New China-Europe Railway Express route connects northeastern city with Moscow

A new route of the China-Europe Railway Express, connecting Tongjiang City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Moscow, Russia, was inaugurated on Tuesday.

This marked the departure of 110 standard containers from the northeastern city's intermodal center of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area.

The cargo, consisting of home appliances such as refrigerators, TVs, and washing machines manufactured in Qingdao and valued at around 12 million yuan (about 1.66 million U.S. dollars), embarked on a journey from Tongjiang port in Heilongjiang to Moscow, the Russian capital after the customs clearance in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong Province. Around 20 days later, this train will arrive in Moscow.

"The China-Europe Railway Express operates effectively and provides stable logistics options for enterprises engaging in exports and imports. The variety of commodities exported from the China-SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area has increased, with high-value-added products like home appliances and vehicles becoming the main exports," stated Zhang Qinghai, director of the Jiaozhou Customs in Qingdao.

To date, the demonstration area's international route network has expanded to include 22 lines reaching 54 cities across 23 SCO and Belt and Road countries. More than 3,400 trains have set off from the demonstration area, carrying 2.633 million tons of goods in 281,000 TEU containers for import and export.

Russia reported to have captured new positions in the Sumy region on Wednesday, while Ukraine claimed conducting long-range strikes on Russian infrastructure facilities.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said in its latest report that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Ivolzhanskoye in Sumy region, intensifying combat operations in multiple locations along Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia directions. The ministry also reported strikes on the Center of Unmanned Systems Forces, fuel and energy facilities, and critical transport infrastructure.

Also on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian forces carried out early morning strikes on a Russian natural gas refinery and a helium plant in Russia's Orenburg region, targets located more than 1,200 kilometers from the frontline. Ukrainian officials said both plants caught fire, with damage still being assessed. Additionally, Ukraine reported hitting a Russian drone depot in Belgorod region.