Ukraine-Russia war latest: China says report Xi told Trump that Moscow would regret invasion is ‘fabricated’

China has denied that president Xi Jinping said that Vladimir Putin would regret his invasion of Ukraine during wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump during his visit to Beijing last week.

Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a reporter: “The information you mentioned does not match the facts and is completely fabricated out of thin air.”

The report by the Financial Times emerged just hours before Putin is due to arrive in Beijing for his own two-day summit with Xi.

Xi is reported to have made the remarks during wide-ranging talks between the US and Chinese delegations in Beijing, while Trump suggested that the three leaders should co-operate against the International Criminal Court.

Putin said ahead of his visit today that Russia and China are ready to support each other on a wide range of issues, including ⁠national unity and protection of sovereignty.

The Kremlin says the two sides will discuss the proposed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which could one day deliver an additional 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia's Arctic gas fields via Mongolia to China.Ukraine warns Putin could announce mass recruitment after elections

As Russia suffers heavy battlefield losses, Ukraine has predicted that Russia could announce a nationwide mobilisation effort following the forthcoming state Duma elections.

Asked whether Russia could move to a mass recruitment drive after the elections, Brigadier General Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, told Ukraine’s 24 Kanal broadcaster: “Quite possibly. We do not exclude such a development.”

Maira Butt19 May 2026 12:54Stray Ukrainian drone in Estonia shot down by Nato fighter jet

A Nato military jet shot down a drone of apparent Ukrainian origin over Estonia on Tuesday, the Baltic nation's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Delfi news website.

The incident marks the latest in a series of airspace violations in the region bordering Russia.

Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said a Romanian fighter jet shot down the drone that entered Estonian airspace was most likely a stray Ukrainian drone and confirmed it was not directed against Estonia.

Pevkur added that officials are currently conducting a search for the drone and need to ensure it poses no threat to anyone.

Pevkur told local media: "We received advance information from our Latvian colleagues, and our radar also detected a drone moving into southern Estonia.”

Maira Butt19 May 2026 12:28China denies comment that Putin would 'regret' Ukraine invasion

China has denied a claim reported by the Financial Times that president Xi Jinping said that Vladimir Putin would regret his invasion of Ukraine during wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump during his visit to Beijing last week.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a reporter: “The information you mentioned does not match the facts and is completely fabricated out of thin air.”

Maira Butt19 May 2026 12:04In pictures: Putin lands in Beijing for two-day summit with close ally

(AFP/Getty)

Maira Butt19 May 2026 11:55Ukraine's GDP grows by 0.9% in April, PM says

Ukraine's economy returned to growth in April after a decline in the first quarter of the year, with gross domestic product up by 0.9 per cent, driven by retail, the food sector, and weapons production, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday.

She said that GDP growth in April had helped mitigate the contraction in the previous months of the year. GDP slipped by 0.2 per cent in the first four months of the year. In the first quarter of 2026, GDP shrank by 0.5 per cent year-on-year, data showed.

Maira Butt19 May 2026 11:36Breaking: Nato military jet shoots down drone of apparent Ukrainian origin in Estonia

A Nato military jet has shot down a drone of apparent Ukrainian origin in Estonia, defence minister Hanno Pevkur has told the Estonian Delfi news website.

Maira Butt19 May 2026 11:06Analysis: Putin let his desperation show with unexpected claim his war with Ukraine is ending

Pausing, turning and pointing, like hounds catching a new scent, Europe’s leaders are picking up a blood trail from the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin’s forces were once the hunters – now they are bleeding and Ukraine has the whiff of victory in its nose.

In the latest sign that Ukraine’s systematic new policy of trying to kill at least 50,000 Russians a month is working, Putin has told his people that the end of the war he started is near.

And, in an act that was both desperate and doomed, he suggested that Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, could act as Europe’s envoy in talks.

The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:

Maira Butt19 May 2026 10:13In pictures: Aftermath of Russian drone attack on Kharkiv

Maira Butt19 May 2026 09:49Russians realise they aren’t safe as Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow bring war close to home

It’s getting harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the war in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cast the attack in Moscow's suburbs as a just retribution for the relentless and deadly Russian missile and drone strikes on the capital of Kyiv and other cities last week.

Maira Butt19 May 2026 09:15

Maira Butt19 May 2026 08:58