Putin opens new phase of war with strike on Ukraine's Cabinet - The Times

According to The Times, Putin’s confidence may have risen sharply after he met with Xi Jinping in Beijing, where they discussed prospects for cooperation.

The strike on Kyiv, one of the largest air attacks since the beginning of the war, was cited as confirmation. During one of the latest assaults, a government building in Kyiv was hit for the first time in more than three years of full-scale war. Hardliners in Russia have long urged strikes on Ukraine’s "decision-making centers."

The paper also notes that Beijing has become an important platform for Putin’s diplomatic maneuvers. He declared relations with China at an unprecedentedly high level.

At the Beijing parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan in World War II, Putin sat to Xi Jinping’s right, watching the event alongside North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. It was the first time since the Cold War that leaders of these three countries gathered together.

Unlike North Korea, China has not sent troops to fight against Ukraine, but it has backed Moscow diplomatically and avoided Western sanctions. Last week, the Kremlin also announced a preliminary agreement with Beijing on the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline.

Earlier, on September 1 at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, Putin claimed that the war against Ukraine had not started with Russia’s invasion, insisting it would continue until the root causes were eliminated.

According to him, "the second cause of the crisis lies in the West’s constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO, which poses a direct threat to Russia’s security."

He also repeated the narrative that a "coup in Ukraine" in 2014 removed political leadership opposed to NATO membership.

At the same time, the SCO’s final statement did not include any reference to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry later stated that the Kremlin failed to impose its position on the SCO member states.