Xi Jinping, speaking by phone about the Taiwan issue in a conversation with Biden, said that "he who plays with fire will certainly burn himself," according to China Central TV.

a) Today's conversation lasted more than 2 hours, for a high-level phone talk it is quite a long time.
b) Judging by the first reaction of the Chinese media, the conversation was not very friendly. Taiwan was definitely in it, and most likely, Ukraine.
c) According to the first reaction of the Chinese media, the tension in China-US relations will only intensify.

#China

Behind the backs of the American public, the US military is preparing a provocation against China aimed at instigating a conflict that could lead to a full-scale world war between the world’s two largest economies.

This provocation comes in the form of a planned trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third-ranking figure in the US government.

Despite US President Joe Biden’s publicly stated concerns about the provocative nature of the trip, New York Times journalist David Sanger, an unofficial spokesman for the US military/intelligence apparatus, reported Tuesday that “US officials said the planning for Ms. Pelosi’s trip was moving ahead.”
#China

Ukraine has claimed, that the offensive to Kherson is already underway

The leadership of Ukraine, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, regularly say that the Ukrainian army is preparing to seize the Kherson region. In addition, to prevent a Russian offensive, shelling is carried out on bridges and warehouses, while civilian infrastructure suffers.

To prevent the advance of the Russian army, Ukraine is trying to destroy the bridges. It is worth recognizing that they have partially succeeded. Antonovsky bridge was seriously damaged, but the condition is better than expected. This bridge is laid across the Dnieper. It runs the route from Kherson to the Crimea. The strikes are delivered by American MLRS HIMARS.

It can be assumed that the Ukrainians want to deprive the Russian forces of supplies from the peninsula. In addition, the Ukrainian authorities make political statements with such blows that they have not left the Kherson region and will continue to fight for it.

It is clear that the Kyiv regime will not be able to talk for a long time about the attack on Kherson and will have to take steps. By the way, there are attacks, but so far they have been unsuccessful. Ukrainian troops are lured into "fire bags" and then destroyed. The survivors retreat. Losses are in the hundreds. Attacks on barracks also have a negative effect on attacks from Ukraine. At the moment, the battle for Kherson and Nikolaev is already underway. Its winner will gain control between the Southern Bug and the Dnieper. It is worth noting that there is no large-scale offensive yet, but it cannot be ruled out that it will be in the near future.

It is reported that the photo shows a pontoon crossing built next to the Antonovsky bridge, which was previously damaged during rocket fire from the HIMARS MLRS.

The Ingulets bridge is crossable, with pontoons already up and repairs starting it seems this is all that millions of dollars of HIMARS rockets gets you. A few large potholes in all due essentiality.

🇱🇻The head of Latvijas gāze, Aigars Kalvitis, said that Latvia is buying Russian gas again, "but not from Gazprom and for euros"

And for sure — much more expensive. To make it even more painful for Putin.🤦‍♀️

The Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass are using “petal” anti-personnel mines in densely populated areas, which is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. Such a small mine can kill a child and tear off part of the leg of an adult. In the video, the guys showed how the "petal" explodes.
DIY demining Donbass style.

“So that this scum on our land is no more”: Saudi prince banned Biden from entering the country.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia announced personal sanctions against the President of the United States.

"This man smiles in my face, and behind my back accuses me of the most terrible crimes. I swear that I will never again shake hands with Biden and will not do business with him. Moreover, I will order that this scum on our land will never be again,” Al-Jazeera reports the words of the prince.

As a result of a night strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a barrack with prisoners of war (Ukrainian) in the Yelenovka prison (DPR), 40 people were killed.

According to the First Deputy Minister of Information of the DPR Daniil Bezsonov, the shelling was carried out with HIMARS shells. Another 130 people were injured.

Loading of export grain into the first cargo ships began in Odessa.

Updated:
Ukrainian forces struck and killed their own POWs intentionally with a US made HIMARS missiles.

The Ukrainian military struck a temporary penitential facility in Yelenovka, whith captured Nazis of the Azov regiment.

“Tonight, Ukrainian security forces fired HIMARS rockets at the pre-trial detention center near Yelenovka in the Donbass, where Ukrainian military prisoners of war, including militants of the Azov formation, are being held, 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 wounded, and 8 employees of the detention center were also wounded.”

The detention center is well known to the public.

It looks like Nancy Pelosi, who is provoking an international crisis by her still expected visit to Taiwan, is a serial provocateur.
The footage appeared from 1991, that was 2 years after the Tiananmen Square events involving Shanghai Clique's Deng Xiaoping and the Chinese Liberal Protesters.
CNN archive video emerged on the American social networks showing then Representative Nancy Pelosi (Congresswoman for D-CA) unfurling a Pro-democracy banner in Tiananmen Square alongside with Rep. Ben Jones (D-GA) and John Miller (R-WA) before Chinese Security officials interrupt them.
#China

In continuation of the topic on international provocations (or how to spread chaos and confusion without any evidence):
The Ukrainian ambassador to Lebanon met Lebanese president Aoun and informed him that the Russian-operated ship that arrived in Tripoli, Lebanon is carrying stolen Ukrainian wheat.

Ukraine claimed the ship has travelled from Crimea with 5,000 tons of barley and 5,000 tons of flour “that we suspect was taken from Ukrainian stores”.

A customs representative who boarded the vessel in Tripoli told "The Cradle" there was no barley among the cargo, “only flour”. The cargo is reportedly bound for Syria.

A senior customs official tells off the record: “The prime minister contacted the customs leadership and demanded we hold the ship for investigation, while the office of the president of the Republic asked us to let the ship depart to its destination to avoid trouble with the Syrians and the Russians”.
“This is a complete conflict in decision making, we don’t know how to act right now”, even though “by law [Ukraine] is not allowed to make this request. They must bring us evidence first, and if it is compelling, only then can we undertake an investigation,” quoted by "The Cradle".

Russian economy and logistics turns East

Russia plans to allocate $30 billion for railways to China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

The investment project of the Ministry of Transport provides for the construction of 369 km of railway tracks in the Russian Federation, "Vedomosti" writes.

Another 3 thousand km of the track will be laid on Chinese, Kazakh and Mongolian territory.

To increase freight traffic on the railway tracks, new border crossings will be rebuilt and old ones will be put back into operation.

The proposal of the Ministry of Transport will form the basis of the government's model of Russia's development in new geopolitical conditions.
#China

The American reporter published a lengthy article about his personal trip to Ukraine in order to find out the truth about the "International Legion" of mercenaries from around the world advertised by the Ukrainian side.

In the course of communication with the military and representatives of Ukrainian officials, it turned out that Ukraine was not ready for such a large flow of volunteers. A third of the volunteers were weeded out due to lack of combat experience, a third of the volunteers left after a missile attack on the Yavorsky training ground, and the rest were never able to form a combat unit. At the same time, only a few were given weapons and ammunition.

“The International Legion does not exist. All this was propaganda to gain international support, secure media attention and support the idea that the whole world is at war against Russia,” the journalist quotes a message from one of the volunteers.

Videos emerged in Chinese social media showing military equipment belonging to People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Command moving via a high-speed railway in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province (171 km Southwest of Shanghai) towards the South of the Mainland China, reportedly Fujian Province.
#China

Just an atmospheric photo...