"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. Closing summary... Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing for talks on Wednesday, the Kremlin has confirmed. 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. Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Beijing on Monday. Slovakia’s populist former prime minister, Robert Fico, and his party signed a coalition deal to form a new government expected to reduce support to Ukraine, Reuters reported. 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. The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said support for Ukraine remained a “top priority” for the US and Europe, reaffirming the Biden administration’s commitment to support Kyiv “for as long as it takes”. 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”. A days-long attempt by Russian forces to storm a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine appears to be waning, Kyiv officials have claimed. Ukrainian forces repelled 15 Russian attacks from four directions on Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours, the Ukrainian general staff said on Monday. These claims have not been independently verified. Reuters reported that Russia launched five missiles and 12 kamikaze drones at Ukraine in an overnight attack, Ukraine’s air force said early on Monday. The Kremlin said: Vladimir Putin informed (Netanyahu) about the steps Russia is taking to help normalize the situation, prevent further escalation of violence and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Monday, Putin discussed the crisis with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority and said any form of violence against civilians was unacceptable, the Kremlin said. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has held a phone call with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reports. 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. Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in Beijing on Monday before an expected visit by Vladimir Putin, which will raise western concerns about increasingly close links between the two powers, writes Jason Burke. China has historically backed the Palestinian cause for decades, as did the USSR throughout the cold war. More recently, both powers have sought to balance closer ties with Israel with their broader diplomatic efforts to win allies in the Arab world and more broadly. Russia is seeking support for its continuing war in Ukraine while China wants to build a broader coalition of developing countries to extend Beijing’s influence and reinforce its efforts to compete with the US on the global stage. "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. 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. 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: Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, and Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russian oil company Rosneft, will be in Vladimir Putin’s delegation during his visit to China this week, RIA news agency reported on Monday. 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.