In ancient Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Putin hoped to overcome his international isolation and further cement ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a geopolitical alliance increasingly seen as a powerful counterweight to Western powers. Putin and Xi were to meet one-on-one to discuss Ukraine, according to the Russian president’s foreign affairs adviser. In Kyiv, Zelensky avoided a traffic collision the night before that did not leave him with any serious injuries, officials said. He met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who once again showed full commitment to the Ukrainian cause. Von der Leyen said she would address “how to continue to bring our economies and peoples closer together as Ukraine moves towards membership” in the European Union, which is likely years away even under the best of circumstances. In a further sign of EU commitment, the European Parliament has completed the long political process of a €5 billion soft loan to Ukraine, the key part of a €9 billion aid package to offset the costs of the war. In Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse, the foreign minister was pressing Chancellor Olaf Scholz to decide soon to supply Ukraine with flexible tanks, while the war dynamic was with Kyiv. Germany has long hesitated over such moves, but Annalena Baerbock said that “in the decisive phase that Ukraine is in right now, I also don’t think it’s a decision that can be delayed for long.” While Russian forces in some areas are being pushed further back towards the border, Russia is still hitting back from the front lines. Ukrainian officials said Russian missiles continued to hit the reservoir dam near Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on Thursday. The damage flooded more than 100 houses. Efforts were underway to contain further leakage and authorities urged citizens to take shelter as the strikes continued. The attack so close to his roots angered Zelensky, who said the strikes had no military value. “In fact, hitting hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens is another reason why Russia will lose,” he said in his late-night speech on Wednesday. The presidential office announced that Russian shelling of seven Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours killed at least two civilians and wounded 14. Zelensky himself remained in high spirits, saying that nearly 400 settlements had been retaken in less than a week of fighting. “It was an unprecedented move by our warriors – the Ukrainians have once again managed to do what many thought was impossible,” he said. Zelensky is expected to ask for more Western military hardware, which was needed to push the counteroffensive, and to call for even tougher sanctions against Moscow as the war approaches the seven-month mark. Despite renewed Ukrainian vigor on the battlefield and early bouts of criticism at home, Putin remains steadfast in his determination to fully subjugate Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. After a phone call with Putin earlier in the week, Scholz said that “unfortunately, I can’t tell you that the realization has grown there so far that it was a mistake to start this war.” “There is no indication that new behaviors are emerging there now,” he added.
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