The Chinese government will not provide Russia with weapons in support of its invasion of Ukraine, now or in the future. This was made clear after a two-hour meeting in Beijing between China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang and the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Annalena Baerbock. “China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict,” Minister Qin Gang stated, as quoted by AP. The minister also reiterated China’s willingness to help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

However, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter: “China has major responsibilities, and it will be difficult to maintain trust if China does not contribute to search for political solution, based on Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. “Neutrality in the face of the violation of international law is not credible,” Borrell said, adding an appeal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and for China to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Reuters writes.

Russian missiles hit residential buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday, killing at least nine people, wounding 21 and reducing parts of apartment blocks to a tangled mess of metal and concrete, Reuters reports. Emergency services in eastern Donetsk Region, in a statement on Facebook, said the death toll stood at nine at midnight, including a two-year-old child. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Region, told national television earlier that seven Russian S-300 missiles had been fired, Reuters writes.

Meanwhile, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine wrote on Twitter: “Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories.”