U.S. warns China not to assist Russia

National security adviser Jake Sullivan issued a direct warning to his Chinese counterpart Monday about the potential consequences of any assistance that Beijing might provide Russia in its war with Ukraine, officials said, following Moscow’s recent request for military equipment and aid.

The seven-hour meeting in Rome between Sullivan and Yang Jiechi, planned several weeks ago, took on added urgency as Russia’s war against Ukraine dragged into its third full week without any signs of winding down. A day after Russia launched a salvo of cruise missiles at a military facility near the Ukraine-Poland border, the United Nations estimated the total civilian toll in Ukraine at 596 dead and 1,067 injured, though it has said it believes that the actual figures are “considerably higher.”