“President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke for nearly two hours on Friday in a video call that came as the U.S. tries to convince Beijing to distance itself from Russia’s war in Ukraine,” Axios reports.

Xi told Biden that “conflict and confrontation are not in anyone’s interest,” and that the Ukraine crisis was “not something we want to see.”

The United Nations warned that Ukraine’s food supply chain is “falling apart” under stress from Russia’s invasion, potentially undermining food security around the world, Axios reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Moscow’s forces have lost more than 230 of the heavily armored tracked vehicles since they invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to Oryx Blog, an open-source site that tracks military-equipment losses. Many were destroyed. Others were abandoned, captured or damaged, Oryx says.”

“Ukraine’s government says it has exacted an even higher toll, claiming to have destroyed more than 400 Russian tanks and many more less-armored military vehicles.”

“For over a decade, Russia spent hundreds of billions of dollars restructuring its military into a smaller, better equipped and more-professional force that could face off against the West,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Three weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its first big test, the armed forces have floundered. Western estimates, while highly uncertain, suggest as many as 7,000 Russian soldiers may have been killed.”

“Iran es­tab­lished a clan­des­tine bank­ing and fi­nance sys­tem to han­dle tens of bil­lions of dol­lars in an­nual trade banned un­der U.S.-led sanc­tions, en­abling Tehran to en­dure the eco­nomic siege and giv­ing it lever­age in mul­ti­lat­eral nu­clear talks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The sys­tem, which com­prises ac­counts in for­eign com­mer­cial banks, proxy com­pa­nies reg­is-tered out­side the coun­try, firms that co­or­di­nate the banned trade, and a trans­ac­tion clear­ing­house within Iran, has helped Tehran re­sist the Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion’s pres­sure to re­join the 2015 nu­clear deal, buy­ing it time to ad­vance its nu­clear pro­gram even while ne­go­ti­a­tions were un­der way. Of­fi­cials say they are clos­ing in on a deal, with the re­lease of two British women in re­cent days fore­shad­ow­ing a po­ten­tial agree­ment within days.”

“Facing stiff resistance in Ukraine and crippling economic sanctions at home, Russian President Vladimir Putin is using language that recalls the rhetoric from Josef Stalin’s show trials of the 1930s,” the AP reports.

“Putin’s ominous speech on Wednesday likened opponents to ‘gnats’ who try to weaken the country at the behest of the West — crude remarks that set the stage for sweeping repressions against those who dare to speak out against the war in Ukraine.”

“His rant appeared to reflect his frustration about the slow pace of the Russian offensive, which bogged down on the outskirts of Kyiv and around other cities in northeastern Ukraine.”

Associated Press: “Beijing’s leadership would like to be supportive of Russia but also recognizes how badly the Russian military action is going as an overmatched Ukrainian military has put up stiff resistance, according to a Western official familiar with current intelligence assessments.”

“The official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Beijing is weighing the the potential ‘reputational blowback’ of being associated with the Russian camp. The Chinese response to Russia’s request for help ‘is in the process of being formulated,’ the official added.”

Bloomberg: “China’s muted response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hardened views within the Biden administration that President Xi Jinping may be moving closer to supporting Moscow as the conflict continues.”

BBC: “Turkey has positioned itself with great care to be the go-between with Russia and Ukraine – and this seems to be paying off.”

“On Thursday afternoon, President Vladimir Putin rang the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and told him what Russia’s precise demands were for a peace deal with Ukraine.”