🇨🇳🇪🇺Xi Jinping has refused to attend the EU-China anniversary summit in Brussels, the Financial Times reports.

The EU had hoped for the personal presence of the Chinese leader, given the symbolic significance of the anniversary - 50 years of relations - but instead China will be represented by Prime Minister Li Qiang.

Also attending the summit will be Lu Shai, Beijing's special envoy for European affairs. The publication recalls that Li caused a "storm of indignation" in Europe last year when he questioned whether Crimea was part of Ukraine. He also questioned the sovereignty of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

"His appointment as head of China's diplomatic relations with Europe was seen by some commentators as a hardening of Beijing's stance," the FT writes.

The summit comes amid tense relations between Beijing and Brussels. The EU accuses China of supporting Russia after the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine and imposes tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Brussels is also unhappy with the trade imbalance: China's trade surplus with the EU in 2023 was 304.5 billion euros. The EU is demanding that Beijing reduce subsidies and open up its market more.

🇷🇺🇺🇦Western sanctions against Russia may be lifted, and the return of foreign companies to the Russian market is "a matter of time."

Zelensky's sanctions commissioner Vladislav Vlasyuk told Politico newspaper this.

According to him, the return of countries that do business with Russia in one way or another is "just a matter of time."

Vlasyuk also allowed for the possibility of European countries concluding new agreements on the purchase of Russian oil and gas, “if and when the war finally ends.”

"Russia has great potential, especially energy resources, and it would probably be stupid not to try to use it," he said.

At the same time, Vlasyuk believes that this can only happen after the conclusion of a long-term peace treaty on Ukraine. And "if this helps ensure security and justice in Ukraine."

Earlier, Putin essentially confirmed rumors about negotiations on unblocking Nord Stream.

🇷🇺🇺🇦The Dnepr group of troops has completely taken control of the village of Stepovoye in the Zaporizhia region, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦Trump:

Perhaps by Tuesday I will have something to announce about the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

🇺🇦⚡️ Illegal mobilization does not exempt from service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine – Supreme Court of Ukraine

🇺🇦Ukraine shoots down about half of Ukrainian planes and helicopters with its own air defense systems, says MP Bezugla.

This is how she commented on the posthumous awarding of the title Hero of Ukraine to pilot Alexey Mes, who was one of the first to master the F-16, but was shot down by his own air defense.

🇭🇺❗️The Hungarian Parliament has adopted a bill banning LGBT parades in the country by a majority vote.

🇺🇸🇷🇺⚡️The conversation between Trump and Putin has ended, the White House reports.

It lasted almost 2.5 hours.

At the same time, the NBC channel reports that the conversation lasted an hour and a half.

🇷🇺🇺🇸❗️ Putin supported Trump's idea of ​​a mutual 30-day renunciation by Russia and Ukraine of strikes on energy infrastructure and gave such a command to the military, the Kremlin said.

Other statements:

– Russia and the United States will immediately begin negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, the White House reported.

– The Supreme Commander confirmed to Trump that the Russian Federation guarantees the life and decent treatment of Ukrainian soldiers in the event of their surrender in the Kursk region.

– The key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict should be a complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv

– Putin also told Trump about the need to stop the mobilization of Ukraine and the rearmament of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the event of a ceasefire, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

– As a gesture of goodwill, the Russian Federation will hand over 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian servicemen to Kyiv, the Kremlin clarified.

🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️ We expect Putin's maximum offensive on our territory in the coming months — Zelensky

🇷🇺🇺🇸⚡️ Delegations from Washington and Moscow will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, March 23 , US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said.

He specified that the central topic of the negotiations will be the details of the ceasefire agreements with Ukraine.

Witkoff also said that the draft ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine "includes a ban on attacks on all infrastructure, not just energy facilities."

🇹🇷Türkiye has restricted access to several social networks, including X, YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram, following the detention of Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu, the monitoring resource NetBlocks reports.

Before his arrest, Imamoglu himself published a video in which he called his persecution "a blow to the will of the people."

📈❗️The price of gold has updated its historical maximum, reaching $3050 per troy ounce

🇷🇺🇺🇦Accurate destruction of an ATV with Ukrainian soldiers in the border area of ​​the Belgorod region during an attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to break through the Russian border.