Russia will "calmly" continue its special military operation in Ukraine, and Moscow and Minsk should strengthen integration in a situation where the West has unleashed a total sanctions war, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Putin made the remarks after meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Far East region. The two presidents also visited the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport in the Amur Region.

Putin stressed the importance of strengthening the integration of the two countries within the Union State framework in the current situation, with Western countries unleashing "a total sanctions war against Russia and Belarus".

He also said Russia and Belarus are close allies that have built relations on the unshakable principles of mutual respect and support. He emphasized that the governments of the two countries had "made arrangements for import substitution and smooth functioning of financial and commodity markets".

Both presidents also discussed the situation in Ukraine. Putin said talks between Moscow and Kyiv have again hit a wall because the Ukrainian side moved away from the agreements reached at a meeting in Istanbul at the end of March.

The special military operation is proceeding according to plan and will conclude when all its initial goals are achieved, Putin said. Accelerating the operation may lead to losses, so Moscow will act "calmly at a measured pace as scheduled, according to the plan that was originally proposed by the General Staff".

Putin dismissed claims that Moscow's army was struggling against Ukrainian resistance and was forced to withdraw around major cities, including the capital Kyiv.

Claims dismissed

When asked about reports of the discovery of hundreds of dead bodies of civilians in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv after the withdrawal of Moscow's troops, Putin dismissed them as "fake".

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday that 1,026 soldiers of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, had surrendered in Mariupol, according to Reuters.

However, there was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian side.

The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed on Tuesday to have "credible information" that Russia "may use chemical agents" in its offensive to take Mariupol.

"We had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken and incapacitate entrenched Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign to take Mariupol," he said.

However, Blinken said he was "not in a position to confirm" recent allegations that Moscow used chemical weapons in the strategic port city on the Sea of Azov.

On Wednesday, the Russian embassy in Washington dismissed the possibility of Russia using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday that he had offered to visit Ukraine, but Kyiv had told him that his trip was "not wanted".

Speaking during a visit to Warsaw, Steinmeier said he had planned to travel to Kyiv with the presidents of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this week "to send a strong signal of joint European solidarity" to Ukraine.

Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper quoted an unnamed Ukrainian diplomat as saying: "We all know of Steinmeier's close relations with Russia here … He is not welcome in Kyiv at the moment. We will see whether that changes."

However, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told German public television on Wednesday it had not been Zelensky's intention to offend Berlin.

"I think the main argument was different－our president expects the chancellor, so that he can take direct practical decisions, including weapons deliveries," he told broadcaster ZDF.

Agencies contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden said Wednesday his administration will provide Ukraine with an additional 800 million US dollars' worth of military aid due to what Washington anticipated to be a "wider assault" by Russia in eastern Ukraine.

"As Russia prepares to intensify its attack in the Donbas region, the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself," Biden said in a statement after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The new package, Biden said, "will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine."

"These new capabilities include artillery systems, artillery rounds and armored personnel carriers. I have also approved the transfer of additional helicopters," he said, adding that the United States will continue to facilitate the transfer of significant capabilities from its allies and partners around the world.

The United States has committed 1.7 billion dollars in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia began its "special military operation" on Feb 24.

HELSINKI -- The Finnish government on Wednesday submitted to parliament a report on changes to Finland's foreign and security policy environment following the Ukraine crisis.

The report is a framework for a broader debate on foreign, security, and defense policy, and includes an assessment of how Finland can boost national defense capability and international defense cooperation, as well as the effects of possible NATO membership.

National broadcaster Yle said that although the report is the basis for a discussion on NATO in the coming weeks, it will not lead to a parliamentary vote, only a communication.

The issue will then be referred back to the government and president.

PRESIDENT: DECISION BEFORE THE SUMMER

Also on Wednesday, President Sauli Niinisto said Finland's decision on NATO membership would be taken before the summer.

Niinisto told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that the report provides crucial information to decision-makers.

However, the final decision on membership will fall to Niinisto.

He warned against delays in the decision-making process, saying that the fate of Finland and Sweden was being used as a political football.

Russia's possible reaction is another reason to speed up the process, he added.

Public support for Finnish membership of NATO has surged in Finland since late February. In Finnish media polls, around 60 percent supported accession, while this week over half of the members of parliament backed NATO membership.

MOVING FORWARD WITH SWEDEN

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also discussed NATO membership in Stockholm on Wednesday.

The Finnish government's report estimates that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO would increase stability in the Baltic Sea region.

Meanwhile, Marin said on Wednesday that Finland's decision on its membership of NATO would come within weeks.

Sweden and Finland have intensified their military cooperation with each other, and with NATO in recent years. Although both countries have emphasized their autonomy in making security policy decisions, they have also expressed their desire to move in tandem regarding potential NATO membership.

