The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) announced the conduct of a counteroffensive in one of the directions of the front.
The Airborne Assault Group (AAG) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is conducting an active operation in Aleksandrovka. The main goal of the offensive operation is to thwart Russia's plans to advance into the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Glavkom reports, citing the command of the Airborne Forces.
''Despite the enemy's active assault operations, the units of the Airborne Forces group repel all attacks and successfully conduct offensive operations'', the Airborne Forces noted.
They added that the situation is extremely dynamic, as the Russian troops are clinging to every meter of the captured territory. For this purpose, they are using all available resources, both human and technical. However, the Ukrainian units are successfully fulfilling their assigned tasks.
''With the start of the operation, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, together with neighboring units, have regained control over an area of over 300 sq. km in over eight settlements,'', the Ukrainian Armed Forces added.
The Ukrainian military also emphasized that the active phase of the operation is ongoing, so it is premature to talk about its final results.
China acts as an informal ally of Russia in the war against Ukraine, providing Moscow with diplomatic and economic support, as well as supplying critically important components for the production of weapons.
Beijing has no vested interests in this war, but is interested in the very fact of its continuation. This is what Newsweek writes, citing political and military experts.
"Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine overnight turned Russia into a pariah state in the West. The first years of the war were marked by unprecedented isolation of Moscow. But China filled the void, becoming Russia's most important ally“, the author of the article writes.
The publication emphasizes that NATO directly calls China a ''decisive factor'' about Russia’s ability to continue the war.
Beijing is actively promoting Kremlin narratives, especially in developing countries, says Vladimir Dubovik, a senior fellow in the Democratic Sustainability Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
Demonstrating diplomatic solidarity with Moscow, such as Putin’s invitation to Beijing last September, is only part of a broader Chinese strategy of confrontation with the West, says Alessandro Arduino, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. According to him, Beijing is thus signaling to the entire Global South that it is a pole of stability for those who have disputes with the West.
Although China does not supply the Russians with ready-made weapons, which allows it to avoid secondary Western sanctions, it is an active supplier of dual-use goods, as well as components and raw materials for weapons production.
"We have the impression that China has actually opened "Lend-Lease" for Russian drone manufacturers, for example, optical drones that are invulnerable to Ukrainian electronic warfare systems“, Yuriy Poyta, a Ukrainian expert on China, told Newsweek.
According to him, China is interested in preserving and strengthening the offensive potential of the Russian army, because in this way Russia concentrates NATO forces on itself, opening up more space for Beijing for potential aggression against Taiwan.
At the same time, experts are convinced that the scale and duration of the war in Ukraine came as a surprise to the Chinese leadership.
Volodymyr Dubovik is convinced that Xi Jinping was surprised by the scale of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and could hardly have prevented it, even if he had wanted to.
“He probably saw that Putin would do it anyway and that this was a priority for him, so he did not try to stop it. "And maybe he wouldn't have been able to do it," the analyst is convinced.