Xi's presence at this week's anniversary celebrations provides an important boost for the Kremlin leader, who has portrayed his war in Ukraine as a struggle against modern-day Nazis from the start. Ukraine and its allies reject that characterisation as a grotesque falsehood, accusing Moscow of conducting an imperial-style invasion.

"The victory over fascism, achieved at the cost of enormous sacrifices, is of lasting significance," Putin told Xi on Thursday.

"Together with our Chinese friends, we firmly stand guard over historical truth, protect the memory of the events of the war years, and counteract modern manifestations of neo-Nazism and militarism."

Xi said the two countries, as world powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, would work together to counter "unilateralism and bullying" – an implied reference to the United States.

He said they would "jointly promote the correct view of the history of World War Two, safeguard the authority and status of the United Nations, resolutely defend the rights and interests of China, Russia and the vast majority of developing countries, and work together to promote an equal, orderly, multipolar, and inclusive economic globalisation".

The two men spoke after approaching each other along a red carpet from opposite ends of one of the Kremlin's most opulent halls and shaking hands in front of the cameras. Each greeted the other as "dear friend".

Powerful guest

Xi is the most powerful of more than two dozen foreign leaders who are visiting Moscow this week to mark Thursday's 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two – a celebration of huge significance for Putin. Domestically, it offers him a chance to rally Russians in remembrance of a historic feat that is central to the country's national identity. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War Two, including many millions in Ukraine, which was also devastated.

On the world stage, Putin aims to cast himself alongside Xi as a defender of the international order, and to demonstrate that years of Western sanctions have failed to isolate Russia.

Putin last week announced a unilateral three-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, beginning on Thursday. Ukraine has not committed to abide by it, calling it a ruse by Putin to create the impression he wants to end the war. Instead, it has declared its willingness to join a ceasefire lasting at least 30 days.

Both countries are under pressure from US President Donald Trump to reach a peace deal, and Washington has threatened repeatedly to walk away from talks unless there is clear progress.

Ukraine targeted Moscow with drones for three days earlier this week, but the skies above the capital were calm on Thursday. With so many foreign leaders present, any attacks during the May 9 events could embarrass Putin and would likely draw a tough response from Moscow.

A Ukrainian military spokesperson told Reuters that Russian troops had continued to conduct assaults in several areas on the eastern front, despite the ceasefire. The air force said Russian aircraft had launched guided bombs on the Sumy region of northern Ukraine three times.

But the air force also said there had been no Russian missiles or drones in Ukrainian airspace since the Kremlin-sponsored ceasefire kicked in.

Chinese troops will take part in Friday's military parade on Red Square, the centrepiece of the commemorations. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged countries not to send their militaries to participate, saying it would go against some countries' declared neutrality in the war.

Xi has called for talks to end the conflict in Ukraine and has accused the US of stoking it with weapons supplies to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in the past urged him to try to persuade Putin to halt the war.

Xi, whose country is locked in a tariff war with the United States, is expected to sign numerous agreements to deepen the "no limits" strategic partnership that Russia and China signed in 2022, less than three weeks before Putin sent his army into Ukraine.

China is Russia's biggest trading partner and has thrown Moscow an economic lifeline that has helped it navigate Western sanctions. China buys more Russian oil and gas than any other country.

Summary:

• Saudi nuclear talks delinked from diplomatic normalisation with Israel, two sources say, in what would be a concession by Washington
• Saudi Arabia resists U.S. '123' nonproliferation criteria, seeks uranium enrichment
• Gaza war has made normalisation of ties with Israel politically toxic for the kingdom
• On May 13 visit, Trump to discuss economic deals, including potential $100 billion arms package

The United States is no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalise ties with Israel as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit next week.

Dropping the demand that Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with Israel would be a major concession by Washington. Under former President Joe Biden, nuclear talks were an element of a wider U.S.-Saudi deal tied to normalisation and to Riyadh's goal of a defence treaty with Washington.

