Ukraine updates: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visits China

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who is in China for talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, said he would hold "extensive, detailed, substantive negotiations" with his Chinese counterpart, but did not say when the talks would take place. 

"We must avoid competition between peace plans. It is very important that Kyiv and Beijing conduct direct dialogue," he said in a statement on Instagram.

Ukraine is pushing to hold a second international summit later this year to advance its vision for peace after an initial gathering in Switzerland in June drew dozens of delegations from around the world but not from Russia or China.

China and Brazil published a joint six-point peace proposal in May, saying they supported the holding of an international peace conference recognized by both sides in the war.

Ukraine has said it wants the second summit to be hosted by a country from the "Global South" and that Russia could attend. Kyiv has also said it would like to see China play a more active role in ending the war.

Following Prime Minister Kaja Kallas's resignation to take an EU job, Estonia has sworn in her successor Kristen Michal.

Michal belongs to the same center-right Reform party as Kallas, and is a similarly hawkish critic of Russia.

In an op-ed for Estonian public news outlet ERR, Michal wrote that countering "Russia's aggression against free Ukraine and the entire West" was a top priority.

Estonia was annexed and occupied by the Soviet Union from 1994 to 1991. Successive independent Estonian governments have highlighted their security concerns over sharing a large land border with Russia.

At least one person was killed and five others were injured after a Ukrainian drone attack in southern Russia, local authorities said on Tuesday.

"Drones attacked a ferry vessel in the port of Kavkaz," Krasnador governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. 

"Unfortunately there are injured and dead among the crew and port staff," he added.

The incident came as Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks overnight.

Ukraine's air force said that a Russian attack damaged critical infrastructure in the Sumy region. No casualties were reported.

Russia's Defense Ministry meanwhile reported several other air attacks in the regions bordering Ukraine, as well as over the occupied Crimean peninsula.

"Over the past night... air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed two UAVs over Bryansk region and two over Belgorod region, as well as 21 UAVs over the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea," the ministry said on social media.

EU foreign and defense ministers have decided to hold a key meeting in Brussels instead of Budapest in protest of Hungary's rogue diplomacy regarding Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently visited Moscow and Beijing for what he described as a "peace mission." Hungary currently holds the rotating EU presidency and Orban is seen as having the warmest relationship with Russia in the EU.

"We have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said late on Monday.

Borrell said that all EU member states "overwhelmingly" criticized Orban. Only Slovakia backed Hungary's position.

Hungary was quick to condemn the change of venue.

"What a fantastic response they have come up with," Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

"I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but it feels like being in a kindergarten."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in China on Tuesday for talks on how to end the war with Russia.

China, which has strengthened its "no limits" relationship with Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, presents itself as a neutral party to the conflict.

But Western governments have accused China providing support to Russia during the war.

"The main topic of discussion will be the search for ways to stop Russia's aggression and China's possible role in achieving a stable and just peace," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The trip is Kuleba's first visit to China since the invasion in 2022. Beijing said the visit would last until Friday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the news.

"For us, our relations with China are the main thing," he said. "We intend to continue following the path of developing Russian-Chinese relations in all areas."

zc/rm (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)