© Reuters. Ukrainian servicemen return from heavy fighting amid Russia?s attack on Ukraine, close to Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 15, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
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(Reuters) – Chinese leader Xi spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after months of pressure from Kyiv for such talks.
DIPLOMACY
* Xi told Zelenskiy that China would send special representatives to Ukraine, Chinese state media reported.
* Zelenskiy described the discussion as a “long and meaningful” phone call and hoped it would give impetus to relations with China.
* Zelenskiy said in an evening video address that there was “an opportunity to use China’s political power to reinforce the principles and rules that peace should be built upon.”
* Russia’s Foreign Ministry said after Xi and Zelenskiy spoke that it noted China’s willingness to engage in a peace process for Ukraine.
* The White House welcomed the phone call, but said it was too soon to tell whether it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday called again for a “peace group” to broker an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, saying anything could be discussed once the nations sat down to talk peace.
ECONOMY
* The United States gave JPMorgan (NYSE:) permission to process payments for agricultural exports via the Russian Agricultural Bank, but the arrangement was no substitute for reconnecting the bank to the SWIFT system, two Russian sources told Reuters.
* Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Geneva said no real progress had been achieved in resolving issues raised by Moscow over the Black Sea grain deal, which is set to expire next month.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine’s military will get the weaponry it needs in time for an expected counter-offensive on Russian forces inside Ukraine, the top U.S. general in Europe told Congress.
* The head of Russia’s private Wagner militia said Ukraine was preparing for an “inevitable” counter-offensive and was sending well-prepared units to the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, for many months the focal point of fighting.
* A reporter for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica was injured and his Ukrainian fixer died on Wednesday when they were ambushed in southern Ukraine, most likely by Russian snipers, the paper said in an article on its website.
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