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Added on the 22/08/2023 12:15:11 - Copyright : France 24 EN
A meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization kicks off in Brussels, with the US-led defence alliance's foreign ministers set to discuss NATO's ongoing backing for Ukraine against Russia amid doubts over US support and a bloody stalemate on the ground. There are fears that a lack of adequate support from the West -- at a time that it is distracted by the Israel-Hamas war -- could end up forcing Kyiv to seek a compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin from a position of weakness. IMAGES
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accuses China of "fuelling" Russia's invasion of Ukraine through the transfers of dual use materials and weapons components from Chinese businesses to Russia for use in Moscow's military expansion. "If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can't on the other hand be fuelling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War," Blinken tells a press conference after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri where he had urged urged his European counterparts to increase pressure on Beijing. SOUNDBITE
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accuses Israel of war crimes and "genocide" in Gaza, as he chaired an extraordinary summit of the BRICS group of nations on Tuesday. Pretoria is hosting a virtual meeting of BRICS, a group of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, aimed at drawing up a common response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. IMAGES
European Council President Charles Michel warns that the coming weeks could decide the course of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He makes the statement following a meeting between European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "The next few weeks and months will probably be decisive. This is not the time to tremble, this is the time to be lucid and this is the time to deploy maximum support," Michel says. SOUNDBITE
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged Asian countries to join the "increasing consensus" against the conflict in Ukraine, telling them the war was "your problem" too. SOUNDBITE
French President Emmanuel Macron calls for Paris and Beijing to unite against the war in Ukraine as he begins a meeting with China's leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. SOUNDBITE