Russia on Friday claimed to have seized 10 settlements and downed more than 2,600 Ukrainian drones in the past week, and on the same day Ukraine said it struck Russian military targets including energy facilities and air defense systems.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Friday that over the past week, Russian forces carried out one large-scale strike and five cluster strikes, targeting Ukrainian military enterprises, energy and transportation infrastructure, air bases, and sites used for the assembly, storage, and launch of drones.
Russian forces had taken control of 10 settlements in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russian air defense systems shot down a total of 2,628 fixed-wing drones, it said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the battlefield situation provides grounds to believe that the Ukraine crisis is approaching its conclusion, although it is impossible to specify a timeline for its end while hostilities continue.
Putin made the remarks at a press conference following the conclusion of his state visit to Kazakhstan, RIA Novosti reported Friday.
He said Russia's strikes on Kiev were carried out in response to Ukrainian attacks on the Lugansk region, adding that Russian forces are conducting offensives along the entire frontline of the special military operation zone.
Putin also described statements by some European politicians about preparing for war with Russia as "nonsense", saying Russia neither threatened European countries in the past nor does so now, but any location posing a direct military threat to Russia would be regarded as a "legitimate target".
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Friday that from Thursday night to Friday morning, Ukrainian soldiers attacked multiple Russian military targets, including energy facilities such as the Volgograd oil refinery in Russia, as well as supply depots, air defense systems, and drone command posts.
On Friday, air raid sirens sounded in Kiev, followed by the sound of explosions.
On Friday evening, the Ukrainian Air Force posted on social media that Russian forces had launched multiple missiles into Ukrainian territory.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia is preparing for a new round of large-scale attacks.
He emphasized that air defense is Ukraine's top priority at present and called on the United States and European nations not to further delay their support for Ukraines air defense.
It is reported that Ukraine is set to use the funds provided by European countries to procure equipment including the Patriot air defense system.
Russia claims seizing 10 settlements, Ukraine says attacking Russian energy facilities
Russia claims seizing 10 settlements, Ukraine says attacking Russian energy facilities
Chinese President Xi Jinping has always said that the common interests between China and the United States outweigh their differences, as bilateral relations, like a giant ship, should be steered forward steadily to offer opportunities for each other and benefits to the whole world.
At the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, Xi left for the United States on Wednesday afternoon for a state visit and a high-stakes meeting with Trump.
With the upcoming visit, the two presidents are expected to complete reciprocal visits within months. The trip will be Xi's second state visit to the United States following his first in 2015.
In May, Trump paid a state visit to China, marking the first U.S. presidential visit to the country in nearly nine years. During the welcome banquet for Trump in Beijing, Xi underlined the significance of bilateral relations of the world's two major countries.
"As the most important bilateral relationship in the world today, China-U.S. relations bear on the well-being of more than 1.7 billion people in the two countries and affect the interests of over 8 billion people worldwide," Xi said.
Xi has repeatedly stressed the need to find the right way for the world's two major countries to get along. And the Beijing summit gave renewed momentum to that effort. Xi and Trump have agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability over the next three years and beyond.
In the meantime, Xi has maintained a pragmatic view of the challenges and differences within the two countries.
"Given their different national conditions, China and the United States do not always see eye to eye with each other, and it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then," Xi told Trump during their meeting in Busan, the Republic of Korea, in October 2025.
To navigate these frictions, Xi has always stressed the absolute necessity of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
"China never bets against the United States, and never interferes in its internal affairs. China has no intention to challenge the United States or to unseat it. Instead, we will be glad to see a confident, open, ever-growing and prosperous United States. Likewise, the United States should not bet against China, or interfere in China's internal affairs. It should instead welcome a peaceful, stable and prosperous China," Xi said in his speech at the Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in San Francisco in 2023.
Ultimately, Xi has expressed China's overarching stance that the success of each country is an opportunity for the other, rather than a threat.
"China and the United States have more common interests than differences. Success in one is an opportunity for the other, and a stable bilateral relationship is good for the world," Xi said in his talks with Trump in May.
In both Busan last year and in Beijing this May, the Chinese president used the metaphor of "giant ship" to describe China-U.S. relations, stressing the pivotal role of the leadership of the two countries to steer bilateral relations onto the right course.
"Mr. President, you and I are at the helm of China-U.S. relations. We should stay the right course and navigate through the complex landscape," said the Chinese president, "We should steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations forward steadily and in the right direction."
Xi says China-U.S. relations should move forward steadily to bring benefits to entire world