Marin said there were risks involved in both applying for membership, and in not doing so.

Meanwhile, President Niinisto said on Wednesday said that "it would be best for Finland and Sweden to decide jointly and find the same path."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday reiterated his claim that further NATO expansion will not bring stability to the European continent.

MOSCOW -- US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine were engaged in developing components of biological weapons, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.

"It is impossible not to mention the activities conducted by the United States and its allies near the Russian borders," Medvedev said at a government meeting.

Such activities were not aimed at searching for effective means of protection against dangerous diseases or cooperating with the international community, he stressed.

"Work there was carried out behind closed doors. In fact, components of biological weapons were developed and pathogenic microorganisms were studied, posing a threat to all mankind," Medvedev said.

"Therefore, we consider such activities as a whole absolutely unacceptable both in Ukraine and other countries surrounding us," he said, adding that such activities should be transparent and under control.

'Open and tough' meeting, says chancellor of first Russia trip by EU figure amid crisis

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer held "very direct, open and tough" talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin near Moscow on Monday, in Putin's first meeting with a European Union leader since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine started over six weeks ago.

Austria, which obtains 80 percent of its natural gas from Russia, generally maintains closer ties to Moscow than much of the European Union, but that has not been the case recently.

Nehammer has expressed solidarity with Ukraine, while his government has joined other EU countries in expelling Russian diplomats, albeit only a fraction of the large Russian diplomatic presence there.

"My most important message to Putin was that this war must finally end," Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted him as saying shortly after the meeting at Putin's official residence outside Moscow.

A spokesman for Nehammer said the chancellor repeated previous comments that he had hoped to help bring an end to the conflict or improvements for Ukraine's beleaguered civilian population such as humanitarian corridors.

The Kremlin said little about the meeting. "The conversation was short, short according to current standards," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Monday by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

When asked to comment on the Austrian chancellor's statement about a lack of optimism after the meeting, Peskov said he was unaware of the results of the negotiations.

The spokesman had said the closed-door meeting would not be followed by a joint news conference.

The Kremlin didn't reveal more details, but Peskov said Putin and Nehammer focused on the situation around Ukraine, as well as the issue of gas supplies, "because this topic is very relevant for the Austrian side".

Putin also had talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the Russian Far East.

Putin said that Moscow would counter attempts to isolate Russia and Belarus and stressed the need to deepen integration between the countries in light of Western sanctions, the RIA agency reported.

In other developments, the Japanese government on Tuesday approved additional sanctions against 398 people and 28 organizations from Russia in connection with its military operation.

In particular, deputies of the State Duma have fallen under sanctions, according to the website of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia's military operation is being fought partly to end the "total dominance" and "reckless expansion" of the United States on the world stage.

Response to expansion

"Our special military operation is designed to put an end to the reckless expansion and the reckless course toward the total dominance of the US－and the rest of the Western countries under them－in the international arena," he said.

The foreign minister also accused the US of not following international law.

"In Iraq, they saw a threat to their American security, they bombed it. And when neo-Nazis and ultra-radicals are being grown right on our borders … we are not allowed to react to this threat on our borders," Lavrov said.

On Tuesday, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Lugansk Regional Military Administration, claimed to have destroyed a Russian weapons depot in the region's Novoaidar district.

On the economic front, Hungary plans to pay for Russian gas in euros through Gazprombank, which will convert the payment into rubles to meet a new requirement set by Putin, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

Putin has warned Europe it risks having gas supplies cut unless it pays in rubles as he seeks retaliation over Western sanctions for Moscow's military operation.

Agencies contributed to this story.

KYIV -- Ukraine's negotiating position at the peace talks with Russia remains unchanged, the head of the Ukrainian delegation David Arakhamia said Tuesday.

"The Ukrainian side adheres to the Istanbul Communique and hasn't changed its position," Arakhamia wrote on Telegram.

The only difference is that the Ukrainian side does not take into account all the additional issues that were not included in the Istanbul Communique. This may have led to a misinterpretation of the current state of the negotiation process, he said.

The negotiations regarding the security guarantees for Ukraine continue in an online regime, Arakhamia said.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine had changed its stance from last month's peace talks in Turkey's Istanbul.

WASHINGTON－US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a "candid exchange of views" on the Ukraine crisis at a virtual summit on Monday, but the United States appeared to have made little progress in wooing India away from its neutral stance on Russia, according to media reports.

Biden made no major demands of India, and there was no indication of significant progress toward a unified posture on the Ukraine conflict.

But White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden "made clear that he does not believe it's in India's interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities".

Meanwhile, India reiterated its support to Russia, as its Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the two countries "natural allies".

When asked whether India was considering further diversification of its defense procurement after the start of Russia's operation in Ukraine, Singh said in an interview with the Hindustan Times, "Wait and see".

