China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it was the United States that supplied weapons to the battlefield in Ukraine, not China.
Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a question about US sources’ talk about Russia firing Chinese munitions in Ukraine.
The statements came before the start of the Chinese president’s visit to Russia, on Monday, which Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there are high hopes pinned on its results.
“Ukraine will closely follow this visit,” a senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
“For us, it is important for China to maintain its policy of unwavering respect for the territorial integrity of other countries,” he added.
On the ground, a statement by the Ukrainian army said that the Russian army continues to carry out offensive actions in the regions of Liman, Bakhmut, Avdev, Marin and Shakhtar.
And he continued, “During the past day, 69 attacks by the Russian army were repulsed in the aforementioned directions.”
He added, “During the past 24 hours, the Russian forces launched 6 missiles and 13 air strikes, and carried out 56 attacks from missile systems, in particular targeting the civilian infrastructure of the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries among civilians.”