Russia-Ukraine War: 'Conflict in No One's Interests', Xi Tells Biden; Putin Accuses Kyiv of Stalling Peace Process

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed Friday his “extreme concern” over the fate of Ukraine’s Mariupol in over an hour of talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, urging “a lifting of the siege and humanitarian access” to the city. Macron “again demanded the immediate respect of a cease-fire” in Ukraine, Macron’s office said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of ‘war crimes’ in call with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron call, Kremlin said in a statement, reports AFP news agency.

Mariupol city authorities said a Russian strike on a theatre sheltering civilians in Ukraine’s besieged city badly wounded one person but did not kill anyone. “According to initial information, there are no dead. But there is information about one person gravely wounded,” the city council said on Telegram in the first casualty tally since the strike on Wednesday.

Russia is using the UN Security Council to spread disinformation and propaganda about its invasion of Ukraine, six Western members states said amid Russian allegation of Ukraine developing biological weapons. “Russia is once again attempting to use this council to launder its disinformation, spread its propaganda, and justify its unprovoked and brutal attack on Ukraine,” the six countries with seats on the council said in a statement read out by US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Three Russian cosmonauts blasted off to the International Space Station, as Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine brought the Kremlin’s relations with the West to their lowest point since the Soviet era.

There is no evidence to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overall intent in Ukraine has altered despite the invasion failing to reach its original objectives, a Western official said, reports Reuters.”I’ve seen nothing which suggests that the original intent of Putin has significantly altered,” the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The EU said Friday it was not applying a double standard towards refugees from Ukraine compared to Syria, as it grapples with the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II. The bloc has come under fire for allegedly welcoming refugees from Ukraine more openly, compared to their non-white counterparts fleeing conflict in the Middle East. READ MORE

Ukrainian military strengthened their defenses around captital Kyiv, reports Ukrainian media The Kyiv Independent. According to Oleksandr Gruzevich, deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, the military is working on the third defense line around Kyiv, it said. “The city is preparing like a fortress,” he added.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping concluded a video phone call in which Biden aimed to persuade his counterpart to join Western pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, the White House said.

US representative at UNSC slammed Russia’s allegations of alleged biological weapon labs in Ukraine. “Last week, we heard from the Russian representative a tirade of bizarre conspiracy theories. This week, we are hearing a whole lot more of things that sound like they were forwarded to him on a chained email from some dark corner of the internet.”

Russian representative at UNSC meeting on Ukraine situation said, “Components of biological weapons were created on the Ukrainian territory… our Ministry of Defence is receiving more material about the unlawful activities carried out by the Pentagon on Ukrainian territory.”

Former Kremlin aide and ex-deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Friday stepped down as chair of the Skolkovo Foundation after becoming a rare official voice of dissent against Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine. Established in 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation has aimed to diversify the country’s economy from oil and gas, foster start-ups and build a Russian version of Silicon Valley outside Moscow. READ MORE

Some 18,100 Ukrainians were granted citizenship of European Union countries in 2020, largely by Poland and Germany, as the bloc naturalised 3% more people overall than in the previous year, the EU statistics office said. The EU’s 27 member states naturalised just over 729,000 foreign nationals in that year, the Eurostat data showed, with Spain and the Netherlands leading the way.

The UN warned that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities. “The humanitarian situation in cities such as Mariupol and Sumy is extremely dire,” Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told reporters via video link from Poland.

Russian state television cut President Vladimir Putin’s speech mid-sentence as he was addressing tens of thousands of supporters at Moscow’s main football stadium. As the Russian leader was addressing crowds, state television switched to showing a clip of patriotic music from earlier in the event. Putin was cut mid-sentence as he was saying: “It so happened that the beginning of the operation coincided by chance with the birthday of one of our outstanding military…”

Chinese President Xi Jinping says China-US should ‘shoulder international responsibilities’ for peace, according to Chinese state TV.

China’s President Xi Jinping said conflicts between states are “in no-one’s interest” during a video call with his US counterpart Joe Biden, Chinese state TV reported. “State-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities,” state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying. “Peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine expects progress to be made on its application to join the European Union in the coming months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said rescue work was ongoing at the site of a bombed theatre in Mariupol city from where 130 people have so far been recovered alive. In an online address, Zelenskiy said shelling by Russian forces continued to prevent the authorities from establishing effective humanitarian corridors to the encircled port city in southern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the main goal of its military operation in Ukraine is to set Donbass free from genocide, according to Russian state media agency Sputnik.