Modi has tried to walk a tightrope between maintaining relations with the West, but has raised concerns in Washington by continuing to buy Russian oil.

India has reportedly bought at least 13 million barrels of crude oil from Russia since Feb 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels in all of 2021, given the huge discounts offered by Moscow.

At a State Department news conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pointedly suggested that Europe, not India, be the focus of Washington's concern about energy purchases from Russia.

"I suspect, looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon," he said.

Soaring prices

Crude prices are soaring in the international market with the conflict unfolding. New Delhi has called for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, but abstained from voting on multiple United Nations resolutions on the military operation despite growing pressure from Washington and its allies.

Last year, Russia only accounted for around 2 percent of India's total oil imports. Following the West's imposition of sanctions on Russia, Moscow has been seeking new markets for its oil exports by offering discounts. Indian companies took advantage of the opportunity to increase imports from Russia and placed orders.

However, in the wake of sanctions on Russian banks, these companies are facing challenges on how to finance these discounted purchases.

In a recently concluded Parliament session, Rameswar Teli, minister of state at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in India, said there was currently no contract or proposal under consideration of oil undertakings in the public sector with Russia or any other country to buy crude oil in Indian rupees.

Insiders say New Delhi and Moscow have been looking to establish a rupee-ruble trade system and discussions between financial officials from the two countries are ongoing. Other options for all possible payment mechanisms are also being explored.

Agencies - Xinhua

Alliance chief's distortion of efforts to promote peace aids no one, experts say

Provocative comments by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have once again distorted China's responsible position of promoting peace talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis and served to hype up Beijing's supposed threat to the security of the Western alliance's members, analysts said.

Stoltenberg said amid meetings of NATO foreign ministers last week that NATO allies see it as "a serious challenge" that China has not condemned Russia over the conflict with Ukraine.

He said that NATO's next iteration of its Strategic Concept will for the first time take account of the systemic challenges to the security of democracies posed by China's "growing influence and coercive policies".

And to make NATO members feel safer and more secure, he expected that they will deepen their cooperation with Asia-Pacific partners, including in areas such as arms control, cybersecurity, and technology.

It was also for the first time that foreign ministers from the United States' Indo-Pacific allies－Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea－participated as a group in a NATO ministerial meeting.

Xu Liping, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said NATO's eastward expansion and its moves to deepen cooperation with Asia-Pacific partners to build a new form of military alliance displays a trend that is "very dangerous" to world peace.

"NATO has deliberately played up the 'China threat' to make their move of smearing and suppressing China legitimate," he said. "The accusations are false because China's national defense construction is defensive in nature and is not aggressive at all."

He said NATO has acted as an instrument for the US to retain its hegemony and contain other countries' development. Under the pretext of the Ukraine crisis, the US has deliberately driven a wedge between Europe and China as it tries to find an excuse for some of its moves in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chen Yang, an associate professor of European studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that the comprehensive containment of China has become the established strategy of the US in recent years. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, the US further strengthened its control over NATO. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that NATO is following Washington's lead and even forging alliances in the Asia-Pacific region to bind the trans-Atlantic alliance to Japan, South Korea, and Australia. "But NATO's rhetoric on how it frames China is hollow and clumsy," Chen said.

Following the outbreak of the conflict in Eastern Europe, NATO hurriedly joined Washington in a bid to obstruct a political settlement, fan the flames and magnify the regional conflict, Chen said. It did so by providing Ukraine with money and weapons and pummeling Russia with sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions. Such efforts "can't bring peace or security", Chen said.

Instead, China, with an objective and just attitude, has been working actively toward realizing a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible, averting a humanitarian crisis and restoring stability, Chen said.

China adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace and reaches its own conclusions on an issue's merits. But ironically, while accusing China of "coercive policies", NATO has been busy pressuring other countries to take sides in the conflict.

Openness required

Sven Biscop, director of the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont-Royal Institute for International Relations, said there is a debate proceeding among the NATO allies. While the US wants to see China more prominently on its agenda, the European countries are less inclined to do so because they don't see China as "a military threat".From that standpoint, Europeans feel that "the European Union is better suited to make policy on China".

Biscop said that a new Cold War-type confrontation would be in nobody's interest, and avoiding it requires openness on all sides.

Cui Hongjian, director of the European studies department at the China Institute of International Studies, said that it is worth observing any shift in how NATO describes China: from a "challenge" in the current phrasing to its potential designation as a so-called "threat" in the next Strategic Concept, which will be finalized for the Madrid summit of alliance members in June.

He said the US has been exploiting the Ukraine crisis by trying to convince Europe that China is a "threat "to Europe and that China is in the same position as Russia amid the crisis, so that Washington can urge its European allies to work together to smear, contain and suppress China.

