China has criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks that likened the situation in Ukraine to that of Taiwan. The Chinese embassy in Singapore, where Macron made his statements, asserted that “drawing parallels between the Taiwan issue and the Ukraine conflict is unacceptable since the two matters are fundamentally different and cannot be compared at all.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry also stated on Facebook: “There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an integral part of Chinese territory.”
In developments on the battlefield between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported yesterday, citing the defense ministry, that Russian forces have taken control of two villages in eastern Ukraine: Novobily and Vodoley in the Donetsk and Sumy regions respectively.
Additionally, authorities in Sumy issued mandatory evacuation orders for eleven villages due to shelling and concerns over a potential Russian attack in the area. The Sumy regional administration remarked:
“This decision was made in light of the ongoing threat to civilian lives due to the bombardment of border towns.”
Ukrainian officials announced that Russian airstrikes in southern Ukraine overnight resulted in the deaths of a man and a nine-year-old girl in separate attacks. Ivan Fedorov, the head of the military administration in Zaporizhzhia, reported: “The Russians bombed a residential area with guided bombs,” which led to the girl’s death and injuries to a 16-year-old boy.
He added that the explosion destroyed a house and damaged several others. In a separate strike on the city of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin noted on Telegram that “a 66-year-old man was wounded and later died” as a result of Russian shelling.
Furthermore, the mayor of Kharkiv reported one injury from a Russian drone strike. Meanwhile, in Russia, Ukrainian drone attacks injured ten people in the Kursk region overnight, according to Alexander Khinstein, the acting governor.
In another context, Torsten Frei, head of the chancellery in Berlin, called for a thorough examination of the possibility of seizing frozen Russian state assets in the European Union for the benefit of Ukraine.
Frei stated in comments to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung regarding whether Ukraine should receive such funds: “Every sense of justice mandates this step in light of the immense destruction and humanitarian suffering caused by Russia in Ukraine. We are currently witnessing the most intense bombardment since the war began, so it is fair to utilize Russian funds for defense purposes.”