Chris Lange, FISM News
President Joe Biden said that he had received a “flat assurance” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine would not use F-16s to attack Russian territory.
Facing increased pressure from Western allies, Biden announced on Friday at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan that he had authorized third-party countries to provide Ukraine with American-made fighter jets. The news signified a marked reversal from the administration’s previous refusals to do so. The U.S. will also provide training to Ukrainian troops on the use of the F-16s.
“I have a flat assurance from Zelensky that they will not, will not, use it to go into Russian geographic territory,” Biden told reporters Sunday at the conclusion of the summit, according to The Washington Post.
Business Insider reported that Biden also left open the possibility of sending Ukraine F-16s from U.S. stockpiles.
President Biden also told reporters that he had authorized another $375 million defensive aid package for Ukraine.
CHINESE DIPLOMAT MET WITH ZELENSKYY
Beijing announced on Thursday that a Ukraine envoy met with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv earlier in the week to discuss a possible resolution to the 15-month conflict.
“There is no remedy to resolve the crisis,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a briefing, as reported by ABC News. “All parties should create favorable conditions and accumulate mutual trust for the political settlement.”
The visit followed an earlier phone call between Zelenskyy and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Prior to meeting with Zelenskyy, Envoy Li Hui spoke with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other government officials to discuss “ways to stop Russian aggression,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Kuleba reasserted his government’s position that Ukraine would not accept any proposal that includes the loss of any of its territories, according to the statement.
China’s government has maintained that it is a neutral party to the conflict but has drawn censure from the West for supporting Russia politically and economically. Beijing has also refused to criticize Moscow’s actions in the invasion.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party lashed out at G7 leaders in Japan for accusing Beijing of using “coercive tactics” for political leverage.
China’s Foreign Ministry excoriated the G7 for “smearing and attacking China, and grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs” in a statement released on Saturday, according to an NBC News report.
“The G7 talks about ‘moving toward a peaceful, stable and prosperous world,’ but what it does is hinder international peace, damage regional stability and suppress the development of other countries,” the spokesperson said. “Such actions have no international credibility at all.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the same day chastised the leaders of the world’s wealthiest economies for inflating their “own greatness” with an agenda that aimed to “deter” Russia and China.
G7 members — the U.S., Britain, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy — announced new sanctions aimed at cracking down on Russia’s ability to finance its war, including what they described as the weaponization of trade from both China and Russia.
UKRAINE: PUTIN’S CLAIMS OF BAKHMUT SEIZER PREMATURE
A top Ukrainian general refuted President Putin’s claim that Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk oblast had been fully seized after the Russian leader congratulated his forces and contracted Wagner group fighters on their victory.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Sunday that Kyiv’s forces still controlled what he acknowledged was an “insignificant” part of Bakhmut but one that would allow them to enter the city when the situation changed.
Syrskyi asserted in a Telegram post that Kyiv’s troops were advancing on Russian forces in the suburbs and were moving closer to a “tactical encirclement” of the city, per The Washington Post.
RUSSIA ANNOUNCES INDICTMENTS IN ABSENTIA ON ICC OFFICIALS
Moscow on Sunday announced indictments in absentia for two International Criminal Court (ICC) officials who issued a war crime warrant for President Putin.
Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala and prosecutor Khan Karim Asad Ahmad are both charged with “preparing to attack a representative of a foreign country enjoying international protection in order to complicate international relations,” the Associated Press reported, citing a statement from the National Investigative Committee. Additional ICC officials are reportedly also being investigated.
Putin was charged with personal responsibility for the kidnappings of children from Ukraine in the ICC’s warrant against him. Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian president’s commissioner for children’s rights, was also accused by the court.
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DENIES KIRILL CAR CRASH
Russia’s Orthodox Church has denied reports that Patriarch Kirill’s car was involved in a traffic accident on Monday morning in central Moscow.
Russian security services-linked Telegram channel Baza reported that an Aurus belonging to Kirill, a powerful pro-war Putin ally, was involved in a crash with a Volvo around 6:30 a.m. Moscow time, per Newsweek. One unnamed person was injured but refused hospitalization, according to the report.