The United States on Monday warned China not to help Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Moscow allowed the first convoy to escape besieged Mariupol, home to the worst humanitarian crisis of the conflict, APA reports citing Reuters.
Since the first week of the invasion, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, the southeastern port has been surrounded by troops, leaving hundreds of thousands of people to shelter without food or water.
Russia has yet to capture any of the 10 biggest cities in Ukraine since the start of the Feb. 24 attack, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" to demilitarize and "denazify" its neighbour.
Russia has asked for military and economic aid from Beijing, according to U.S. officials.
Moscow denies that, saying it has sufficient military resources to fulfil all of its aims. China's foreign ministry labelled the reports on assistance as "disinformation."
China had signalled willingness to provide aid to Russia, a U.S. official said as national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome.
"We have communicated very clearly to Beijing that we won't stand by," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Monday. "We will not allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses."
The West is weighing how to deal with any involvement from China, top global exporter and No.1 foreign supplier of goods to Americans. The Ukraine crisis has also raised fears in self-governed Taiwan, which Beijing has vowed to reclaim.
Russian state TV is the main source of news for millions of Russians, and closely follows the Kremlin line, but on Monday a rare anti-war protest occurred in a studio during the main news programme on Channel One. A woman held up a sign in English and Russian: "NO WAR. Stop the war. Don't believe propaganda. They are lying to you here."
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