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President Vladimir Putin on Friday brushed off a lightning Ukrainian counter-offensive with a smile but warned that Russia would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further pressure.

Speaking after a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Putin cast the invasion as a necessary step to prevent what he said was a Western plot to break Russia apart.

Moscow, he said, was in no hurry in Ukraine. And its goals remained unchanged.

"The Kiev authorities announced that they have launched and are conducting an active counter-offensive operation. Well, let's see how it develops, how it ends up," Putin said with a grin.

It was his first public comment on a rout of his forces in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region a week ago that has prompted unusually strong public criticism from Russian military commentators. 

Russia hit Ukrainian infrastructure in response - including a reservoir dam and electricity supplies - and Putin said those attacks could get worse.

"Recently, the Russian armed forces have inflicted a couple of sensitive blows. Let's assume they're a warning. If the situation continues to develop like this, then the response will be more serious," he said.

Putin also said Russia was gradually taking control of new areas of Ukraine.

Asked if what he calls the "special military operation" needed correction, he said: "The plan is not subject to adjustment."

"The General Staff considers one thing important, another thing secondary - but the main task remains unchanged, and it is being implemented," Putin said. "The main goal is the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas."

The Donbas comprises two largely Russian-speaking provinces of eastern Ukraine - Luhansk, which is now fully under the control of Russian and Russian-backed separatist forces, and Donetsk, which they partially control.

However, Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukraine in all, including much of the southerly Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, in addition to Crimea, which it seized in 2014 and considers part of Russia. (Reuters)

Mainland China's southwestern municipality of Chongqing reported one case of the monkeypox virus infection on Friday in one individual who arrived in the country from abroad, marking the country's first known monkeypox infection.

The transmission risk of the case is low as the individual was put in quarantine upon arrival in Chongqing, the municipal health commission said in a statement. All close contacts had been put under medical observation in isolation.

The person concerned entered Chongqing city in transit from abroad, and showed symptoms such as a skin rash during their quarantine period for COVID, according to the statement.

Around 90 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, which the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency. There have been more than 60,000 confirmed cases and some non-endemic countries reported their first related deaths.

The monkeypox virus, which is transmitted through close contact with infected people, animals or contaminated materials, usually causes symptoms similar to but milder than those of smallpox, such as fever, headache and rashes. (Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping the previous day at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan had been "normal".

Speaking to reporters after the summit, Putin said he had discussed measures to boost Russia-China trade during his meeting with Xi, whose "concerns" about the war in Ukraine Putin publicly acknowledged for the first time during the session. (Reuters)

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Friday said it will allow Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address the annual gathering of world leaders next week with a pre-recorded video.

The decision was adopted with 101 votes in favor, 7 votes against and 19 abstentions. Russia, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua and Syria opposed the move.

Ukraine's U.N. mission had argued that Zelenskiy "cannot participate in-person at the meetings of the General Assembly due to ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine."

Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Moscow was always in favor of "in-person diplomacy at the UN," but accused his Western counterparts of double standards.

"This is at a time where the representatives of African countries, who frequently encounter similar difficulties when it comes to arriving in New York ... have been refused this similar right," Polyanskiy told the General Assembly on Friday.

Russian ally Belarus attempted to amend the decision to strip out any reference to Ukraine and essentially allow any world leaders to address this year's U.N. gathering via video. It was defeated, receiving only 23 votes in favor and 67 votes against, while 27 states abstained.

For the past two years world leaders have been allowed to submit video statements because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year they are expected to travel to New York to speak in the U.N. General Assembly chamber.

Within a week of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor Ukraine, nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand Moscow and demand it withdraw its troops. Three weeks ago it again overwhelmingly denounced Russia for creating a "dire" humanitarian situation.

On Friday, Ukrainian officials provided more details of what they said was a mass burial site with hundreds of bodies in territory recaptured from Russian forces. Zelenskiy called the discovery proof of war crimes by Russia. Moscow denies that its forces have committed war crimes. (Reuters)