, it's perhaps unsurprising that Central Asian states have been accused of "sitting on the fence" when it comes to certain geopolitical matters, such as the war in Ukraine, refusing to either endorse or condemn the invasion.

Most Central Asian countries have abstained from U.N. votes to condemn the invasion and annexation of Ukrainian territory, but they've also been accused of helping Russia dodge Western sanctions imposed on it for the war, with European and Chinese products exported to Central Asia and then funneled into Russia.

Analysts note that while an economically isolated Russia wants and needs to keep Central Asia on side, it is gradually losing its grip on the region.

Russia "can hardly afford to lose its few remaining allies. The war and the Kremlin's shrinking opportunities to choose its foreign partners have forced the Kremlin to put higher value on its ties to the Central Asian countries," Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, noted in analysis examining whether Central Asia was getting closer to Russia or drifting further away.

"The mainstay of Russian influence in Central Asia remains the relationship of trust between the countries' political elites. All of the regimes are headed by aging men who grew up in Soviet times and who communicate with one another in Russian. They have known each other for decades, and any newcomers face an obligatory trip to Moscow to be looked over and approved," he noted.

"For now, these regimes don't want to risk falling out with the Kremlin, and their response to growing public calls for their countries to distance themselves from Russia has been very restrained ... But the elites in Central Asia are gradually changing together with society," he said.

"Half of the region's inhabitants are under thirty. They don't remember Soviet times; they are less likely to speak Russian; and they do not consider Russia an example to aspire to."

Central Asia's move away from an "increasingly unattractive Russia is a natural process" Umarov added, with the region experiencing a newfound level of self-sufficiency and public demand for change, particularly on foreign policy issues.

"Yet Moscow, instead of recognizing the agency of the Central Asian nations and working on making itself more appealing to them, demands that the former Soviet republics uphold the historical dominance inherited by the Kremlin," Umarov said.

"Russia had every opportunity to make the Central Asian nations gravitate toward it. Instead of that, it is trying to stop the progression of time. If the Kremlin doesn't change its approach to foreign policy — and that's not something that will happen under Vladimir Putin — then Russia's influence in the region will wither away," he said.

Putin Visits Beijing to Emphasize Russia-China Friendship Amid Wars in Ukraine and Gaza

R ussian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a visit that underscores China’s support for Moscow during its war in Ukraine as well as Russian backing for China’s bid to expand its economic and diplomatic influence abroad.

The two countries have forged an informal alliance against the United States and other democratic nations that is now complicated by the Israel-Hamas war . China has sought to balance its ties with Israel against its relations with Iran and Syria, two countries that are strongly backed by Russia and with which China has forged ties for economic reasons as well as to challenge Washington's influence in the Middle East.

Read More: China Just Brokered a Historic Truce Between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Can It Do Ukraine Next?

Putin’s plane was met by an honor guard as the Russian leader began his visit that is also a show of support for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative to build infrastructure and expand China’s overseas influence.

In an interview to Chinese state media, Putin praised the massive but loosely linked BRI projects.

“Yes, we see that some people consider it an attempt by the People’s Republic of China to put someone under its thumb, but we see otherwise, we just see desire for cooperation,” he told state broadcaster CCTV, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin on Monday.

Putin will be among the highest profile guests at a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of Xi’s announcement of the BRI project, which has laden countries such as Zambia and Sri Lanka with heavy debt from contracts with Chinese companies to build roads, airports and other public works they could not otherwise afford. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has praised the Chinese policy as bringing development to neglected areas.

Read More: Bye Bye BRI? Why 3 New Initiatives Will Shape the Next 10 Years of China’s Global Outreach

Asked by reporters Friday about his visit, Putin said it would encompass talks on Belt and Road-related projects, which he said Moscow wants to link with efforts by an economic alliance of former Soviet Union nations mostly located in Central Asia to “achieve common development goals.”

He also downplayed the impact of China’s economic influence in a region that Russia has long considered its backyard and where it has worked to maintain political and military clout.

“We don’t have any contradictions here, on the contrary, there is a certain synergy,” Putin said.

Putin said he and Xi would also discuss growing economic ties between Moscow and Beijing in energy, high-tech and financial industries. China has also grown in importance as an export destination for Russia.

Read More: China Faces a Familiar Economic Downturn. But Its Crisis Is Worsened by the War in Ukraine

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that from China’s view, “Russia is a safe neighbor that is friendly, that is a source of cheap raw materials, that’s a support for Chinese initiatives on the global stage and that’s also a source of military technologies, some of those that China doesn’t have.”

