April 5, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The UK has blocked a webcast of a UN meeting on Wednesday in which Russia’s children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova is due to speak.

She is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children.  

Russia has called the informal meeting to discuss the “evacuation” of Ukrainian children from the war zone. 

A Russian representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, responded on Twitter saying: “[Western countries] would of course prefer to continue to spread lies and fakes on Russia’s alleged “stealing children” from Ukraine. Our meeting is threatening this mendacious narrative and therefore is like a bone in their throat.”

He also promised retaliation, saying “as a mirror move Russia will from now on block UN webcasts of all similar meetings citing “UK censorship clause.””

Britain also said its ambassador would not be attending the meeting. 

The session is due to take place at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday in New York according to Russia’s mission at the UN. Lvova-Belova is expected to appear virtually. 

Russia took over the presidency of the UN Security Council on April 1. 

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at Beijing Capital Airport on Wednesday for a three-day state visit to China, live TV footage showed. 

He is expected to meet and hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “plan and chart course for bilateral relations, deepen cooperation, and have an in-depth exchange of views on major international and regional hotspot issues,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday. 

US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Macron ahead of his visit. 

“The two leaders discussed President Macron’s upcoming travel to the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” the White House said in a readout of the call on Tuesday. “They also reiterated their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.” 

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also visiting China, in a three-day trip that coincides with Macron’s.  

Ukraine will be an “important topic" of von der Leyen's meetings with Chinese President Xi and Premier Li Qiang, she said in a tweet. 

“How China continues to interact with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward,” von der Leyen said in Brussels last week. 

The visits come at a moment of heightened tensions in the US-China bilateral relationship and as Biden and European leaders grapple with Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

It also comes less than a month after Xi traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin.

While the US and its Western allies have continued to warn China against providing lethal aide to Putin’s war effort, economic ties between Russia and China have rapidly accelerated over the course of the conflict.  

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has crossed the border into Poland to begin an official visit to his country's neighbor and one of its closest partners, according to the president's office and Polish media.

Marcin Przydacz, head of Ukraine's Presidential Office of International Policy, told Polish broadcaster TVN24 that Zelensky is expected at the Presidential Palace at 11:00 a.m. local time.

The Ukrainian and Polish presidents are expected to deliver a joint address at 6:00 p.m. local time.

Unlike Zelensky's previous visits abroad since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, he is travelling with his wife. 

During his visit, the Ukrainian president will sign bilateral agreements and hold talks with both Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. 

He will also meet with representatives of Polish business within the framework of the Ukrainian-Polish business forum, leaders of the upper and lower houses of Poland's Parliament, and the mayors of cities bordering Ukraine.

Ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron's three-day trip to China, he spoke with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday, according to the Elysée Palace.

In a readout, Elysée Palace said the two heads of state discussed their common desire to engage China to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine and to participate in building a lasting peace in the region. 

They also jointly expressed their wish to obtain from China a contribution to the global North/South solidarity effort and to build with China a common agenda on climate and biodiversity, according to the readout.

Macron will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon local time.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will accompany French President Emmanuel Macron to China on Wednesday where Russia's war in Ukraine is expected to discussed.

Ukraine will be an “important topic" of von der Leyen's meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, she said in a tweet. 

“How China continues to interact with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward,” von der Leyen said in Brussels last week. 

Here's what else you need to know:

Former US President Bill Clinton said he regrets persuading Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s. In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE Tuesday, he suggested Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Kyiv still had nuclear weapons.

"I feel a personal stake because I got them [Ukraine] to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons," Clinton told RTE.

In January 1994 Clinton signed a tripartite agreement with then Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk which provided for the transfer of all nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine to Russia for dismantlement, according to the US State Department. It was an effort to remove the weapons that remained on its territory following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In December 1994, Ukraine acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state and the US, Russia and the UK provided security assurances to Ukraine and the START I Treaty entered into force, according to the White House.

Some context:  NATO has not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture since Putin announced late last month Moscow’s plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, NATO's secretary general said Monday. However, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has claimed that Belarusian aircraft have been upgraded to be able to carry out nuclear strikes, in response to NATO's imminent expansion.

The Wall Street Journal said that its reporter Evan Gershkovich has been able to meet with his lawyers Tuesday.

In a statement, the Journal said:

The Journal’s statement, from editor-in-chief Emma Tucker and Almar Latour, the CEO of Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal, said that Gershkovich “was doing what journalists do – asking questions and providing an eyewitness account in the region to help keep the world well informed.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Tuesday ahead of her visit to China on Wednesday.  

Ukraine will be an “important topic" of her meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, von der Leyen said in a tweet.  

China’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine will be a “determining factor” for European Union’s relations with Beijing going forward, von der Leyen said last week. 

The EU chief will accompany French President Emmanuel Macron to China on Wednesday.  

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has indicated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to the alliance’s summit taking place in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in July. 

He made the remark in Brussels on Tuesday, following a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission – the body responsible for the relationship between Ukraine and the alliance.