Putin's Recent Actions in Ukraine and China: A Provocative Move Against the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited two regions in Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed, while Russian forces stepped up heavy artillery bombardments and air strikes on the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The G7 foreign ministers condemned Russia's plan to station shorter-range, so-called tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a Moscow ally which borders Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, levelled cities, forced millions from their homes and shaken up the global security order, including by prompting Russia to strengthen ties with non-Western actors such as China.