The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognise Israel without a Palestinian state, frustrating Biden administration attempts to expand the Abraham Accords signed during Trump's first term. Under those accords the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel. Progress towards Saudi recognition of Israel has been halted by fury in Arab countries over the war raging in Gaza. The nuclear talks had also stumbled over Washington's non-proliferation concerns.

In a possible sign of a new approach, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were on a "pathway" to a civil nuclear agreement when he visited the kingdom in April. "When we have something to announce, you will hear it from the President. Any reports on this are speculative,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Reuters in response to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia's government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even without the normalisation requirement for civil nuclear talks to progress, and despite unpacking the issue from a wider defence treaty, a deal is not yet in close reach, one of the sources said.

One sticking point is Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act that allows cooperation with other countries developing civil nuclear capabilities but specifies nonproliferation criteria including limiting uranium enrichment.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has said that the kingdom would seek to enrich uranium and sell the product.

One of the sources said the kingdom was still not willing to sign a so-called 123 agreement, which would prevent enrichment or reprocessing of plutonium made in reactors - two routes that have the potential to culminate in nuclear weapons. Secretary Wright previously told Reuters a 123 agreement would be a prerequisite to any deal.

However, there are several ways to structure a deal to achieve both countries' objectives, Wright has said.

"One solution being discussed is a "black box" arrangement where only U.S. personnel would have access to a uranium enrichment facility on Saudi soil, the same source said.

SELL MORE OIL Riyadh wants to build nuclear generation capacity as it seeks to diversify its economy away from oil. Nuclear power could also help free up more crude barrels for export.

Arms control advocates have previously expressed concern about a Saudi nuclear programme because de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said the kingdom would seek to quickly develop nuclear weapons should its regional rival Iran do so.

The U.S. and Iran are currently holding talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, which Washington and Western allies say is geared towards producing weapons. Iran insists it is purely for civil purposes.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday described the talks with Iran as "so far, so good" and said there was a deal to be made that would reintegrate Iran into the global economy while preventing it from getting a nuclear weapon.

Saudi Arabia and the United States are set to discuss a number of blockbuster economic deals during Trump's visit next week, with the U.S. poised to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth well over $100 billion, sources have told Reuters.

Trump has said Riyadh should "round up" a planned investment package in the U.S. to $1 trillion from an initial $600 billion.

The trip is Trump's second visit abroad, after a short trip to Rome for the pope's funeral, since he returned to office in January. In his first term a lavish trip to Saudi Arabia marked his first overseas stop.

Trump fostered close ties with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia during his first term. The country invested $2 billion in a firm formed by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and former aide, after Trump left office, and there are plans to build two Trump towers in Jeddah and Riyadh.

“We will have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets. And I won’t tell you on what,” he said.

“It is really, really positive,” Trump claimed.

The U.S. president suggested he would share the news before he leaves on a trip to West Asia next week. “That announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave,” he said.

Trump will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on May 13-16.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press anonymously cited two U.S. officials as saying on Tuesday that during his visit to Saudi Arabia next week, Trump will announce that the United States will refer to the Persian Gulf as “the Arabian Gulf” or “the Gulf of Arabia.”

It was unclear whether that announcement is what Trump touted during the Oval Office meeting with the Canadian prime minister.

If the U.S. president goes ahead with the reported plan, the falsification of the historical and geographical reality will cause widespread resentment inside Iran, which has been involved in negotiations with the Trump administration. Whether that would in turn affect the course of the negotiations will remain to be seen. Iran has said that the talks are exclusively about Iran’s nuclear energy program and the sanctions imposed on the country over nuclear-related allegations.

The talks started in April and have been conducted indirectly through an Omani intermediary.

The negotiations were postponed due to logistical reasons earlier this month. But Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said earlier on Tuesday that a date was being reviewed for the next round of the talks.