“For Russia, China is its lifeline, economic lifeline in its brutal repression against Ukraine,” Gabuev told The Associated Press.

“It’s the major market for Russian commodities, it’s a country that provides its currency and payment system to settle Russia’s trade with the outside world — with China itself, but also with many other countries, and is also the major source of sophisticated technological imports, including dual-use goods that go into the Russian military machine.”

Read More: Is China Providing Russia With Military Support? It’s Hard to Tell, and That’s the Point

Gabuev said that while Moscow and Beijing will be unlikely to forge a full-fledged military alliance, their defense cooperation will grow.

“Both countries are self-sufficient in terms of security and they benefit from partnering, but neither really requires a security guarantee from the other. And they preach strategic autonomy,” he said.

“There will be no military alliance, but there will be closer military cooperation, more interoperability, more cooperation on projecting force together, including in places like the Arctic and more joint effort to develop a missile defense that makes the U.S. nuclear planning and planning of the U.S. and its allies in Asia and in Europe more complicated,” he added.

Read More: U.S. Is Not Ready for Growing Nuclear Threat From Russia and China, Report Says

The Chinese and Soviets were Cold War rivals for influence among left-leaning states, but China and Russia have since partnered in the economic, military and diplomatic spheres.

Just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, Putin met with Xi in Beijing and the sides signed an agreement pledging a “no-limits” relationship. Beijing’s attempts to present itself as a neutral peace broker in Russia’s war on Ukraine have been widely dismissed by the international community.

Xi visited Moscow in March as part of a flurry of exchanges between the countries. China has condemned international sanctions imposed on Russia, but hasn’t directly addressed an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court on charges of alleged involvement in the abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.

—Associated Press writer Jim Heintz in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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Putin begins visit in China underscoring ties amid Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing on a visit that underscores China’s support for Moscow during its war in Ukraine as well as Russian backing for China’s bid to expand its economic and diplomatic influence abroad through its decad...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a visit that underscores China ’s support for Moscow during its war in Ukraine as well as Russian backing for China's bid to expand its economic and diplomatic influence abroad.

The two countries have forged an informal alliance against the United States and other democratic nations that is now complicated by the Israel-Hamas war. China has sought to balance its ties with Israel against its relations with Iran and Syria, two countries that are strongly backed by Russia and with which China has forged ties for economic reasons as well as to challenge Washington's influence in the Middle East.

Putin's plane was met by an honor guard as the Russian leader began his visit that is also a show of support for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature “Belt and Road” initiative to build infrastructure and expand China’s overseas influence.

In an interview to Chinese state media, Putin praised the massive but loosely linked BRI projects.

“Yes, we see that some people consider it an attempt by the People’s Republic of China to put someone under its thumb, but we see otherwise. We just see a desire for cooperation,” he told state broadcaster CCTV, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin on Monday.

Putin will be among the highest-profile guests at a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of Xi’s announcement of the BRI project, which has laden countries such as Zambia and Sri Lanka with heavy debt from contracts with Chinese companies to build roads, airports and other public works they could not otherwise afford. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has praised the Chinese policy as bringing development to neglected areas.

The gathering has also given Putin an opportunity to meet with other global leaders who have criticized the Western approach to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Speaking at a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country is a member of the European Union as well as NATO, Putin said the countries have maintained good ties despite recent tensions.

“It causes satisfaction that we have managed to preserve and develop relations with many European countries, including Hungary,” Putin said at the start of the talks with Orban.

Orban, who has repeatedly criticized Western sanctions against Russia, noted that his country has remained eager to maintain ties with Russia.

“Hungary never wanted to confront Russia. Hungary always has been eager to expand contacts,” Orban told Putin. Hungary has continued to pursue contacts with Russia in the nuclear power and gas energy fields despite EU sanctions.

Asked by reporters Friday about his visit, Putin said it would encompass talks on Belt and Road-related projects, which he said Moscow wants to link with efforts by an economic alliance of former Soviet Union nations mostly located in Central Asia to “achieve common development goals.”

He also downplayed the impact of China’s economic influence in a region that Russia has long considered its backyard and where it has worked to maintain political and military clout.

“We don’t have any contradictions here, on the contrary, there is a certain synergy,” Putin said.

Putin said he and Xi would also discuss growing economic ties between Moscow and Beijing in energy, high-tech and financial industries. China has also grown in importance as an export destination for Russia.

