Russia-Ukraine war as it happened: Putin to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing in first visit outside former Soviet Union since March | Ukraine
13.12 EDT
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has held a phone call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reports.
Updated at 13.28 EDT
12.34 EDT
Reuters has some comments made by the US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, after the meeting with euro zone finance ministers (see earlier post at 13.39) concluded.
Yellen told reporters that Joe Biden would submit a supplemental funding request for Ukraine and Israel “as soon as we have a functional House of Representatives”.
She acknowledged some opposition in Congress, but expressed confidence that US aid would continue.
Yellen told reporters:
Is there some opposition in Congress? Yes there is.
But there’s a strong bipartisan majority in favour of this. It is the president’s top priority and I absolutely believe that we will get this done.
Biden has requested $24bn in additional funding for Ukraine but this hangs in limbo.
Although the White House has said the vast majority of House Republicans still support such assistance, there has been growing dissent in recent weeks and the issue was a factor in Kevin McCarthy’s downfall as US House speaker.
Janet Yellen (front) at the start of Eurogroup finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA
Updated at 12.39 EDT
11.21 EDT
‘International issues’ will form focus of talks between Putin and Xi on Wednesday
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing for talks on Wednesday, the Kremlin has confirmed.
The talks will take place on the sidelines of a forum marking a decade of China’s belt and road initiative, the Kremlin said.
“During the talks, special attention will be paid to international and regional issues,” it said, without elaborating.
It will be the Russian president’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the international criminal court issued a warrant for him in March over the deportation of children from Ukraine.
Putin has increasingly turned to Beijing for trade and political support since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.
China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Updated at 11.24 EDT
11.01 EDT
Russia’s drones are mostly sourced from China and Moscow will spend more than $618m on a new national project to develop drone manufacturing, finance minister Anton Siluanov has said.
Siluanov said:
We are spending additional money on drones – and more than 60 billion roubles on a new national project to develop our own drone base.
The task is that 41% of all drones by 2025 should have the label ‘Made in Russia’.
Today, drones are mainly from the People’s Republic of China.
Drones have played a major part in the war in Ukraine, being used for attacks and reconnaissance.
Updated at 11.49 EDT
10.33 EDT
Slovakia’s pro-Russia former PM seals coalition deal for new government
Slovakia’s populist former prime minister, Robert Fico, and his party have signed a coalition deal to form a new government expected to reduce support to Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Fico, a three-time prime minister last in power in 2018, won an election on 30 September with pledges to halt military aid to Ukraine, while taking a hard line on rising illegal migration and a surge in prices.
He has backed peace talks for Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion – a line similar to that of Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, but rejected by Kyiv as one that would only encourage Russian aggression.
Fico’s leftist, populist Smer-SD party struck a deal last week with the centre-left Hlas and nationalist Slovak National Party to form a coalition that will have 79 out of 150 seats in parliament.
Monday’s pact, which can allow the president to appoint the new government, agreed the breakdown of cabinet positions, giving Smer-SD the defence, finance, foreign and justice ministries. Hlas will get parliament’s speaker role, Reuters reports.
You can find out more about who Robert Fico is in this profile:
Who is Robert Fico, the pro-Russian leader poised to head Slovakia’s coalition government?
Updated at 10.33 EDT
09.49 EDT
Russia hopes to break through Ukrainian defences in the Kupiansk-Lyman sector of the frontline in north-eastern Ukraine, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Monday, Reuters reports.
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi was shown in video footage posted on the Telegram messaging app telling soldiers that the situation on the north-eastern frontline had “significantly escalated” in recent days, and the Russian military wanted “revenge” by retaking territory it once occupied in the area.
Updated at 09.55 EDT