Cui said that previously, European countries have had different concerns with the US. While the US has long sought to retain its hegemony, the European countries focused more on economic challenges from China but did not see China as a threat to their security.

"Europe used to consider the US policy toward China too confrontational, which is not in the interests of Europe," he said. "But as the Russia-Ukraine conflict lasts, Europe, which is hugely affected, is becoming more emotional, so whether the US will successfully affect their attitude toward China still is unclear."

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a daily briefing on Monday that for some time, Stoltenberg has disregarded the facts and confounded black with white when making groundless accusations and smears against China.

"He has made irresponsible comments on China's foreign policies, touted the 'China threat' and even used coercion on China recently," he said. "China deplores and rejects this, and has made solemn representations with NATO many times."

As the largest military alliance born out of the Cold War, NATO has long adhered to an obsolete concept of security, engaged in bloc confrontation according to the playbook of the old Cold War, and reduced itself to some country's tool for its hegemonic aims.

While claiming to be a defensive organization, NATO has been constantly making trouble and creating confrontations. While asking other countries to abide by the basic norms governing international relations, NATO has waged wars against sovereign countries and fired shells indiscriminately in ways that caused civilian deaths, he said.

Zhao added that China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a guardian of international order.

He urged NATO to immediately stop spreading disinformation and making provocative remarks targeting China, and abandon the confrontational approach of drawing ideological lines.

"NATO has disrupted Europe. It should stop trying to destabilize Asia and the whole world," he said.

GENEVA - The outlook for the global economy has darkened since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in its annual trade statistics and outlook report published on Tuesday.

Global gross domestic product (GDP) at market exchange rates is projected by the WTO to grow by 2.8 percent in 2022, down 1.3 percentage points from the previous forecast of 4.1 percent. Growth is expected to pick up to 3.2 percent in 2023, close to the average rate of 3.0 percent between 2010 and 2019.

The organization expects world merchandise trade volume to grow by 3.0 percent in 2022, down from its previous forecast of 4.7 percent. The growth rate is estimated at 3.4 percent for 2023, but these projections are less certain than usual due to the fluid nature of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The most immediate economic impact of the crisis has been a sharp rise in commodity prices, the report said.

It stressed that Russia and Ukraine are both key suppliers of essential goods, such as food, energy and fertilizers. Grain shipments through Black Sea ports have already been halted, with potentially dire consequences for food security in poor countries.

In 2022, output in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region -- which excludes Ukraine -- is expected to see a sharp 7.9 percent drop, leading to a 12.0 percent contraction in the region's imports.

According to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the WTO, the military conflict has "damaged the global economy at a critical juncture. Its impact will be felt around the world, particularly in low-income countries, where food accounts for a large fraction of household spending."

"This is not the time to turn inward. In a crisis, more trade is needed to ensure stable, equitable access to necessities. Restricting trade will threaten the wellbeing of families and businesses and make more fraught the task of building a durable economic recovery from COVID-19," she said.

Okonjo-Iweala called on governments and multilateral organizations to work together to facilitate trade at a time of sharp inflationary pressures on essential supplies and growing pressures on supply chains.

MOSCOW - Russia's armed forces have destroyed air defense equipment supplied to Ukraine by a European country, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

"On April 10, high-precision sea-based Kalibr missiles destroyed the equipment of an S-300 anti-aircraft missile division, which was supplied to Kyiv by a European country," Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov told a daily briefing.

The equipment previously hidden in a hangar was destroyed on the southern outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

Meanwhile, Russia is continuing its special military operation in Ukraine, and a total of 129 aircraft and 99 helicopters, 243 anti-aircraft missile systems, 441 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,079 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 239 multiple launch rocket systems, 909 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,003 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed to date.

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Moscow prefers to continue its negotiations with Kyiv.

Despite Ukraine's inconsistency and tendency to reject its own proposals, Russia prefers to continue the negotiation process, said the minister during an interview with the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

The Russian top diplomat further explained that Moscow will be patient and persistent throughout the negotiations, however, will never play a subordinate role in the current world order.

"Russia, with its history ... its traditions, is one of those countries that will never occupy a subordinate position. We can only be members of the international community on equal terms, under conditions (that guarantee) the indivisibility of security," Lavrov said, adding that these principles were agreed upon and then ignored by the West.

UNITED NATIONS - A Chinese envoy on Monday called for an early end to the conflict in Ukraine in order to fundamentally solve the humanitarian crisis and spare women and children from violence.

Women and children are the most vulnerable to violence, and should be given priority protection in armed conflicts, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

"We call on parties involved in the situation in Ukraine to strictly abide by international humanitarian law, effectively protect women and children, respect and guarantee the civilian nature and safety of facilities such as schools and hospitals, and provide special care to women and children in evacuation, rescue, and medical assistance," he told a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

China deplores that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured in the attack on Kramatorsk train station. The relevant circumstances and specific cause of the incident must be established and verified, and any claim should be based on facts, he said.

