PRESIDENTS Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of China and Russia issued a joint statement on the latter’s war in Ukraine today, saying that for “a sustainable settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, it is necessary to eliminate its root causes.”

China has from the beginning cited Nato enlargement to Russia’s borders as a provocation which influenced Russia’s invasion of its neighbour in 2022, but today’s joint declaration went further in attacking the demolition of monuments to the Red Army in Ukraine and across Europe and the rehabilitation of fascism: “It is necessary to protect the world’s anti-fascist memorial facilities … from desecration or destruction, and severely condemn the glorification of, or even attempts to revive, Nazism and militarism.”

Russia cites “denazification” as one of its war aims in Ukraine, referring to the role of neonazi militias like the Azov Battalion in Ukraine’s army, and Kiev’s official commemorations in honour of wartime Nazi collaborators such as Stepan Bandera, whose Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed tens of thousands of Poles and Jews during the Holocaust.

Mr Putin said he is keen to see China’s 12-point peace plan for Ukraine, issued last year, implemented, although it begins with respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries under the UN Charter, which Russia’s annexations of Ukrainian land breach.

As the two leaders met, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Kharkiv in the north-east, saying Russian advances in the area had been halted but the situation “remains difficult.” Russian forces have been taking ground this week in the north-east and further south along the Zaporizhzhia front.