During an interview with the Associated Press, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Ukraine. In the interview, Zelensky warned that unless his nation wins the battle at Bakhmut, Russia could start building international support for a deal that could require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry declined to provide details about a possible call or meeting between the Chinese president and his Ukrainian counterpart, with whom he has not spoken since the start of the Russian invasion. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she had “no information to share” in this regard, although she assured that China “has maintained communication with the parties involved in the Ukrainian ‘question’, including Ukraine.” Mao’s statements were made at the department’s daily press conference.
In recent weeks there has been speculation about the possibility of a phone call between Xi and Zelensky, after the Chinese president’s recent trip to Moscow, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin, for its part, said today that it is not for it to advise the Chinese president on whether or not he should visit Ukraine.
China recently issued a position paper in which it called for “a political solution” to the war, a proposal criticized by the West for putting “the aggressor and the victimized” on the same plane, but which the Russian president is “willing” to discuss. In his document, which Zelensky celebrated for the mere fact that China is proposing a peace plan, Beijing, which opposes sanctions against Moscow, defends respect for the territorial integrity of countries, including Ukraine, and “legitimate concerns security of all parties”, referring to Russia.