A large number of Ukrainian women and children have taken refuge in neighboring countries. China appreciates these neighboring countries and other countries for opening their borders and providing shelter and humanitarian assistance. All refugees, regardless of skin color, race, or religion, should receive equal protection under international refugee law, said Dai.

The humanitarian needs of Ukraine and neighboring countries remain immense. Relevant UN agencies should continue to mobilize and coordinate international support for humanitarian assistance for all those in need. The special needs of women and children should be considered, and targeted medical treatment, psychological counseling, and social services should be provided to them. And children's rights to education should be ensured, he said.

"We are deeply concerned about reports that women and children seeking asylum were subjected to abduction, human trafficking and abuse," he said. "We call on international agencies such as UN Women, the UN Children's Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to strengthen monitoring and support relevant countries to take measures to resolutely prevent this group of people from being harmed a second time."

Dai stressed the need to bring an end to the conflict.

Only by ending the conflict as soon as possible can the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine be fundamentally solved and can women and children be kept away from violence, he said.

"Dialogue and negotiation are the only way to peace. We support the parties involved to continue negotiations, strive to overcome difficulties and differences, create conditions for a cease-fire, and make positive efforts so that women and children can see the dawn of peace at an early date. All other parties in the international community should do more to facilitate dialogue and negotiations, and create the necessary environments and conditions for progress in the negotiations," he said.

Simply imposing sanctions and sending weapons will not bring peace. The ever-intensifying extensive and indiscriminate sanctions have triggered food and energy crises and soaring prices for necessities, for which the entire world population is paying a heavy price. Tens of millions of women and children in Afghanistan, Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel have been hit the hardest, said Dai.

"China once again calls on all parties to exercise restraint, adopt a responsible attitude, and make constructive efforts to properly resolve the crisis in Ukraine and restore peace at an early date," he said.

GENEVA - The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has dealt a severe blow to the global economy, reducing forecasted global trade growth for 2022 from the 4.7 percent predicted last October to between 2.4 percent and 3 percent.

The projection, based on a global economic simulation model, was made by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in a note issued on Monday.

According to the same model, the crisis could lower global GDP growth by 0.7-1.3 percentage points, bringing it to somewhere between 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent for 2022.

The conflict has pushed up food and energy prices, and reduced the availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine, said the Secretariat note.

Russia and Ukraine are both important suppliers of essential products, notably food and energy, according to the note. The two countries supplied around 25 percent of wheat, 15 percent of barley and 45 percent of sunflower product exports globally in 2019. Russia alone accounted for 9.4 percent of world trade in fuels, including a 20 percent share in natural gas exports.

Russia is one of the main global suppliers of palladium and rhodium, which are crucial elements in the production of catalytic converters for automobiles. Meanwhile, semiconductor production depends to a significant extent on neon supplied by Ukraine. Disruptions to the supply of these materials could hit car producers at a time when the industry is just recovering from a shortage of semiconductors, the WTO highlighted.

Europe, the main destination for both Russian and Ukrainian exports, is likely to experience the brunt of the economic impact. Reduced shipments of grains and other foodstuffs will also inflate prices for agricultural goods.

Africa and the Middle East are the most vulnerable regions, since they import over 50 percent of their cereal needs from Ukraine and/or Russia. In total, 35 countries in Africa import food and 22 import fertilizer from Ukraine, Russia or both.

Some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing potential price hikes of up to 50-85 percent for wheat, as a result of the crisis's impact on grain shipments, the note said.

"The current crisis is likely to exacerbate international food insecurity at a time when food prices are already historically high due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors," it warns.

China has urged certain individuals not to repeatedly hype up the so-called territorial issue between Beijing and Moscow, saying on Monday that such rumors have no audience in either country and are doomed to fail.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remark at a daily news briefing, following the publication of an article titled "China's long game with Russia "by the United States-based news website The Hill, which speculated that China is nurturing a longer-term opportunity by staying close to Russia through the Ukraine crisis.

The article claimed that Russia could then be motivated to "lease or even sell" large parts of the Russian Far East to China.

"The report is a replica of the 'China threat theory', which in essence aims to drive a wedge between China and Russia," Zhao said.

China and Russia made it clear in their extended Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation last year that the boundary issue left over from history has been completely resolved and that neither side has any territorial claim against the other, he added.

In the treaty, the two countries also expressed commitment to building their common border into a bond of long-lasting peace and friendship from generation to generation, Zhao said, adding that China and Russia have always matched their words with their deeds over the past 20 years.

