???? Live: On China trip, Brazil’s Lula says US is ‘encouraging’ Ukraine war

Issued on: 15/04/2023 – 09:15Modified: 15/04/2023 – 09:24

9:18am: Death toll in Sloviansk strike rises to nine

The death toll in Friday’s Russian strike on an apartment block in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk has risen to nine, according to local authorities.

Vadim Lyakh, the head of Sloviansk’s military administration, said Saturday that nine people died – including a woman whose body was recovered from the rubble overnight – and 21 were wounded.

Five people were still under the rubble and their identities were established, he said.

Rescue workers are still digging for survivors in the rubble of the typical Soviet-era housing block which was destroyed in the strike.

5:35am: US should stop ‘encouraging’ war in Ukraine, says Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that the US should stop “encouraging war” in Ukraine “and start talking about peace”.

“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace, the European Union needs to start talking about peace,” Lula told reporters in Beijing at the end of a visit where he met with President Xi Jinping.

In that way, the international community will be able to “convince” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world,” he said before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.

Lula is carrying out a delicate balancing act as he also seeks closer ties with Washington. His visit comes after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in February.

Unlike Western powers, neither China nor Brazil have imposed sanctions against Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and both seek to position themselves as mediators to achieve peace.

• Key developments of Friday, April 14

The Russian shelling of a residential building in Sloviansk killed at least eight people and injured 21, according to the Donetsk regional governor. Also on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that China won’t sell weapons to either side in the war in Ukraine, in response to Western concerns that Beijing could provide military assistance to Russia. 

Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an electronic draft bill into law, greatly facilitating the military mobilisation for the Ukraine offensive.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)