2025 China-Nordic trade forum opens in Wuhan

The 2025 China-Nordic Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum opened in Wuhan City, the capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Wednesday.

Themed "smarter synergies for a stronger pillar", the event brings together more than 2,000 entrepreneurs from over 30 countries for a series of industry matchmaking sessions, product exhibitions and the main forum.

The event is expected to result in project agreements worth more than 100 billion yuan (about 14 billion U.S. dollars), covering key sectors such as manufacturing, information technology, and healthcare.

Russia said on Thursday that its forces had continued to strike besieged Ukrainian troops in Krasnoarmeysk (known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine) in the Donetsk region, while the Ukrainian side said it had repelled Russian attacks.

Russia's Defense Ministry said that Russian troops had captured 64 buildings in Krasnoarmeysk over the past 24 hours, repelled over 10 Ukrainian attacks and hit Ukrainian targets, including drone storage and launch facilities, temporary deployment areas for Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries, in 149 areas.

The ministry said Russia's air defense systems intercepted two guided aerial bombs and shot down 261 fixed-wing drones over 24 hours and destroyed Ukrainian armored combat vehicles, artillery pieces, and ammunition depots.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that by 8:00 on Thursday, Ukrainian forces had launched offensives against two concentrations of Russian personnel, weapons, and military equipment, repelled over 100 attacks by Russian troops in Pokrovsk and in other areas, and reinforced military units defending the city.

Ukraine also said its forces carried out a strike on a drone storage, assembly, and launch site in Donetsk airport area on Wednesday and hit Russia's Volgograd oil refinery.