He reiterated that Beijing and Moscow have no intention of forming an exclusive clique, and it's simply impossible to drive a wedge or sow discord between the two countries, adding that China-Russia relations can withstand the tests of changes in the international landscape.

Zhao chastised certain major Western countries for, on the one hand being "busy adding fuel to the fire, constantly creating new differences, while at the same time linking the Ukrainian crisis with Sino-Russian relations in an attempt to achieve their ulterior strategic goals".

"This is not what a responsible major country should do, and we firmly oppose it," he added.

In another development, Zhao disputed claims made against China by North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on the Ukraine issue.

Following a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday, Stoltenberg claimed that China was unwilling to condemn Russia over the Ukraine issue and announced that NATO's 2030 Strategic Concept would for the first time take account of how China's "growing influence and coercive policies "affect NATO's security.

As a product of the Cold War, NATO has long clung to an obsolete security concept, engaged in bloc confrontation according to the playbook of the old Cold War and reduced itself to some country's tool for hegemony, Zhao said.

China's development is an opportunity for the world rather than a threat to anyone, Zhao said, and he urged NATO to immediately stop making groundless accusations and provocative remarks against China and refrain from drawing lines according to ideological differences.

A new arms race has emerged in many parts of the world, triggered largely by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In Washington, the US State Department announced on April 1 that it has approved a potential sale of up to eight F-16 fighter jets and related equipment to Bulgaria in a deal valued at $1.67 billion.

The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin, according to the Pentagon. Reuters reported the aircraft would not be ready for delivery for three to four years.

Lockheed Martin is also Canada's preferred bidder to supply 88 new fighter jets, Canadian Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said on March 28.

"This announcement marks another important milestone in Canada's competitive process to purchase modern fighter jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force," she said.

Canada has been trying unsuccessfully for more than a decade to replace its aging F-18 fighters. In 2010, the former Conservative administration said that it would buy 65 F-35 jets but later scrapped the decision, triggering years of delays and reviews, according to Reuters.

Ottawa hopes to award the contract this year and said it could be worth up to $15.1 billion. It hopes to take the first deliveries in 2025.

The United Kingdom will work with the United States and Australia on developing nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons, after Russia used the Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in airstrikes last month in its special military operation in Ukraine, The Guardian newspaper reported from London.

The US tested its hypersonic missile last month, and it is already collaborating on the weapon with Australia. The two countries are affiliated with the UK through the AUKUS security pact.

Rising defense spending

Some European nations are also set to boost their air defense capabilities.

Estonia has approved a $523 million defense spending increase, most of which is for short－to midrange air defense systems, which it aims to acquire no later than 2025, according to Defense News in the US.

The Finnish Air Force will replace its 57 F-18 Hornet front-line fighters purchased from McDonnell Douglas in 1992 with the F-35 fighter jets. It plans to phase out all existing Hornets by 2030, and expects to take delivery of the first F-35 jets in 2026, according to Defense News.

European governments have said they would make billions of euros available in additional defense spending after Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine.

Germany has announced an additional $110 billion in arms spending over five to 10 years, and the Italian Parliament backed a vote to increase its defense spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product, Defense News reported.

The European Union has approved its Strategic Compass document, which calls for a new 5,000-strong rapid reaction force and "further incentives for member states to engage in collaborative capability development".

In an interview with AFP, Siemon Wezeman, who has co-authored the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's annual report for over 30 years, referred to Europe as "the new hot spot".

Europe's share of the global arms trade has already risen from 10 to 13 percent in the past five years, and it will increase "substantially", Wezeman said.

In China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference on Wednesday that AUKUS－exploiting the Ukraine crisis and using the pretext of maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific－declared in a high-profile manner that the US and the UK will provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and that the three countries will cooperate on advanced military technologies such as hypersonic weapons.

This development not only increases the risk of nuclear proliferation, but also intensifies the arms race and undermines peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, he said.

Zhao said that AUKUS is an Anglo-Saxon clique, where the old thinking of Cold War mentality and bloc politics persists and the old trick of provoking military confrontation and adding fuel to the fire lingers. Its ultimate goal is to build a NATO replica in the Asia-Pacific to serve the US hegemony and self-interests.

In an article published on March 9 by The Conversation, Peter Bloom, a professor at the University of Essex, called for exploring ways of limiting the power and influence of the defense industry in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis.

"This could include international agreements to limit the sale of specific weapons, multilateral support for countries that commit to reducing their defense industry, and sanctioning arms companies that appear to be lobbying for increased military spending," he wrote.

Long-lasting peace is impossible without eliminating as much as possible the manufacturing and sale of weapons as a lucrative industry, Bloom said.