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that from China’s view, “Russia is a safe neighbor that is friendly, that is a source of cheap raw materials, that’s a support for Chinese initiatives on the global stage and that’s also a source of military technologies, some of those that China doesn’t have.”

“For Russia, China is its lifeline, economic lifeline in its brutal repression against Ukraine,” Gabuev told The Associated Press.

“It’s the major market for Russian commodities, it’s a country that provides its currency and payment system to settle Russia’s trade with the outside world — with China itself, but also with many other countries, and is also the major source of sophisticated technological imports, including dual-use goods that go into the Russian military machine.”

Gabuev said that while Moscow and Beijing will be unlikely to forge a full-fledged military alliance, their defense cooperation will grow.

“Both countries are self-sufficient in terms of security and they benefit from partnering, but neither really requires a security guarantee from the other. And they preach strategic autonomy,” he said.

“There will be no military alliance, but there will be closer military cooperation, more interoperability, more cooperation on projecting force together, including in places like the Arctic and more joint effort to develop a missile defense that makes the U.S. nuclear planning and planning of the U.S. and its allies in Asia and in Europe more complicated,” he added.

The Chinese and Soviets were Cold War rivals for influence among left-leaning states, but China and Russia have since partnered in the economic, military and diplomatic spheres.

Just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, Putin met with Xi in Beijing and the sides signed an agreement pledging a “no-limits” relationship. Beijing’s attempts to present itself as a neutral peace broker in Russia’s war on Ukraine have been widely dismissed by the international community.

Xi visited Moscow in March as part of a flurry of exchanges between the countries. China has condemned international sanctions imposed on Russia, but hasn’t directly addressed an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court on charges of alleged involvement in the abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.

Associated Press writer Jim Heintz in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia to meet Putin as US threatens sanctions

North Korean leader travels on armoured train for talks amid concerns Putin is seeking arms deal for Ukraine war

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia on his armoured train for a rare summit with Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible deal to supply North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine.

The train arrived at Khasan station, the main rail gateway to Russia’s far east from North Korea , where Kim was filmed alighting and meeting the Russian environment minister, before continuing to travel north.

Kim, reportedly accompanied by senior arms industry and military officials, then resumed his trip and could meet Putin on Wednesday after the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian port city of Vladivostok, where Putin has already arrived .

The current route of his armoured train indicates that he will not visit Vladivostok and will go toward the remote Amur region instead. Putin has said he will visit the Vostochny cosmodrome in that region on Wednesday and the space base would provide a secure location for the two leaders to hold their summit.

It would also be a symbolic venue as two isolated leaders to build cooperation in the military and aerospace fields. North Korea has had several failed space launches and may seek Russia’s aid to put its spy satellites into orbit. But so far the venue and the time of the meeting has not been confirmed.

“When I get there, you will know,” Putin said during a discussion at the forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday.

Kim’s trip to Russia and meeting with Putin will be a full-scale visit to strengthen ties, according to the Kremlin spokesperson. “There will be negotiations between two delegations, and after that, if necessary, the leaders will continue their communication in a one-on-one format,” Dmitry Peskov said.

Kim and Putin could meet after the forum, he said, adding that neither leader planned to hold a news conference, according to Russia news agencies.

There has been no confirmation of the location of the meeting or whether Kim will attend the economic forum.

There are concerns in the west that Pyongyang plans to provide weapons to Moscow to replace stocks that have been heavily depleted during 18 months of fighting in Ukraine .

The shortage in ammunition has forced Russia to conserve its shells and rockets, impose daily fire limits, and focus more on precision guided types of munitions over volumes of fire, said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Russia is mobilising production, but output will be quite short of their needs,” he said. “Therefore they are likely to seek import from any source that can help make up for the deficit.”

On Tuesday, Peskov dismissed US warnings on any arms deal, with Russian news agencies quoting him as saying: “As you know, while implementing our relations with our neighbours, including North Korea, the interests of our two countries are important to us, and not warnings from Washington. It is the interests of our two countries that we will focus on.”

Kim was accompanied by senior government officials, including military personnel, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said. The delegation is thought to include his foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, and prominent party members in charge of defence industry and military affairs, including the munitions industry department director Jo Chun-ryong.

Michael Madden, a North Korea leadership expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center, said: “The presence of Jo Chun-ryong indicates that North Korea and Russia will conclude some type of agreement for munitions purchases.”

Earlier, KCNA released photos of Kim’s departure from Pyongyang, where there were military guards of honour and crowds of people in dark suits and colourful dresses who waved flowers and flags as he boarded the green and yellow train.

