US opposes clear Nato plan for Kyiv

BLOOMBERG

The US is opposing efforts by some European nations to offer Ukraine a clear “road map” to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) membership at the alliance’s July summit in Lithuania, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing four officials involved in the talks.
Lines were drawn at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels, the newspaper reported. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that he’ll only attend the summit if given tangible steps towards membership in the military alliance, the FT said.
The US is instead urging allies to stay focussed on short-term military, financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as Russia’s invasion moves deeper into its second year, according to the report.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged Xi Jinping to use his influence with Moscow to help restore peace to Ukraine, saying the Chinese leader could bring all sides together to discuss a way to end the Russian invasion.
France and China agreed to endorse “every effort” for the return of peace in Ukraine based on international law, the countries said after a three-day visit by French leader Emmanuel Macron to the Asian nation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier told a European news outlet that Beijing is “trying to have it both ways” by advancing a ceasefire proposal while also supporting Vladimir Putin.
The two countries reiterated that they’re against attacks on peaceful nuclear plants and urged “all parts in the conflict” in Ukraine to abide by the international humanitarian law.
China and France also plan to “deepen the dialogue” between China’s army and the Asia-Pacific command of France’s forces.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin meets his ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, as the Kremlin continues preparations to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring country.
The talks come after Putin announced that Moscow would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus for the first time. Belarus was a staging ground for Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Russian news agency Interfax quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the placement of strategic atomic weapons wasn’t on agenda. “The conversation largely revolved around the rich gamut of our allied relations,” Peskov said, according to Interfax.

China ‘Trying to Have It Both Ways’: Blinken
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said some of the peace ideas China has proposed for the Ukraine conflict are “positive,” but that Beijing is “trying to have it both ways” by advancing a cease-fire proposal while also backing Vladimir Putin.
“It wants to be seen as trying to advance peace and at the same time, it continues to support Russia in different ways, rhetorically making its case in international institutions, advancing Russian propaganda,” the top US diplomat said in an interview with the European news network Euronews.
China’s focus “should be on convincing Russia to actually respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and to give back the territory that it seized by force,” Blinken said.
Meanwhile, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu visited the Arzamas machine-building plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow to inspect the production of “armoured personnel carriers of various modifications and Tigr armoured vehicles,” the ministry said.