some shops are open, but very limited stock, pharmacies and a few other places are still open, people still need medicines, and of course, as ever, you have military checkpoints, barricades, armed volunteers, soldiers and digging trenches in places where they weren't before, piling sandbags where children once played, for example. this is a city still on guard, still in defensive mode, and the resolve is deep to hold. plenty of top—level diplomacy today, president macron expecting to speak to president putin. president biden will urge china not to provide russia with military equipment for its war in ukraine, when he holds talks on the phone with his chinese counterpart today — president xijin ping. us officials have criticised beijing for failing to denouce the invasion — warning that china has a responsibility to use its influence on vladimir putin to defend international rules and principles.