“What is pressing now is that all parties should exercise restraint and strive to cool down the situation, rather than fueling the tension,” he said. “We should promote diplomatic settlements instead of further escalating the situation, the spokesman continued.
The meeting also comes after intelligence reports revealed that Russia might be seeking Chinese help to supply it with military weapons amid losing a little over a thousand military vehicles, aircraft, and equipment during their invasion. The Ukrainians were reportedly taking over abandoned Russian tanks and armored vehicles as Russian troops were allegedly surrendering to Ukrainian forces willingly following reports that they had been lied to regarding their deployment to Ukraine. Furthermore, a large majority of the Russian troops in Ukraine were conscripts who had no idea about invasion campaigns and were reportedly demotivated due to the lack of food and generally not wanting to fight Ukrainians.
It is unclear why Russia desires these Chinese weapons as there is low interoperability, and they would have to learn how the Chinese weapon systems would work. However, it was not revealed which weapons Russia would be interested in. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied all of these allegations and claimed that they could stand alone without China’s help, who had been posturing as a neutral country amidst the chaos of war.
Chinese officials were accused by the Biden Administration of helping spread disinformation about the war and how it was shifting the narrative to say that Ukraine had been using chemical and biological weapons.
This comes after Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had also accused the US of supporting Ukraine in creating chemical and biological weapons to use against Russia. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao also accused Ukraine and the US of having 26 bio-labs and related facilities to develop said weapons, an unfounded claim. According to US officials, China had been providing cover for Russia in the case that it does use biological and chemical weapons against Ukrainians if their narrative is further pushed.
Sullivan then accused Russia that maybe they were “on the cusp of doing it themselves.” Furthermore, he stated that the Russians were preparing to use these weapons as they were already trying to justify their use as the United States had allegedly funded supposed Ukrainian efforts to develop such weapons, a claim that has no evidence until this point.
Department of Defense Spokesperson John Kirby also weighed in on the possibility that Russia may use these types of weapons; however, he reported that no such indications were determined as of the present time. “We haven’t seen anything that indicates some sort of imminent chemical or biological attack right now, but we’re watching this very, very closely,” he said.
Currently, the White House and its high-tier government officials are discussing whether Biden should meet with its European allies face-to-face to discuss its next collective moves toward Ukraine, according to insider reports. No trips have been finalized yet. However, it was rumored that Biden could visit the NATO headquarters and hold the meetings in Brussels.
After the talks between Sullivan and Yang had ended, the White House succinctly stated that the pair had discussed a “range of issues in U.S.-China relations, with substantial discussion of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
If you’re just tuning into SOFREP for the first time, click here to enjoy a free 2-month trial membership and be kept up to date on developments in Ukraine and elsewhere around the globe.
COMMENTS