Moscow responds to Trump ultimatum as 1,000 North Koreans killed in Kursk - Kremlin seeks to play down new Trump threat over war in Ukraine

Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to take his country’s ties with Russia to a new level this year in a video conference with counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, hours after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

China's envoy to the United Nations has inadvertently disparaged Russia's military, countering U.S. criticism by claiming Moscow's forces would be better positioned in Ukraine if they were being supported by China's armed forces.

The two leaders have developed strong personal ties that helped boost relations between Moscow and Beijing, growing even closer after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing the two countries’ close ties, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. president

China's largest airline, China Southern Airlines, has suspended flights from Beijing to Moscow at the end of January, a surprise move that comes just ahead of the Chinese New Year. Newsweek reached out to China Southern Airlines and the Russian Foreign Ministry with an emailed request for comment outside of office hours.

The US President has previously called for tariffs as high as 60% on China, and analysts have expressed mixed feelings about the news.

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Beijing on Feb.

President Trump said Tuesday it was likely he would impose additional sanctions on Russia if it did not come to the negotiating table to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine. “Sounds likely,” Trump said of potential sanctions on Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a call Tuesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing the two countries’ close ties, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th