March 20, 2023 - Xi and Putin meet in Moscow as Russia's war in Ukraine continues

The European Union's foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell has said that he hopes the bloc will agree a joint ammunition procurement deal for Ukraine on Monday.

The chief diplomat warned of "difficulties" in continuing to supply arms to Ukraine if an "important decision" was not reached on Monday.

Some context: EU defense ministers earlier this month provisionally agreed a €2 billion ($2.1 billion) plan to purchase 155-millimeter artillery shells, and send more artillery rounds to Ukraine from EU countries' existing stockpiles. A final decision is expected on Monday on the sidelines of the meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Brussels.

Speaking in Stockholm on March 9, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said his country needed one million rounds of ammunition "as soon as possible" to deter Russian forces.

The Russia-Ukraine war marks the first time the EU has supplied lethal weapons to a third country, underscoring the extent of the threat it believes Moscow poses to its security.

With the Ukraine war now in its second year, the EU — alongside the United States and the United Kingdom, Kyiv's other two main backers — has reaffirmed its solidarity with Kyiv.

That solidarity has translated into further commitments on military spending. In early February, the bloc announced that it would inject another €545 million ($575 million) into its €3.6 billion ($3.8 billion) military assistance fund for Ukraine.

And in January, Germany, France, Poland and the UK agreed to supply modern battle tanks to Kyiv, responding to a longstanding call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, despite fears that such a move could inflame the West's tensions with Russia.

A Russian deputy prime minister was present to greet Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Moscow's Vnukovo airport upon arrival, television pictures showed.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, one of 10 deputy prime ministers of the Russian Federation, greeted Xi on the tarmac.

Xi is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin after 4:30 p.m. local time (9.30 a.m. ET) Monday.

In a statement released Monday as he arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his willingness to work alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin to "safeguard the international order."

It added, "I look forward to exchanging in-depth views with President Putin on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern during the visit, so as to draw a blueprint for China-Russia strategic coordination and practical cooperation in the new era."

Earlier Monday, in a signed article published in Russian state media, Xi framed his trip to Moscow as "a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace," vowing to open "a new chapter" of bilateral relations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Putin will discuss the topic of Ukraine peace with Xi during the Chinese leader's visit to Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was heckled during his surprise visit to the occupied southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Sunday, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him.

In the same clip, a female resident refers to the nearby apartment block as "a little piece of heaven here now," to which Putin replies that they plan to expand it. 

A man in the group of residents said: "We only saw you on TV so many times." Putin tells him: "We need to start getting to know each other better."

The city, the site of some of the fiercest fighting of the war and a heroic last stand by Ukrainian forces, has often been used for propaganda purposes since it was seized by Moscow last year.

Satellite images last May showed extensive excavation and the clearance of debris around the city, including at the bombed Mariupol drama theater. In the months since, Russian state media has released videos of areas that have been reconstructed, and Putin has released plans of how they will redevelop.

Reports of planned trials circulated last August after Russian media published images of cages under construction in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, apparently intended to restrain Ukrainian prisoners of war captured during the siege of the Azovstal steel plant.

CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson has more:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the topic of Ukraine peace with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Moscow, the Kremlin said Monday.

"One way or another, the topics which are touched upon in [Beijing’s peace] plan, of course, will inevitably be touched upon during the exchange of views on Ukraine [between Putin and Xi]," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Putin and Xi are expected to have an "informal but very important" meeting Monday afternoon Moscow time, according to Peskov.

"The heads of state will raise the most pressing issues at their discretion," he added.

Xi is expected to meet with Putin after 4:30 p.m. local time (9.30 a.m. ET) Monday.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has landed in Moscow for a three-day visit where he will meet with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin. 

It is the first time China’s leader has visited his neighbor and close ally since Russia launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Watch the moment here:

Ukrainian officials on Monday said there have been further Russian strikes on towns and cities in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Russian forces launched a missile attack on Kramatorsk overnight that damaged properties, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration.

One person was wounded in Kostantynivka, and three multi-story buildings were damaged.

Kostantynivka and Kramatorsk lie a few miles west of the heavy fighting in the Bakhmut area. Fierce fighting continues to the west and northwest of Bakhmut, with Russian forces and members of the Wagner paramilitary group trying to cut off access to the city.

Kyrylenko said the town of Avdiivka came under artillery and "Grad" rocket fire that caused unspecified damage.

UK briefing: While there has been little movement on much of the front line, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence said the Russian operation around Avdiivka had made "creeping gains."

The UK ministry said the Russian attack has been "largely" carried out by the 1st Army Corps of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, made up of "local personnel who will know the terrain well."

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take an "impartial stance" and "avoid politicization and double standards," after it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.

The ICC issued arrest warrants on Friday for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia — a practice the Russian government has defended as saving them while denying that the deportations are forced.

The move has already made history by making Putin the first head of state of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to be issued with an arrest warrant.

The charges are also the first to be formally lodged against officials in Moscow since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last year.

The Kremlin on Friday rejected the arrest warrants as “unacceptable,” arguing that it is not subject to the ICC’s decisions.

For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his high-profile state visit to Russia and meeting with President Vladimir Putin this week is a timely opportunity to showcase China’s growing diplomatic clout on the world stage and its ambition to challenge the US-led global order.

But in many Western capitals the optics of the visit will look very different — two autocrats who have long described themselves as firm friends shaking hands and banqueting while a conflagration in Europe rages.

Beijing has cast the visit as a “journey of peace,” where Xi is supposed to “play a constructive role in promoting peace talks” over the war in Ukraine.

And it comes just days after China scored a major diplomatic victory by brokering a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, helping the two archrivals restore diplomatic ties.

Yet hours after the announcement of Xi’s trip on Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of war crimes over Moscow’s forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.

China’s top leader will now be dining with a suspected war criminal whom he has called a “best friend,” and affirming his “no limits” partnership with a global pariah whose brutal invasion has killed tens of thousands of people and wreaked havoc on the global economy.

For the United States and much of Europe, Xi’s visit is a stark show of support for the increasingly isolated Putin, at a time when his military is running out of supplies and Russia’s economy is struggling under Western sanctions.

In recent weeks, Western officials have voiced concerns that China is considering providing lethal assistance to Russia’s military. Beijing has denied the allegation, and instead accused the US of prolonging the war by “adding fuel” to the battlefield and providing Ukraine with weapons.

American officials said they would be watching intently for signs that China is moving forward with providing weapons to Russia during Xi’s summit with Putin.

Ukraine is watching closely too.

Read the full analysis here.