In his visits, he will emphasize his support for multilateralism, one of the core principles championed by the BRICS. On the night of Tuesday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva will travel to Russia to attend the celebration of Victory Day, commemorating the Red Army’s triumph over Nazi Germany.

These traditional celebrations will take place on Thursday in Moscow, where Lula will hold a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin the following day. Eduardo Saboia, Brazil’s Secretary for Asia at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, explained that Lula plans to discuss the commercial relationship between the two countries, which is largely based on the supply of Russian fertilizers to the Brazilian agricultural sector.

Lula will also emphasize his support for multilateralism, one of the core principles championed by the BRICS, the economic cooperation bloc founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The text reads, “Ukraine attacks Moscow with drones as Russia prepares for Victory Day parade. Victory Day is an important holiday in the Russian calendar. Several world leaders, including President Lula, will attend the parade.”

Later, starting on May 11, Lula will make a state visit to China, where he will be received by President Xi Jinping. Saboia stated that Lula’s agenda with the Chinese leader will be similar, but noted that the Asian power maintains a strategic partnership with Brazil “with a high level of institutionalization,” covering broad cooperation at all levels.

China is the main destination for Brazilian exports worldwide, making the commercial segment of particular interest. Beyond that, cooperation on other matters will also be reviewed, such as the fight against climate change and the shared intention of both countries to strengthen multilateralism.

“Brazil and China have a much broader agenda than any considerations regarding a situation that is clearly concerning,” said Saboia, who dismissed the idea that the dialogue between Xi and Lula would have any direct connection to the trade war triggered by United States President Donald Trump.

“Brazil values its relationship with the United States,” the diplomat said, stressing that the ties with China “do not contradict” that relationship.

During his stay in Beijing, Lula will also participate in a ministerial meeting of the Forum of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and China, which will serve as a preparatory session for the upcoming summit of that forum, to be held in Colombia later this year.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has won a parliament vote to become Germany's next chancellor at the second attempt. Merz had initially fallen six votes short of the absolute majority he needed on Tuesday morning - a significant blow to his prestige and an unprecedented failure in post-war German history.

As it was a secret ballot in the 630-seat Bundestag, there was no indication who had refused to back him - either MPs from his centre-left coalition partner or his own conservatives. After hours of uncertainty in the Bundestag, the parties and the president of the Bundestag agreed to hold a second vote, which Merz then won with 325 votes, a majority of nine.

His coalition with the Social Democrats should have had enough seats in parliament from the start but it appears 18 MPs who had been expected to back him dissented during the first vote. There was a prevailing mood of confusion in the parliament in the hours after the vote.

Under Germany's constitution, there is no limit to how many votes can be held but in practice another defeat for Merz would have meant a headache for his Christian Democrats, its sister party the Christian Social Union and their partner the Social Democrats. No chancellor candidate has lost a Bundestag vote in the 76 years since democracy was restored in post-war Germany.

Bundestag President Julia Klöckner was initially said to be planning a second vote on Wednesday, but Christian Democrat General Secretary Carsten Linnemann said it was important to press ahead. "Europe needs a strong Germany, that's why we can't wait for days," he told German TV.

Parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn appealed to his colleagues' sense of responsibility: "all of Europe, perhaps the whole world, is watching this ballot." Merz's defeat was seen by political commentators as a humiliation, possibly inflicted by a handful of disaffected members of the Social Democrat SPD, which signed a coalition deal with his conservatives on Monday.

The Bundestag president told MPs that nine of the 630 MPs were absent, three abstained and another ballot paper was declared invalid.

Not everyone in the SPD was happy with the deal, but party officials were adamant their party was fully committed to it. "It was a secret vote so nobody knows," senior Social Democrat MP Ralf Stegner told the BBC, "but I can tell you I don't have the slightest impression that our parliamentary group wouldn't have known our responsibility."

Party leader Lars Klingbeil, who is set to become Germany's next vice-chancellor, said it was his assumption that Merz would win a majority in Tuesday's second vote.