Zhang Hong, a research fellow of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the US and NATO raise and play up anxieties about security. Their true aims are encouraging some Asia-Pacific countries to accept or ask for "more reliable security protection" from the US. As a result, more-lethal weapons could be deployed in these countries, Zhang said.

AGENCIES-CHINA DAILY

What role should China play in the Russia-Ukraine conflict? Will the world order shift after this crisis? Victor Gao, Vice-president of Center for China and Globalization, shares his insight at #StraightTalk.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged on Saturday to provide more economic and military assistance to Kyiv after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Johnson pledged 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems as well as an additional $500 million in the World Bank lending to Ukraine, according to a Downing Street statement.

At a news conference after their talks, Zelensky said he informed Johnson about the progress of Ukraine's peace talks with Russia and expects London to play a "key role" in providing "security guarantees" for Ukraine.

While several other leaders have visited Ukraine in recent weeks, the meeting between Zelensky and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, also on Saturday, was significant given Austria's neutral status, which is enshrined in its Constitution.

After the meeting, Nehammer said he expects more EU sanctions against Russia, even as he defended his country's opposition to cutting off deliveries of Russian natural gas.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine conducted their third prisoner exchange on Saturday involving dozens of personnel from both sides.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 12 Ukrainian soldiers and 14 civilians, including nine women, were returning home under the exchange.

Russian human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said 14 Russian sailors were returning home on Saturday. "Thanks to the coordinated actions of Russian military staff, 14 sailors from the Azov Concord civilian vessel have been released and are being evacuated to a safe space," Moskalkova said.

She claimed that since the start of Russia's "special military operation" on Feb 24, Ukraine had been "holding the crew of the ship in the port of Mariupol, where the exit to the sea was mined". Mariupol, a key port on the Azov Sea, has suffered widespread destruction and a high death toll since the conflict began.

Two other exchanges of soldiers and civilians have taken place during the conflict.

Fresh satellite images released on Sunday by US private space technology company Maxar Technologies show a 13-kilometer military convoy moving south through the eastern Ukraine town of Velkyi Burluk. The town sits to the east of Kharkiv, close to Ukraine's border with Russia.

Ukrainian officials said major fighting is underway in the east of the country, with heavy shelling reported throughout the Donbass region, ahead of what they are warning may be a major Russian offensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Army General Alexander Dvornikov, 60, as the new general to direct the military operation in Ukraine. The commander of Russia's Southern Military District, he was the first commander of Russia's military operations in Syria in 2015.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc is working on plans for a permanent military presence on its borders with Russia.

In the meantime, European Union countries sharing borders with Russia and Belarus barred some cargo vehicles registered in the two countries from entering starting on Friday due to sanctions, the Russian customs service said on Saturday.

Agencies contributed to the story.

Amid refugee crisis, Beijing slams using smaller nations as pawns in confrontation

Editor's Note: China Daily presents a series of analyses to make readers around the world better understand the how and why behind China's views and decisions on the Ukraine situation. This is the fourth installment of the series.

Although many politicians in Washington have avoided describing the Ukraine crisis as a de facto proxy war, Leon Panetta, the former US secretary of defense during the administration of president Barack Obama, recently did not hold back: "I think we are engaged in a conflict here. It's a proxy war with Russia, whether we say so or not. That, effectively, is what's going on.

"And for that reason, we've got to make sure we are providing as much weaponry as possible," he told Bloomberg TV in an interview on March 18.

Amid the crisis, Beijing has publicly lashed out at Washington and its NATO allies for fueling a proxy war by offering weapons, missiles and fighter jets to Ukraine and stoking tension.

Behind China's decadeslong opposition to proxy wars is the belief that such a typical Cold War era tool seriously sabotages a country's autonomy, officials and scholars said.

Proxy wars were typical during the Cold War to help avoid direct warfare between the US and the former Soviet Union, and a smaller nation grilled on the forefront of conflicts is always the biggest loser with refugee crises soaring, they added.

"A proxy war, like color revolution, serves to shore up a potential new Cold War and brings only turmoil and suffering to a region," said Zuo Xiying, a professor at the School of International Studies of Renmin University of China.

Washington decided to wage a proxy war in Ukraine partly because its plan to intimidate Russia by reinforcing military deployment in Eastern Europe countries actually had failed, Zuo said.

"History shows that a smaller nation－chosen as a proxy and caught between two major countries－is always going to be the one suffering the largest damage from conflicts," Zuo said.

Before the Ukraine crisis broke out, the US and some of its NATO allies had publicly encouraged Ukraine to join NATO, started providing weaponry to the country and fanned the current tension, analysts said.

A fact sheet released by the US Department of Defense on Thursday said "the security assistance the Biden Administration is providing to Ukraine is enabling critical success on the battlefield".

The release incorporates a long list of US military aid committed to Ukraine, including over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems and over 50 million rounds of ammunition.