The trip is Kim’s first visit abroad in more than four years and the first since the Covid-19 pandemic.

US officials believe Putin is likely to focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition as he attempts to defuse a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In return, Kim could seek energy and food aid, as well as advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines that could increase the threat posed by North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

Some analysts believe, however, that Russia would be reluctant to share details of its closely guarded weapons technology in return for limited supplies of artillery shells and other munitions.

Prof Leif-Eric Easley, a North Korea expert at Ewha University in Seoul, said: “Putin is unlikely to provide Kim with technology to miniaturise nuclear devices or propel nuclear-powered submarines because even a desperate war machine does not trade its military crown jewels for old munitions.”

Securing quantities of North Korean artillery shells and antitank missiles would add to US concerns about a protracted conflict in Ukraine.

“Arms discussions between Russia and the DPRK are expected to continue during Kim Jong-un’s trip to Russia,” said the White House’s national security council spokesperson, Adrienne Watson, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We urge the DPRK to abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”

On Monday, the US state department described Putin as desperate over the Ukraine conflict and renewed warnings that any arms deal could trigger US sanctions.

The state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said: “Having to travel across the length of his own country to meet with an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war that he expected to win in the opening month, I would characterise it as him begging for assistance.

“I will remind both countries that any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be in violation of multiple UN security council resolutions.”

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As Xi visits Russia, Putin sees his anti-U.S. world order taking shape

RIGA, Latvia — For Vladimir Putin, the state visit to Russia by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which begins on Monday, provides a giant morale boost and a chance to showcase the much-vaunted new world order that the Russian leader believes he is forging through his war on Ukraine — in which the United States and NATO can no longer dictate anything to anyone.

Xi’s visit to Russia, just after cementing his precedent-breaking third term in power, brings together two men who have positioned themselves as leaders for life — and it sets the scene for global confrontation, with Beijing willing to use its partnership with Moscow to counter Washington, even if that means granting tacit approval to Putin’s brutal, destabilizing war.

“The grim outlook in China is that we are entering this era of confrontation with the U.S., the gloves are off, and Russia is an asset and a partner in this struggle,” said Alexander Gabuev, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It remains to be seen whether this confrontation will heat up, pushing three nuclear powers to the brink of World War III, or merely marks the opening chords of Cold War 2.0. But Xi’s visit shows sides being taken, with China, Russia and Iran lining up against the United States, Britain and other NATO allies — in a competition for global influence and for alliances with nations such as South Africa and Saudi Arabia, which seem ambivalent but up for grabs .

In an article published Sunday evening in China’s People’s Daily, Putin gushed about the brotherly friendship between Russia and China, which he said were standing “shoulder to shoulder,” including against Western hegemony.

“Sticking more stubbornly than ever to its obsolete dogmata and vanishing dominance, the ‘Collective West’ is gambling on the fates of entire states and peoples,” Putin wrote. “The U.S.’s policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not bend to the American dictation, is getting ever more fierce and aggressive.” He also warned that NATO is “seeking to penetrate the Asia-Pacific.”

Xi’s trip, billed in Russia as the signature diplomatic event of 2023, could hardly come at a more useful moment for Putin. With his invasion largely stalled, military casualties mounting, and his personal reputation newly stained by an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court, Putin is in desperate need of a distraction that props him up.

For the Russian domestic audience, the ceremonial pomp of hosting the Chinese leader will reinforce Putin’s image as a modern-day czar. Crowning the visit, a state dinner will be held in the spectacular 15th-century stone Faceted Chamber in the Kremlin, Moscow’s oldest building, constructed by Ivan III, the grand prince of Moscow, whose reputation as a “gatherer of lands” for annexing neighboring territories inspires Putin.

Given rampant second-guessing of Putin’s military strategy, the display of China and Russia as allies against the United States will also lend credibility to Putin’s assertions that the Ukraine war is the crucible by which Russia is creating the new post-American order.

ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin over war crimes in Ukraine

As the Chinese president lands in Russia, amid Putin’s feverish anti-Western rhetoric, the world is at a dangerous crossroads. The Russian leader has suspended New START, the only remaining arms control accord with Washington, and has staked his country’s future on what is now likely to be a long, unpredictable war, despite the staggering economic costs and misgivings of his own elite. The West, in turn, is sending more powerful arms to Ukraine, including tanks and fighter jets.

