Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Putin and Xi hold 'thorough' exchange of views

* Ukraine is waiting to hear if a call will take place between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Xi, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an interview published on Tuesday. * Xi is the first world leader to meet Putin since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the start of the war.

"Dear friends" Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were due to hold further talks on Tuesday amid Western criticism that Xi's visit was giving a boost to Moscow as it struggles to make ground in its year-long war on Ukraine. RUSSIA-CHINA

* The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Putin and Xi had held a "thorough" exchange

of views during their first day of talks and had discussed China's peace plan for Ukraine, without elaborating. * Ukraine is waiting to hear if a call will take place between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Xi, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an interview published on Tuesday.

* Xi is the first world leader to meet Putin since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the start of the war. DIPLOMACY

* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

will visit Kyiv for talks with Zelenskiy, Japan's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, with broadcaster NHK showing Kishida boarding a train at the Polish border town of Przemysl. * The secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said on Tuesday that the United States wanted to

"defeat Russia" and had become a participant in the conflict in Ukraine.

* Iran is ready

to expand its cooperation with Russia in the energy sector, including in the development of "peaceful" nuclear energy, Iranian Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi said in an interview with Russia's RIA state news agency. * Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened a counter-case against the ICC prosecutor and judges, arguing there were no grounds for criminal liability on Putin's part and heads of state enjoyed immunity.

FIGHTING * Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attempts to advance into the centre of the small eastern city of

Bakhmut , a top Ukrainian general said on Tuesday. The months-long battle for Bakhmut has become one of the bloodiest of Russia's nearly 13-month-old war in Ukraine.

* Two Russian strategic bomber planes flew over the Sea of Japan

for more than seven hours, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday in a statement released as Japan's prime minister was beginning a visit to Ukraine. * Ukraine's defence ministry said that an explosion in Dzhankoi in the north of the Crimean peninsula destroyed Russian cruise missiles intended for use by Russia's Black Sea fleet.

* Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports. RECENT IN-DEPTH REPORTING

* EXCLUSIVE-Russians flood Kazakhstan with sanction-busting requests * SPECIAL REPORT-Wagner’s convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war and loyalty to their leader

* ANALYSIS-Patchwork fixes to Ukraine grain shortfall leave world vulnerable a year into war

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