Ukraine's fall from a central gateway of the Eurasian region to the forefront of major countries' conflict was prompted by a string of factors, "but it is undoubtable that the only major factor is the external forces' reaching their hands too far", said Cui Hongjian, director of the European studies department at the China Institute of International Studies.

"When the US determined to manipulate Ukraine as a pawn for geopolitical confrontation with Russia, it was no longer possible for Ukraine to maintain its balance in diplomacy," Cui added.

Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng has criticized "some major countries" because they do not want to get dragged into conflicts and "make empty promises to small countries, turn small countries into their pawn and even use them to fight proxy wars".

"A NATO commitment of no eastward expansion could have easily ended the crisis and stopped the suffering. Instead, (they) chose to fan the flames at a safe distance," Le said in an address at a symposium on March 19.

Speaking of the refugee crisis, the G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement on Thursday that "over 4.2 million crossed the border to other countries, almost all of them to the EU and the Republic of Moldova".

"Now that Ukraine has suffered as a proxy, the US and NATO will be even more deplorable and immoral if they continue offering weaponry to Ukraine and make the nation suffer at the forefront for any longer," said Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University.

Washington and NATO are the initiators of this crisis, and its resolution requires their engagement with Russia, not scorching Ukraine, Wu said.

'Extremely worried'

Anatol Lieven, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a US think tank, and a former foreign affairs correspondent, said he is "extremely worried" about the proxy war that disregards "the number of Ukrainian lives－like Afghan lives in the past－that were thrown away in the course of this struggle".

"It's quite clear that there are elements in both Washington and London who do want to use this as Afghanistan was used in order to weaken Russia eventually," he said in an MSNBC television broadcast on March 24.

In sharp contrast to the US, China's consistent objection to waging proxy wars stems from its decades-old core diplomatic belief of 'no intervention in other country's internal affairs', not to mention allowing other countries to meddle in China's domestic affairs, observers said.

"More than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, such a geopolitical tragedy taking place in Europe now deserves our profound reflection," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday.

"Small and medium-sized countries should not be pushed to the forefront of confrontation between great powers. All countries have the right to decide their foreign policy independently, and should not be forced to take sides," he said.

China has never engaged in proxy wars nor sought the so-called spheres of influence, and it opposes power politics and bloc confrontation, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 23.

China stands for equality among all countries regardless of their size, and it advocates democratization of international relations, Wang added.

"Another reason behind Beijing's high alert against Washington's frequently waging proxy wars worldwide is that a potential proxy war is what some hawkish individuals and groups back in the US are expecting to take place in China's neighborhood," said Yuan Zheng, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Choosing Ukraine as a proxy to receive massive military assistance and stoking conflict with another major country are not new tactics, as the US and some of its NATO allies have been doing similar things in the Asia-Pacific region as well, Yuan said.

"Washington has not given up any chance to motivate its allies in this region to confront and contain China, as it keeps sending military consultants, helping to train their troops, deploying missile systems and speaking out loud on issues involving China's core interests," Yuan said.

KYIV - The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the world's major exporters of foodstuffs such as wheat, will impact 25 percent of the global grain market, a Ukrainian official said Saturday.

The conflict will lead to a reduction in grain supplies, an increase in food prices, and worse access to food, especially wheat, in importing countries, said Taras Kachka, deputy minister for economic development, trade and agriculture of Ukraine.

Ukrainian seaports, the main routes for grain exports, have been blocked, Kachka added.

In 2021, Ukraine harvested a record crop of grain, legumes and oilseeds totaling more than 106 million tons, according to the state-run Ukrinform news agency. In the first half of the current marketing year, which lasts from July 2021 to June 2022, Ukraine exported some $10 billion worth of crops and oilseeds, up 56 percent on an annual basis.

The ongoing conflict, which came at a time when economies worldwide are still grappling with COVID-19, posed a new challenge to global food security, said Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, director of the trade and markets division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"Many countries rely on supplies from Ukraine and Russia for their food import needs, including numerous least developed countries and low-income food-deficit countries," Ben-Belhassen told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Russia and Ukraine are major agricultural producers and exporters, he said, adding that Russia stood as the world's top exporter of nitrogen fertilizers, the second leading supplier of potassium fertilizers and the third largest exporter of phosphorous fertilizers in 2021.

KYIV -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday vowed to provide more economic and military assistance to Kyiv amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Johnson arrived in Kyiv earlier on Saturday for a one-day visit.

According to a Downing Street statement, Johnson set out new military assistance of 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to Ukraine during his trip. He also promised an additional $500 million in World Bank lending to Ukraine.

At the press conference after their talks, Zelensky said that he has informed Johnson about the progress of Ukraine's peace talks with Russia and expects London to play a "key role" in providing "security guarantees" for Ukraine.