VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to travel to Russia to meet with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said, which would be sooner than previously expected.

Plans for a visit come as China has been offering to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with scepticism in the West given China's diplomatic support for Russia.

Russia's Tass news agency reported on Jan. 30 that Putin had invited Xi to visit in the spring. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a visit to Moscow could take place in April or early May. 

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the possibility of Xi going to Moscow and the Kremlin declined to comment.

No other details were immediately available.

The sources briefed on the matter declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the issue.

Last month, Putin hosted China's top diplomat Wang Yi on a visit to Moscow and signalled that Xi would travel to Russia.

China and Russia struck a "no limits" partnership in February of 2022, when Putin was visiting Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, and the two sides have continued to reaffirm the strength of their ties.

Xi has met Putin in person 39 times since becoming president, most recently in September during a summit in central Asia.

On Monday, Xi wrapped up the annual session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, during which he was unanimously confirmed in a precedent-breaking third term as president. (Reuters)

Ukrainian forces faced relentless Russian attacks on Bakhmut in its eastern Donetsk region on Monday, with both sides reporting mounting enemy casualties as they battled across a small river that bisects the ruined town and now marks the front line.

The situation in the nearly deserted town was difficult, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said, though adding that his forces were repelling all Russian attempts to capture it. 

"All enemy attempts to capture the town are repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower," Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi was quoted as saying on the Ukraine's Media Military Centre Telegram messaging platform.

Ukrainian forces control the west of Bakhmut, while Russia's Wagner mercenary group controls most of the eastern part, with the Bakhmutka River that flows through the town marking the front line, British intelligence said in a weekend update.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Sunday the situation was "tough, very tough".

"The closer we are to the centre of the city, the harder the fighting ... The Ukrainians throw in endless reserves. But we are advancing and we will be advancing," Prigozhin said in comments released by his press service.

He also said Russian army members helped his troops with ammunition.

"Yesterday, we got 15 truckloads, today we got 12. And I think we will continue to receive them," he said, adding there was no conflict between his fighters and Russian troops. 

Prigozhin had previously complained that Russia's top brass was deliberately starving his men of ammunition, an allegation the defence ministry rejected.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Sunday his forces had killed more than 1,100 Russian soldiers in the past few days as they fought for control of Bakhmut.

"In less than a week, starting from the 6th March, we managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone, Russia's irreversible loss," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Russian forces sustained 1,500 "sanitary losses", soldiers wounded badly enough to keep them out of action, he added.

Russia's defence ministry said earlier in the day that its forces had killed more than 220 Ukrainian service members over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region.

Prigozhin said Wagner "will begin to reboot" and start hiring once Bakhmut is captured. Wagner has opened recruitment centres across 42 cities to replenish its ranks.

Neither side gave details of their own casualties.

WAITING FOR TANKS

While Bakhmut's strategic value is debatable, Russia sees capturing it as a step towards a major aim of the war - now in its second year - of seizing all of Ukraine's Donbas industrial region. Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up the Donbas.

Ukraine has decided to stay and fight on in the mining town, after initial signs it was planning to withdraw, to grind down Russia's best units ahead of an expected spring offensive by Ukrainian forces.

Analysts expect a Ukrainian counter-offensive to begin in earnest over April-May as the weather improves and more military aid arrives, including heavy Leopard and Challenger tanks.

Western tanks will significantly change war tactics, Leonid Khoda, a decorated Ukrainian tank brigade commander, told Reuters.

"Everyone is waiting, 1st Tank Brigade is waiting too. Not long ago we sent personnel to learn to operate (Leopard) 2A6," said Khoda, who commands the 1st Siversk Tank Brigade which is fighting in the south of Donetsk.

Elsewhere, Russia's air defence shot down four missiles over its Belgorod region bordering Ukraine on Monday, its governor said, adding that one person was injured.

Vyacheslav Gladkov did not say who was behind the attacks but in the past he has accused Ukrainian forces on the other side of the border of similar attacks.

The Russia-controlled Ukrainian city of Donetsk was shelled four times on Sunday, with residential areas and power lines hit and Russian-installed officials blaming Ukraine.

