Putin might regret launching Ukraine invasion, China’s Xi tells Trump

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping while leaving after a visit to the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing, China, May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/Pool/File Photo
The Chinese premier told Trump that Putin could regret the war (Picture: Reuters)

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Donald Trump that Russia might come to ‘regret’ invading Ukraine during talks in Beijing.

The revelation comes as Vladimir Putin, a close ally of China, flew to Beijing for talks with Xi.

The Russian President has doubled down on his onslaught on Ukraine despite claiming he wants ‘peace’ and his ‘regret’ at starting the war.

Putin, in a message to the Chinese people, said: ‘We do not ally ourselves against anyone, but rather work for peace and universal prosperity.’

This peace message landed on deaf ears, however, as he again savagely attacked Ukraine, forcing the scrambling of NATO warplanes in neighbouring Romania.

A statement from Romania’s military command said: ‘Russian forces carried out a new series of drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, in the vicinity of the river border with Romania, in Tulcea county.’

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epa12971422 Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council, via videoconference in Moscow, Russia, 18 May 2026. EPA/MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL MANDATORY CREDIT
Putin is in Beijing for talks with Xi this week (Picture: EPA)

At the same time, there were new warnings that Russia is planning an attack on the NATO states in the Baltic region, stoking WW3 fears.

War games involving tactical nuclear weapons are now underway in Belarus, which borders alliance states Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Belarusian people have been banned from entering forests near the borders with Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine during these drills.

These are part of wider three-day Russian nuclear drills starting today involving more than 64,000 military personnel and 7,800-plus units of equipment in exercises ‘on the use of nuclear forces in the event of a threat of aggression’.

There have also been reports that Putin is planning a summer offenseve in Ukraine’s Donbas region – but some believe this is a front for a limited invasion in the Baltic States, to test NATO.

The aim ‘is not to start a war with NATO, but to trigger a major crisis within the alliance by invading Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and, ideally, bring about its effective fragmentation.’

ODESA, UKRAINE - MAY 19: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY - MANDATORY CREDIT - 'STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE / HANDOUT' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish the fire following the Russian attack on an empty warehouse in the Izmail district of Odesa, Ukraine on May 19, 2026. There were no casualties following the attack, officals said. (Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Russia has continued to attack eastern Ukraine (Picture: Getty)

Last week, it was reported that Russia is stockpiling hundreds of thousands of fibre-optic drones for a future assault on NATO and the Baltic States.

Reports from Ukrainian and Russian intelligence have shown that Putin diverted huge numbers of next-generation FPV drones away from the Ukrainian front and into rear depots since late 2025.

The Kremlin may already have amassed up to 130,000 fibre-optic drones, a stockpile that could rise to 200,000 by the end of summer.

FPV drones are especially dangerous because they use hair-thin fibre-optic cables rather than radio signals, making them far harder to jam electronically by NATO defences.

Russian military insiders believe the weapons could overwhelm EstoniaLatvia and Lithuania in the opening stages of an assault designed to shock Europe into submission before NATO can fully react.

The Kremlin sees the Baltic states as uniquely vulnerable because, although they possess advanced electronic warfare capabilities, they lack Ukraine’s combat experience with mass drone warfare.

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