Russia-Ukraine war live: China hits back over Zelenskiy’s peace summit claims | Ukraine

We have a bit more detail on the comments made earlier by Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who issued a warning to the US against making “mistakes that may have fatal consequences” by allowing Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil.

The decision by the US to soften its red line means Kyiv can use US weapons in counter-fire efforts near the border with the Kharkiv region.

“I would like to warn American leaders against miscalculations that could have fatal consequences. For unknown reasons, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,” state news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying.

“I urge these figures (in the U.S.) … to spend some of their time, which they apparently spend on some kind of video games, judging by the lightness of their approach, on studying what was said in detail by Putin,” Ryabkov said, referring to comments made last week by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who warned that Nato countries were risking a serious escalation in the conflict.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Guinea on Monday, his ministry said, in his first trip to the country in over a decade as Moscow tries to bolster its reach within Africa.

Russia’s foreign ministry announced the visit on the Telegram app. It is Lavrov’s first trip to the West African country since 2013. Russian state news agency Tass said Guinea would be part of a tour of African countries but did state which other nations Lavrov would visit.

Russia has worked to boost its influence in Africa in recent years, after its relations with the West nosedived after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Last July, Russian president Vladimir Putin invited African leaders to a summit in Saint Petersburg where he said they agreed to back a multipolar world order and to fight neocolonialism.

He had hailed the “commitment of all our states to the formation of a just and democratic multipolar world order” during a statement to the media following the summit. But the Kremlin also blamed a low turnout in 2023 – just 17 heads of states attended the conference – on “interventions” by western powers.

China hits back over Zelenskiy’s peace summit claims

Russia’s foreign ministry has warned the United States against making “mistakes that may have fatal consequences” in relation to permitting Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil, Reuters reports citing the Interfax news agency.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Ukrainian attempts to attack Russian early-warning radar systems would be foiled and that Moscow may respond asymmetrically to such efforts.

The remarks follow a major shift in which president Joe Biden on Thursday moved to allow Kyiv to use US weapons in counter-fire efforts within Russia near the border with the Kharkiv region. The decision followed days of mounting pressure on Biden from western allies and the Ukrainian president, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, who argued that the delay in the use of western weapons had cost lives.

Ukraine is planning record electricity imports from European countries following a wave of Russian strikes that caused significant energy infrastructure damage over the weekend, its energy ministry said.

Imports are expected to rise to 27,178 megawatt hours (Mwh), Reuters reports.

Ukrainians in all but three regions of the country suffered outages, with the state-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo saying shutdowns impacted both industrial and household consumers.

The shutdowns follow Russia’s barrage of drone and missile attacks on energy targets that injured at least 19 people on Saturday.

Welcome to today’s Ukraine blog. The time in Kyiv is approaching 11am.

The speaker of Georgia’s parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has signed the “foreign agents” bill into law, Reuters reports, citing Russia’s TASS news agency. Critics of the legislation have dubbed it the “Russian law” as they argue it is modelled on a 2012 Russian bill used to suppress pro-western organisations and there are concerns that Georgia could move closer to Russia.

The law – which means organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad must register as agents of foreign influence – has sparked mass street protests.

Here is a brief run-through of the latest developments on day 831 of the Russia-Ukraine war. We’ll bring you the latest updates as we get them throughout the day.

• Almost 1,000 mourners gathered in central Kyiv on Sunday for the funeral of a high-profile journalist and volunteer combat medic who was killed in action last week.

• Donald Trump risks being a “loser president” if he wins November’s election and imposes a bad peace deal on Ukraine, Zelenskiy told the Guardian, saying it would mean the end of the US as a global “player”.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged world leaders to come to a peace conference in Switzerland this month, and accused China of discouraging attendance at the meeting. “Regrettably, Russia, using Chinese influence on the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit. It is unfortunate that such a big, independent, powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of Putin,” he said.

• Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure.