US president Joe Biden has urged China’s leader Xi Jinping to dissuade North Korea from deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine, after Pyongyang’s deployment of troops in Moscow’s war with Ukraine have raised concerns in Washington, Beijing and European capitals. In their final meeting before the Trump administration takes over, the two leaders met Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Biden pointed out that China’s “publicly stated position with respect to the war in Ukraine is there should be no escalation, no broadening the conflict, and the introduction of (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) troops runs foursquare against that,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, adding that the president also pointed out China “does have influence and capacity, and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict with the introduction of even more DPRK forces.”

Japan’s foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss North Korea’s deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops. Takeshi Iwaya will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, to reaffirm Japan’s “strong support” for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and to discuss further sanctions against Moscow. He warned Saturday that North Korean troops entering the Ukraine conflict would have an “extremely significant” effect on east Asian security.

British MPs and peers from all parties have called on the government to back Ukraine’s demands for a “just peace” with diplomatic pressure and military aid. Volodymyr Zelenskyy endorsed a rapid push to broker a deal on Saturday. “From our side, we must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means,” he told Ukrainian radio. February 2025 would mark the third anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, with Russia’s troops gaining ground in recent months against Kyiv’s outmanned and outgunned soldiers.

On Saturday, the G7 – which includes many of Kyiv’s key backers – said Russia remained the sole obstacle to a just peace in Ukraine, pledging sanctions targeting Moscow. “We will remain united by Ukraine’s side,” the Group of Seven industrialised nations said in a statement marking 1,000 days of the invasion. “The G7 confirms its commitment to imposing severe costs on Russia through sanctions, export controls and other effective measures,” the statement added.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday its forces had captured two more villages in eastern Donetsk region - Makarivka, southwest of the key town of Kurakhove, and Hryhorivka, north of Kurakhove. Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces made no mention of either village. Moscow’s forces are bearing down on Kurakhove, which has a thermal power plant and is 7 km from Pokrovsk, a large town which for much of the war has been one of Ukraine’s logistical linchpins. Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russian forces were suffering heavy losses and that the advance had “slowed down” in some areas.

A group of four Russian and Belarusian nationals, detained in the central African state of Chad for more than a month, flew back to Moscow on Saturday, Russian media reported. State news agency RIA said the group included Maxim Shugalei, identified as a sociologist but described by western institutions as an official linked to Russia’s Wagner group, a private army. Shugalei is subject to EU sanctions on grounds of overseeing disinformation campaigns to promote Wagner in Africa.