However, the gains announced by Kiev near the epicenter of the fighting were denied by Moscow.
For its part, China announced that it will send a special representative to Ukraine, Russia and other European countries next week.
“From May 15, Ambassador Li Hui, the Chinese government’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia to communicate with all parties on a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a regular press conference.
Beijing has been seeking for months to act as a mediator in resolving crises around the world, from Ukraine to the Middle East.
But while China says it is a neutral party in the war in Ukraine, it has been criticized for its refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion.
losses fatal
And Ukraine announced that its forces had regained two kilometers of land surrounding Bakhmut, the destroyed city, of which Russian forces control about 95 percent. The Battle of Bakhmut is the longest and bloodiest since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The enemy suffered great losses in manpower,” Deputy Defense Minister Hana Maliar said in a statement on social media. She added, “We did not lose any site in Bakhmut this week.”
For its part, Russia denied that Ukraine had achieved any breakthrough in the city, noting that reports of its field losses around the city “do not correspond to reality.”
The Russian army confirmed that it had repulsed 26 Ukrainian attacks on a 95-kilometer front in the Solidar region in eastern Ukraine, near the city of Bakhmut.
But Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the “Wagner” armed group that spearheaded Moscow’s attack in Bakhmut, confirmed that Kiev had launched “successful counterattacks.”
Also, a number of Russian war correspondents reported late at night on social media that the expected Kiev counter-offensive had begun.
However, the Ukrainian president stressed in an interview on Tuesday that Kiev needed more time before launching the attack. “Psychologically, we are ready…,” he said, adding that “in terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet.”
In the context, the British newspaper “Daily Telegraph” published a report in which it said that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is the most prominent beneficiary of the Russian war in Ukraine.
The report, which Alistair Heath worked on, said the world was now facing the threat of a major war, as Beijing approached the pinnacle of its power.
And he continued, according to what was published by the BBC, that the Russian society did not witness a collapse despite Western economic sanctions, attributing the credit to Beijing, which compensated Moscow for Western goods and technology, which helped the Chinese President, Xi Jingping, to outperform the West and expand its global influence. Significantly.
The report pointed out that “China’s exports to Russia increased by 153 percent in one month, which is April 2023.” It also referred to China’s role in mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the “adjustment” of Brazilian-Chinese relations, in addition to the Belt and Road Initiative. which includes Latin America and Africa.
