Ukraine war shifts global power relations as China asserts role – By John Psaropoulos (Al Jazeera) / Feb 23, 2023
What happened in the week the Ukraine war reached a second year?
The Ukraine war began to visibly affect international relationships in the 52nd week of the conflict, as Washington declared Russian President Vladimir Putin a failure, Moscow revived nuclear threats and China assumed a more assertive posture towards the United States.
A year after Russian troops poured into Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, a prelude to Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv and declared that the Russian president had failed.
“He thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracies were soft,” Biden said in a speech delivered later that day on Polish soil.
“And then, he met the iron will of America and the nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear and force.
