China’s Xi leaves Russia after giving Putin a major boost, but no public promise of weapons

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday morning after a closely watched, highly choreographed visit that saw him shoulder to shoulder with Vladimir Putin just days after an international arrest The warrant was issued for the Russian leader supposedly war crimes in Ukraine. In a show of solidarity and an apparent swipe at Western countries that have helped Ukraine resist Russian aggression, including the US, the men signed a joint statement saying it was necessary to “respect the legitimate concerns of security of all nations.”

What the world saw in Xi’s long-anticipated visit was elaborate stagecraft designed to portray a counterforce to the US-led NATO alliance of the West. Russia declared last year that it is building a new “democratic world order” with China, and as the two men walk toward each other down long carpets to meet in the middle of an ornate, obscene hall in Moscow for the firm shaking hands, the signal to the rest of the world is unmistakable.

In a statement released by the Chinese government after the meeting, Xi and Putin said they “shared the view” that the “relationship between their two countries has gone beyond the bilateral scope and has acquired critical importance for the global landscape and the future of humanity.”

Their public message on Ukraine, in joint statements and at podiums, has been a call for peace — but on the basis of a vague plan announced by China in February that the US and its allies dismissed and derided as a stopgap that tactic, as it includes no call for Russian forces to withdraw from Ukraine.

“A truce now, freezing the lines where they are, basically gives him away [Putin] the time and space he needs to try to retool, to rehumanize, to replenish that resource expenditure,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said of China’s plan.

Xi and Putin agreed that the war should be resolved through dialogue, but they proposed no framework or details for any new peace initiative. Xi reiterated Beijing’s official stance that China is a “neutral” party to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Putin said China’s plan could be the basis for a deal, but accused Ukraine and its Western backers of maintaining the war, deciding to “fight Russia until the last Ukrainian.”

Russian leader accuses Britain of planning to send Ukraine “nuclear weapons,” a misleading description of depleted uranium tank shells prized for the dense metal’s armor-piercing ability.

But it was exploding drones launched by Russia that killed at least four people in a high school dormitory south of Kyiv early Wednesday, according to local officials, and Russian missiles which reportedly hit a residential building near a mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Washington says Putin’s military has “depleted” many of its resources in more than a year of incessant shelling and airstrikes in Ukraine, and is desperate for new supplies of missiles, shells and ammunition.

US intelligence officials have China said it was “considering the provision of lethal equipment“it’s the same with Putin.

What Putin and Xi may have discussed and agreed upon behind closed doors in Moscow, out of view of television cameras, will remain the subject of keen interest around the world in the coming days. After a strong show of support — but no mention of an agreement for China to provide arms or other lethal aid — Xi left Russia.

As world powers held talks around Ukraine, inside the war-torn country, President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to fallen soldiers as the Ukrainian people continue to bear the brunt of the daily onslaught of Russia.

“It’s very scary, because people are dying every day,” Lilya, who lives in the liberated southern city of Kherson, told CBS News. Russia has stepped up shelling of the town, which it halted until November, but despite the threat, Lilya said she and other defiant residents are confident Ukrainian forces will prevent the invaders from returning.

“We will not leave the city, this is our city, this is our Ukraine,” he said. “We live here. We have no choice. We live here. Shelling is happening all over Ukraine, and no one knows what will happen to them as they try to make their lives… We are praying for Ukraine. We ask God to save the city. [We ask] for fewer deaths.”