U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored strong U.S. concerns about China's support for Russia's defense industrial base in talks Friday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, saying Beijing's talk of peace in Ukraine "doesn't add up." In a meeting with Wang on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Blinken said he also raised China's "dangerous and destabilizing actions" in the South China Sea and discussed improving communication between their militaries. Blinken told a news conference he and Wang also discussed ways to disrupt the flow of drugs into the United States, and the risks posed by artificial intelligence.

Ukraine on Tuesday hit the Moscow region in series of drone strikes that killed one woman, destroyed dozens of homes and forced some 50 flights to be rerouted from the Russian capital, reporting by Reuters confirmed. The attack on Moscow was reportedly the largest drone strike levied by Kyiv at Russia since the war began more than two and half years ago. Russia, which has heavily relied on drones and missiles in its assault against Ukraine and routinely pummels Kyiv with a barrage of aerial assaults, said it destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region along with another 124 across eight other regions. A residential building outside of Moscow after it was hit in a series of drone strikes by Ukraine on Sept. 10, 2024. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested the attacks levied at the Russian capital, which has a population of some 21 million, were not legitimate military targets.

Russia has downed 53 Ukrainian drones, the majority of which targeted the southern Rostov region, the Ministry of Defence said, as the Kremlin warned that Russia and NATO are now in "direct confrontation" over Ukraine. The ministry said that "terrorist attacks with aerial drones" overnight and on Friday morning were foiled, adding that 44 of them were downed or intercepted in Rostov, where Russia's Ukraine campaign headquarters is located. Vasily Golubev, the governor of Rostov, confirmed early on Friday that air defence units had destroyed more than 40 airborne targets, though an electricity substation was damaged. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, he said the drone attacks had focused on the Morozovsk district, northeast of Rostov, which lies on Ukraine's eastern border. Golubev said work was under way to restore power supplies in the affected areas.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the US is committed to deeper relations with Africa despite global crises as he opened a four-country tour of the continent. Blinken is touring four democracies on the Atlantic Coast – Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola – as security deteriorates in the Sahel and doubts grow about a key US base in neighbouring coup-hit Niger. US President Joe Biden welcomed leaders from Africa in 2022 in a show of newfound attention to the continent. But he did not visit Africa last year as promised. Blinken nonetheless quoted Biden as he vowed, "We are all in when it comes to Africa."

The European Union and the United States have urged allies of Ukraine to keep up with their funding as the war with Russia nears the two-year mark, with no resolution to the fighting in sight. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised sustained US support for Ukraine in a meeting on Tuesday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite a row in the US Congress on approving new funding. "We are determined to sustain our support for Ukraine and we're working very closely with Congress in order to work to do that. I know our European colleagues will do the same thing," Blinken told Zelenskyy at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, joined the meeting and told Zelenskyy that the US and its allies were determined "to ensure that Russia fails and Ukraine wins". Zelenskyy thanked the Biden administration and the "bipartisan support" in the US Congress.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken twice declined to criticize Elon Musk after the SpaceX founder said he refused to help the Ukrainian government access his Starlink internet service in order to attack Russia. Blinken was pressed by CNN's Jake Tapper to comment on details in a new book confirmed by Musk, including that he refused the Ukrainian government's requests to activate Starlink, a satellite internet service run by SpaceX, in Crimea so it could launch a submarine drone attack against Russian naval forces. "There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol," Musk posted Thursday on X. "The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation." Tapper asked Blinken whether Musk should face repercussions after he "effectively sabotaged a military operation by Ukraine, a U.S. ally, against Russia, an aggressor country that invaded a U.S. ally."

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for more "communication and exchange" to avoid misunderstanding in his remarks at the opening of this year's'Summer Davos' in Tianjin, the first in-person event in three years following the COVID-19 pandemic. The three-day summit, which got under way on Tuesday, is hosted by the World Economic Forum but will focus heavily on China's place in the world and concerns about how the global economy can move forward in an increasingly fractious world, according to the agenda. Li told delegates it was time to support globalisation and deeper economic cooperation. "In the West, some people are hyping up what is called'cutting reliance and de-risking'," Li said. "These two concepts… are a false proposition, because the development of economic globalisation is such that the world economy has become a common entity in which you and I are both intermingled. The economies of many countries are blended with each other, rely on each other, make accomplishments because of one another and develop together. This is actually a good thing, not a bad thing."

Center for A.I. Safety Director Dan Hendrycks explains concerns about how the rapid growth of artificial intelligence could impact society. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States is working with its European allies to develop a conduct code for artificial intelligence. Blinken is in Sweden for a meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council, which is jointly led by American and European officials. "We need accountable artificial intelligence. Generative AI is a complete game changer," European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said at a press conference after the meeting, saying a draft of a voluntary code of conduct for artificial intelligence would be ready within a matter of weeks.

Washington, DC – The United States has dismissed as "ludicrous" Russia's claim that it was responsible for a drone attack against the Kremlin, an incident that risks inflaming international tensions. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby denied on Thursday any US involvement in the attack on Wednesday, which Moscow said targeted President Vladimir Putin. Kirby stressed that Washington is not even aware of the details of what happened. The United States had nothing to do with this," Kirby told CNN. "We don't even know exactly what happened here, but I can assure you the United States had no role in it whatsoever." Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the US, a key ally of Ukraine, was "undoubtedly" behind the attack.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., says Xi Jinping is turning Vladimir Putin into his'junior partner.' Russia is in talks with China to purchase 100 combat drones, according to a new report published just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. had evidence Beijing was weighing lethal aid to Moscow in its war against Ukraine. Der Spiegel reports that Moscow is looking to commission a Chinese manufacturer to mass produce the drones – with a delivery date as early as April. Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief Wang Yi during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Per the report, Xian Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology, a Chinese drone manufacturer, has said it was prepared to make 100 prototypes of its ZT-180 drone, which carry a 35-50kg warhead. The drones are similar to Iran's Shaheed-136, which Russia has used to kill hundreds of Ukrainians and damage infrastructure.