Biden urges Chinese president to abandon Moscow over Ukraine

KYIV/LVIV, Ukraine: US President Joe Biden sought to prevent Beijing giving new life to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a video call on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Moscow pressed on with bombardments that have taken the place of military advances.

With Russia trying to regain the initiative in a stalled campaign, three missiles landed at an airport near Lviv, a city where hundreds of thousands thought they had found refuge far from Ukraine's battlefields.

The Russian defence ministry said it was "tightening the noose" around the besieged southern port of Mariupol, where officials said more than 1,000 people may still be trapped in makeshift bomb shelters beneath a destroyed theatre.

Ukraine said it had so far rescued 130 people from the theatre's basement after the building was flattened by Russian strikes two days ago. Russia denies hitting the theatre and says it does not target civilians.

Xi said the Ukraine crisis was something China did not want to see, and that Beijing and Washington should guide bilateral relations along the right track, Chinese state media said after he and Biden began their call.

'MINIMAL PROGRESS'

At the start of the fourth week of President Vladimir Putin's invasion to subdue what he calls an artificial state undeserving of nationhood, Ukraine's elected government is still standing and Russian forces have not captured a single big city.

Putin used a rally before the packed Luzhniki soccer stadium in Moscow to justify the invasion, promising tens of thousands of people waving Russian flags that it would succeed.

"We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans," Putin said, adding that, when needed, Russian soldiers "shield each other from bullets with their bodies like brothers". 

Russian troops have taken heavy losses while blasting residential areas to rubble, sending more than 3 million refugees fleeing in what Moscow calls a "special operation" to disarm its neighbour.

"Russian forces have made minimal progress this week," the UK defence ministry said. "Ukrainian forces around Kyiv and Mykolaiv continue to frustrate Russian attempts to encircle the cities."

Jakob Kern, emergency coordinator for the crisis at the U.N. World Food Programme, said Ukraine's "food supply chain is falling apart. Movements of goods have slowed down due to insecurity and the reluctance of drivers".

WFP, which feeds people in global crisis zones, also buys nearly half of its wheat from Ukraine. Kern said the war has already driven global food prices to all time highs, and could cause "collateral hunger" in poor countries worldwide.

SOURCE: REUTERS