WAR IN UKRAINE: April 27, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 428
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday he had a "long and meaningful" phone call with China's Xi Jinping. It was their first chat since Russia’s full scale invasion. Zelensky said the chat, along with the appointment of an ambassador to Beijing, would "give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations". In a readout of the call, China quoted Xi as saying that China, "as a responsible majority country", would "neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit". According to Beijing’s readout, China will send its special representative on Eurasian affairs to “Ukraine and other countries to conduct in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the crisis”. Beijing also included this language: “Dialogue and negotiation are the only way out. There are no winners in a nuclear war. Regarding nuclear issues, all relevant parties should maintain calm and restraint, truly consider their own and the future of all humanity, and work together to manage and control the crisis.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today Moscow had noted China’s willingness to facilitate negotiations with Ukraine following the phone call: “We note the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish the negotiation process,” Zakharova said. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China stated that the Xi-Zelensky call was initiated by the Ukrainian side. It added that China "stands for peace in the Ukrainian issue" and will continue to promote peace negotiations and provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine, reported Suspilne.
My analysis of the above: The timing of Xi’s call comes after several European politicians traveled to Beijing - and after China’s controversial chief envoy to France, Ambassador Lu Shaye, suggested in a TV interview that 14 former Soviet republics - including Ukraine- aren’t really independent. And as a major Ukrainian counteroffensive is about to start. The call also appears to be a continuation of an effort by Xi to be a diplomatic rainmaker, peacemaker.
64 Ukrainians who were evacuated from Sudan have already landed at an airport in Poland and will soon cross the Ukrainian state border, the Ministry of Defense reported. In total, 91 citizens of Ukraine have already been evacuated from Sudan. Also, Ukrainian military intelligence officers and diplomats helped 51 foreigners leave Sudan - citizens of Georgia, Canada, Peru, and the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Despite the declared three-day truce, fighting broke out again in some regions of Sudan - Suspilne
Starting tomorrow, Poland will simplify the export of drones to Ukraine — the decision was made at the request of the Ukrainian government. The drones specified in the order will be able to be supplied under a general permit, which eliminates the need for an individual permit for the export of each batch of drones - Suspilne
Says The Economist: “As Ukraine prepares its forces for a crucial counter-offensive, the arguments among its Western allies about what equipment to provide chunters on. Having finally received the tanks it had been pleading for since last year, Ukraine has increased the intensity of its demands for fighter jets. Yet its pleas are falling on largely deaf ears. About 30 former Warsaw Pact mig-29s are on their way from Poland and Slovakia. But what Ukraine says it needs are the American f-16s that have been the backbone of nato air forces for much of the past 40 years.
Ukraine is right. The arguments for denying it f-16s are becoming steadily more threadbare. At the start of the war, Ukraine had about 125 elderly combat-capable aircraft, of which a little over half were air-superiority fighters. At least 40% of them have since been lost. Russia can still field roughly five times as many fighters as Ukraine started the war with. Nearly all are newer, with longer-range radars and air-to-air missiles.”