The alignment of authoritarian leaders may see the world divided into opposing camps for decades, stymieing cooperation on climate change, choking global action on human rights abuses, paralyzing international institutions and increasing tensions in contested regions.

But while Putin is searching for allies who can send weapons, boost trade or at least support him in global forums, for Xi, the visit seems more about positioning Beijing globally than about Russia or Ukraine, said Aleksei Chigadayev, a China analyst at Leipzig University and former lecturer at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics who left Russia because of the invasion.

“It’s a demonstration to the world, ‘We can mediate in international conflicts, and we are a reliable partner,’” Chigadayev said of Xi’s visit.

It is also a warning, he said, to Washington on the need to negotiate with Beijing and to Europe on China’s importance as a major global power. He added that the visit sends a message to Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East that China is a more viable source of support than the United States.

Xi may also be intent on demonstrating to Putin that if there is a new world order, then China will lead it.

China recently displayed rising global influence by mediating a diplomatic rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, amid Washington’s annoyance with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his support for Putin’s efforts to keep oil prices high so that he can bankroll the war.

With Russia visit, Xi pursues effort to upend U.S.-led global order

Although China portrays itself as a neutral party when it comes to Putin’s war in Ukraine, the Kremlin sees Xi as its strongest tacit supporter.

Beijing refuses to condemn the invasion, has blamed the United States for the war and criticizes Western sanctions designed to starve Putin’s war machine of funds. With Russia’s economy under intense pressure, China last year kept it afloat, boosting trade with Russia — including a sharp increase in Chinese exports of electronic chips that Moscow needs for weapons production — and a steep rise in purchases of Russian oil.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov boasted on Friday that Russia and China would reach their 2024 target for $200 billion in trade turnover a year early, in 2023, and he extolled the two leaders’ “especially warm and trusting personal relationship.”

One key question, as part of the growing global confrontation, is whether Beijing will offer Putin weapons , potentially via a clandestine route such as North Korea. The United States has warned Beijing not to do so, stirring outrage among senior Chinese officials who accused Washington of glaring “hypocrisy” given the huge flow of U.S. weapons to Kyiv.

China has called for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia and the opening of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed willingness to speak to Xi. But the plan seems to have no chance at success, largely because it does not address Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory.

The Kremlin claims to be giving the proposal “great attention” while insisting there can be no peace until Ukraine accepts “new realities,” an apparent reference to Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Zelensky, in turn, has pledged to retake all occupied lands, including Crimea.

“All of Moscow’s demands are well known. The de facto situation and new realities are also well known,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

No matter how thin the plan, Xi can posture globally by noting that China is the only member of the U.N. Security Council with a peace plan, while echoing Putin’s line that NATO weapons supplies to Ukraine will only exacerbate tensions.

Putin, czar with no empire, needs military victory for his own survival

Xi’s visit comes as Moscow and Tehran have drawn much closer, with Russia relying on Iran for self-detonating drones to attack Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, hope has faded for a resuscitation of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, raising a risk that Iran will soon acquire nuclear weapons, further destabilizing global security.

Putin and Xi have much in common: their own self-serving definitions of democracy and market economics; a disdain for human rights; a fear of civic engagement by the general public; and, most of all, a desire to end U.S. global dominance and to reshape international organizations and norms to suit Russian and Chinese interests.

The dinner in the Faceted Chamber will highlight how, three decades after the Cold War ended, a new ominous era seems at hand. In that same room in 1988 , Ronald Reagan exchanged toasts with Mikhail Gorbachev while on a state visit in which the U.S. president declared the Cold War over and dismissed his 1983 description of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” as words spoken in “another time, another era.”

Washington and Moscow now seem to have come full circle. But unlike the last Cold War, when there was a Sino-Soviet split over ideological differences, China now looks set to confront the United States and Europe with Russia by its side.

China is increasingly pessimistic about relations with Washington, Gabuev said, and with growing leverage over a weakening Russia, has decided to cement the relationship.

Beijing observed Washington’s red lines on Western sanctions on Russia, Gabuev noted, only to see Washington slap on export controls restricting China’s ability to obtain high-end semiconductors, while also sending Taiwan more weapons.

As Putin faces an arrest warrant over war crime charges in the International Criminal Court, Xi’s visit is an important symbolic boost, demonstrating that he retains a powerful friend, despite being shunned by the West.

Xi’s support further legitimizes Putin’s position in Russia, where the population still supports his war, and signals to leaders in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America that Putin is a man with whom it is worth continuing to do business.