Ukraine almost never claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russia-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged Germany to speed up supplies of ammunition and to start training Ukrainian pilots on Western fighter jets.

Kuleba made clear he did not expect Western allies to give Ukraine the aircraft it has been asking for any time soon, but said pilots should be ready for when the decision was taken.

A senior EU official said the European Union could soon top up a fund for purchasing weapons for Ukraine by 3.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion). (Reuters)

Jakarta (voinews): The Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) reported that Mount Merapi had emitted 60 hot cloud avalanches since Saturday (March 11).

Head of BPPTKG Agus Budi Santoso stated that the number refers to the survey conducted by the Geological Agency's Drone Team after the first eruption on March 11.

"Since March 11, Mount Merapi spewed hot clouds towards Bebeng River. Until Monday, there have been 60 incidents of hot cloud avalanches," he noted in a statement received here, Monday.

Meanwhile, based on aerial photography monitoring using drones, the sliding distance of hot clouds reached the furthest 3.7 kilometers from the summit of Mount Merapi, he stated.

"The tip of the hot cloud avalanche was observed on the southwest side of the Bebeng River flow," Santoso remarked.

This data corrects the previous BPPTKG report which stated that the maximum sliding distance of hot avalanches was four kilometers.

After the series of hot cloud avalanches, he noted that the status of Mount Merapi was still at the Alert level or Level III.

He remarked that the potential danger at this time is in the form of lava avalanches and hot clouds that can reach Woro River as far as a maximum of three kilometers from the peak; Gendol River and Boyong River, with a maximum of five kilometers from the peak; and Bedog, Krasak, and Bebeng rivers, with a maximum of seven kilometers from the peak.

Meanwhile, if an explosive eruption occurs, volcanic material can reach a radius of three kilometers from the crater, he stated.

The BPPTKG also reminded the public to be aware of the dangers of lava, especially when it rains at the peak of the mountain.

"As the rainy season is still occurring in Yogyakarta and Central Java, the BPPTKG urges the public to be aware of the dangers of lava, especially when it rains at the peak of Merapi," he noted.

After the first eruption on March 11, an officer at the Mount Merapi monitoring post in Babadan, Magelang, Yulianto, reported that several villages were affected by ash rain: Paten, Keningar, Mangunsuko, Dukun, and Sengi in Magelang District and Tlogolele, Klakah, Jrakah, Wonolelo, and Krogowanan in Boyolali District. (Antaranews)

Jakarta (voinews): Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan departed for a work visit to India on March 13-14, 2023, in a bid to support Indonesia's prime commodity exports.

"South Asia, specifically India, is a non-traditional potential market that should be worked on intensively," the minister noted through a statement on Monday.

"Thus, we will meet with several parties to fight for Indonesian primary products with Indian stakeholders," he affirmed.

During his work visit, the minister will deliver a key speech during the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit 2023 in New Delhi.

He will also deliver his remark during the Country Session on Indonesia at the summit.

In addition, the minister is scheduled to meet with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to follow up on Indonesian President Joko Widodo's instruction to explore bilateral trade negotiations with India.

The two ministers are planned to discuss bilateral trade issues and to follow up on the earlier meeting at the G20 Trade, Industry and Investment Ministers' Meeting in Bali in September 2022.

Moreover, Hasan will conduct a meeting with partnering countries' ministers, who also participate in the CII Partnership Summit 2023, while also meeting with several Indian businessmen and business association leaders.

In 2022, the total trade between Indonesia and India was recorded at US$32.71 billion, up 55.68 percent as compared to US$21.01 billion in the previous year.

In the same year, Indonesia's exports to India were recorded to reach US$23.38 billion, while Indonesia's imports from India were pegged at US$9.33 billion. Thus, Indonesia recorded a trade surplus of US$14.05 billion.

Indonesia's main export products to India include coal, palm oil and its derivatives, iron alloys, industrial monocarboxylic fatty acids, and copper ores.

Meanwhile, main products imported from India include semi-finished iron products, sugarcane or beet sugar, peanuts, frozen buffalo meat, and ferrous alloys. (Antaranews)