Far-right party Alternative for Germany, which came second in the February election with 20.8% of the vote, seized on his initial failure and called for fresh elections.

Joint leader Alice Weidel wrote on X that the vote showed "the weak foundation on which the small coalition has been built between the [conservatives] and SPD, which was rejected by voters". Merz's choice for foreign minister, Christian Democrat colleague Johann Wadephul, told the BBC the initial vote was "an obstacle but not a catastrophe".

Germany's handover of government is carefully choreographed. On the eve of Tuesday's vote, outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz was treated to a traditional Grand Tattoo by an armed forces orchestra. Merz, 69, was expected first to win the vote and then visit President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be sworn in, fulfilling a long-held ambition to become German chancellor.

His rival and former chancellor Angela Merkel had come to the Bundestag to watch the vote take place. Caretaker ministers from Germany's outgoing government were all planning to hand over to their successors on Tuesday afternoon.

Political correspondents in the Bundestag said the initial failure to back Merz indicated that even if the coalition did come to power eventually, there was a potential issue lurking within its ranks. AfD MP Bernd Baumann said the CDU had promised a string of policies similar to his own party's, such as limiting migration, and then went into an alliance with the centre left: "That doesn't work. That's not how democracy works."

"This isn't good," warned Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt. "Even though I don't want this chancellor or support him, I can only warn everyone not to rejoice in chaos." Less than 24 hours earlier, the messaging had been very different, of Germany under a stable government putting six months of political paralysis to an end.

"It's our historical duty to make this government a success," Merz had said as he signed the coalition document. Despite having a narrow majority of 12 seats, the agreement between the conservatives and centre left was seen as far more stable than the so-called traffic-light coalition of three parties which fell apart last November in a row over debt spending.

The SPD, which had been the biggest party in the old coalition slumped to its worst post-war election result in third place, but Merz had promised that Germany was back and that he would boost its voice on the world stage and revive a flagging economy.

After two years of recession, Europe's largest economy grew in the first three months of 2025. However economists have warned of potential risks to German exports because of US-imposed tariffs. Germany's services sector contracted last month because of weaker demand and lower consumer spending.

As Europe marks the 80th anniversary of its victory over fascism, Algeria reflects on a tragic parallel anniversary—the May 8, 1945 massacres, when French colonial forces violently crushed Algerian independence protests.

Commemorations in Guelma, Kherrata, and Setif, the cities most affected by the massacres, honored the thousands of Algerians killed in air and ground offensives. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune framed the event as a key moment in Algeria’s path to independence, following 132 years of French colonial rule. The Ministry of War Veterans launched events under the slogan: “A people without memory is a people without a future.”

More than 500,000 tirailleurs—North and West African soldiers—fought for France during World War II, with over 100,000 Algerians hoping their service would lead to greater rights. Instead, as French leader Charles De Gaulle praised “liberty and justice”, Algerians demanding independence were met with brutal repression.

On May 8, 1945, Algerians filled the streets waving flags, calling for freedom. After police opened fire, violent anti-French riots erupted, killing over 100 settlers. In retaliation, France launched a massive military crackdown, killing 45,000 Algerians, according to Algerian sources—or 3,000 by French estimates.

Despite efforts toward historical reconciliation, France has never issued a formal apology. President Emmanuel Macron and Tebboune previously announced a joint truth commission in 2022, but progress stalled due to diplomatic tensions over immigration and France’s regional ties.

Historian Daho Djerbal, who has interviewed survivors, denounced France’s refusal to acknowledge the massacres as crimes against humanity, stating: “There was no declared war, yet France deployed air, naval, and artillery forces against civilians.”

Although Macron has called for truth and recognition, Algeria’s demand for a state apology remains unmet. A delegation of 30 French lawmakers arrived in Algiers to participate in commemorative events, signaling continued dialogue over France’s colonial-era atrocities.