Putin visits occupied Mariupol, staking claim to invaded Ukrainian lands

In Moscow, officials are playing down Putin’s supplicatory position. But Russia’s weakened hand only stands to atrophy in years to come as its economy stagnates under sanctions, cut off from global technology and supply chains.

Such a decline suits Chinese interests, but Beijing also wants to prevent a Russian collapse in the war that could trigger the fall of Putin’s regime, thereby strengthening the United States and perhaps ushering in a period of chaos and uncertainty along the 2,600-mile-long border between Russia and China.

Alexey Maslov, director of the Moscow State University Institute of Asian and African Studies, said the new confrontational era “will be a long-lasting cold war between different camps.”

The fragmentation and disruption will hamper not just China, Russia and Iran but also the United States and Europe, he said: “The world will be less comfortable for trade, for education, for any kind of negotiations, for the next 20 or 25 years.”

What to know about Ukraine’s counteroffensive

The latest: The Ukrainian military has launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces , opening a crucial phase in the war aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and preserving Western support in its fight against Moscow.

The fight: Ukrainian troops have intensified their attacks on the front line in the southeast region, according to multiple individuals in the country’s armed forces, in a significant push toward Russian-occupied territory.

The front line: The Washington Post has mapped out the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces .

How you can help: Here are ways those in the United States can support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.

Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war . Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video .

• How Russia learned from mistakes to slow Ukraine’s counteroffensive September 8, 2023 How Russia learned from mistakes to slow Ukraine’s counteroffensive September 8, 2023
• Before Prigozhin plane crash, Russia was preparing for life after Wagner August 28, 2023 Before Prigozhin plane crash, Russia was preparing for life after Wagner August 28, 2023
• Inside the Russian effort to build 6,000 attack drones with Iran’s help August 17, 2023 Inside the Russian effort to build 6,000 attack drones with Iran’s help August 17, 2023

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Ukraine invasion — explained

The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine go back decades and run deep. The current conflict is more than one country fighting to take over another; it is — in the words of one U.S. official — a shift in "the world order." Here are some helpful stories to make sense of it all.

Putin makes a surprise visit to Mariupol and tours an occupied city destroyed by war

Joe Hernandez

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian TV pool on Sunday, March 19, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with local residents during a surprise visit to Mariupol. AP hide caption

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian TV pool on Sunday, March 19, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with local residents during a surprise visit to Mariupol.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced trip to the occupied city of Mariupol on Saturday, touring parts of the Ukrainian city that is now rebuilding after fierce attacks by Russian forces last year.

It has been roughly 1o months since Russian forces took control of Mariupol in one of the key battles in the war in Ukraine, which has now been dragging on for more than a year.

Mariupol came under siege by the Russian military in February of last year, but local fighters were able to hold off the larger and better-armed forces for several months before losing control of the city in May, making Mariupol a symbol for Ukraine's underdog spirit in the conflict.

Russia is firing hypersonic missiles into Ukraine that are nearly impossible to stop

The city saw intense violence during the Russian siege, including Russia's bombing of a theater that residents were using as a shelter from the fighting. The human rights group Amnesty International would later call the theater bombing a war crime .

Mariupol is also home to the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians hid for weeks from Russian forces while refusing to surrender in a stand against the invading military that became known across the world.

On Sunday, the Russian state news agency Tass reported that Putin flew into Mariupol via helicopter before being driven and walking around the city. It was Putin's first-ever visit to the Donbas region, which the Russian president illegally annexed in September.

Russia awards pilots involved in confrontation with a U.S. drone over Black Sea

"This trip seemed like a staged, managed event for Putin to highlight Russian efforts to rebuild Mariupol, which of course was destroyed by Russian forces in the battle for control of the city last year," NPR's Moscow correspondent Charles Maynes said on Weekend Edition Sunday .

"It also seemed a little bit of a response to President Biden's trip to Kyiv a month ago, given that this was Putin's first trip to these newly occupied and, in theory, newly annexed territories since the start of the war," Maynes added.

Biden, in a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital in February, met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reaffirmed the U.S. government's support for Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Putin

According to Tass , Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told Putin that residents who fled Mariupol due to fighting there last year have been returning to the city.

One day earlier, Putin traveled to the nearby region of Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

Putin's visit to Mariupol followed the International Criminal Court's decision on Friday to issue an arrest warrant for him and Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the alleged unlawful deportation of children from occupied territories in Ukraine to Russia.

Officials in Moscow dismissed the charges and noted that Russia — like the U.S. — is not a party to the International Criminal Court.

• Vladimir Putin