Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will speak about Russia after the U.S. president branded Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and offered $800 million more in arms to Ukraine. A Kremlin spokesman said a report of major progress in talks with Ukraine was “wrong” but that discussions will continue on Thursday. On Wednesday Zelenskiy told NBC News that negotiations with Russia are continuing but are “fairly difficult.” (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-zelenskiy-says-russia-creating-090341309.html) Ukraine’s military said Russian strikes continued on infrastructure and on densely populated residential areas. But it said the Kremlin’s forces remain bogged down on the ground. Russia said its troops were advancing through the town of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk region in the east. Fighting continues close to Kyiv. Group of Seven foreign ministers meet virtually Thursday to discuss the crisis.