Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin arrives to red carpet in China after Moscow launches aerial attacks on Odesa
Vladimir Putin arrived in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday, Chinese and Russian state media reported, for a regional security summit that China hopes can counter Western influence in global affairs.
For the rare four-day visit to Russia’s neighbour and largest trading partner, Putin arrived to a red carpet welcome, received on the tarmac by top-ranking city officials, a livestream of the event by Russia’s TASS showed.
President Xi Jinping will host about 20 world leaders in Tianjin, also including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the largest gathering since the group was established in 2001 among six Eurasian nations.
It comes as a Russian drone attack overnight damaged four power facilities near the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, leaving more than 29,000 customers without electricity on Sunday morning, the region’s governor and power firm DTEK said.
Hardest hit was the port city of Chornomorsk, just outside Odesa, where residential houses and administrative buildings were also damaged, said Oleh Kiper, the governor of the broader Odesa region, on the Telegram messaging app.
