The European Council announced the new bans on Friday, prohibiting the Czech-based Voice of Europe portal, the prominent Russian news agency RIA Novosti, and the major newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta from broadcasting to or engaging EU audiences.
Zelenskyy firmly dismissed the idea, warning it could provide cover for Russian forces to reinforce their positions on Ukrainian soil.
Putin's comments crystalized Moscow's aims to leverage its BRICS leadership to accelerate the bloc's transformation from an economic alliance into a geopolitical coalition capable of counterbalancing Western dominance across multiple spheres.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated the Russian push has ignited fierce fighting across a broader front as Moscow attempts to draw more Ukrainian reserve forces into battle.
The gesture during Putin's state visit to China honors the estimated 12,000 Red Army troops killed in battles across northeastern China in August and September 1945 that helped defeat Japan's military forces in the closing days of WWII.
Germany's Annalena Baerbock described the situation around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, as "highly dramatic" amid a renewed Russian offensive that has made territorial gains in recent days.
Putin revealed that Saint Petersburg State University and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China will jointly open the education facility, which he described as becoming "one of the flagships of bilateral cooperation in this area."
Haji Nooruddin Azizi told the Russian state news agency Sputnik that Kabul plans to open negotiations with Moscow about constructing the logistic facility in the western Afghan province of Herat.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of Russia accused NATO of adopting a stance of "strategic uncertainty" toward Russia in an attempt to make it harder for Moscow and warned of retaliating similarly.
"No 'freezing' or 'Korean options', which are increasingly being discussed in the West, are acceptable," declared Pyotr Buyakevich, a high-ranking official at the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the Ukraine conflict.
Showing 330 of 415 articles