China accuses US of misinfo on claims of military aid, says report

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday that assertions from US officials that Russia asked Beijing for military equipment for its campaign in Ukraine were “disinformation” from the United States. 

A US official had said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a request that heightened tensions about the ongoing war. 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade punishment from global sanctions that have hammered the Russian economy. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had not asked China for military assistance and has sufficient military clout to fulfil all of its aims in Ukraine in time and in full. Beijing, a key trading partner of Russia, has refused to call Moscow's actions an invasion, although Xi last week did call for “maximum restraint”.

20 dead in Donetsk after Ukraine’s attack: Rebels (Agencies)

Russia said an attack by Kyiv’s forces on the separatist stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine had left 20 people dead, accusing Kyiv of committing a “war crime”. Moscow accused Ukraine's army of firing a Tochka-U missile at a residential area in Donetsk, in one of the most serious attacks on the city since Russia sent troops into Ukraine over two weeks ago. A Ukrainian official denied the reports. “It is unmistakably a Russian rocket or another munition,” Ukrainian military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin said.