Free Republic

China's President Xi Jinping will deliver a "peace speech" on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, Italy's foreign minister said on Friday, apparently continuing Beijing's line of urging peace while avoiding condemnation of its ally Russia. Antonio Tajani told RAI Radio 1 that he used a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Rome on Thursday to urge Beijing to use all its powers to persuade Russia to end the war while ensuring Ukraine's independence. "He told me that Xi will deliver a peace speech on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine," Tajani said.

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscow’s war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv. The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones slamming into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets. “We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war,” Amirabdollahian told reporters after a meeting in Tehran. Previously, Iranian officials had denied arming Russia in its war...