Ukraine recap: Russian setbacks on the battlefield, Putin's limited military and diplomatic options

By Jonathan Este, Associate Editor, International Affairs Editor

While his troops struggle to regroup in the face of a lightning-fast Ukrainian offensive in the northeast, Vladimir Putin is in Samarkand, fabled halfway point of the silk road in Uzbekistan, for a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). While he is there he has a busy schedule of face-to-face meetings with various world leaders who have yet to condemn his invasion of Ukraine.

One of Putin’s key meetings will have been with Xi Jinping. Early reports say the Russian president acknowledged Xi’s “concern” about the war. But he thanked the Chinese president for his…

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