As Western powers scramble to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, China maintains close ties with Moscow and weighs its strategic interests.

As President Emmanuel Macron of France visited China, its leader, Xi Jinping, said his country would play a constructive role in ending the fighting.

Nearly four years into the conflict in Ukraine, the world has learned something important: mega-constellations in space are now central to keeping communication alive during war. These giant groups of satellites continue working even when electronic attacks and physical strikes happen on the ground.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday following a report from the head of Kyiv's foreign intelligence service that Russia and China were taking steps to intensify cooperation.

China is drawing lessons from the Trump administration’s still unfinished “peace plan” for Russia and Ukraine, watching to see how far Washington will go to secure an agreement, and whether that means concessions to Moscow.

Geopolitical strategist Velina Tchakarova warns that China is now embedded in Russia’s drone war economy, linking the Ukraine war to Beijing’s strategic contest with the West.

Kazakhstan said on Wednesday it would redirect some oil from its Kashagan field to China and other routes after a Ukrainian drone attack last month on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Black Sea terminal in Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Beijing on Wednesday, where he is expected to put pressure on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and discuss trade relations.

BEIJING -- China and France pledged deeper cooperation on global issues like the war in Ukraine and trade, as France prepares to take on the presidency of the Group of Seven next year. French President Emmanuel Macron met with China's Xi Jinping on Thursday morning as part of a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomacy.