Xi Jinping dials Volodymyr Zelenskyy, offers mediation to end Ukraine conflict

New Delhi, April 26

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday told his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Beijing would dispatch a special envoy on Eurasian affairs to visit Ukraine and related countries to have in-depth communication on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.

Xi spoke on the phone to Zelenskyy for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Xi had visited Moscow last month and had met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. China is among a large number of countries, including India and South Africa, which have not criticised Russia despite intense pressure from the West.

Xi had earlier played peacemaker between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but unlike Ukraine-Russia, they were not in active combat and neither do they have a major territorial dispute.

China has proposed a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine which, the West says, is too vague and could offer Putin space to leave his forces in control of occupied territory.

Xi also told the Ukrainian President that dialogue and negotiations were the only viable way out for the Ukraine crisis, and “no one wins a nuclear war”, reported the state-owned Global Times.

China will focus on promoting peace talks, and make efforts for a ceasefire as soon as possible, Xi told Zelenskyy, it added. “As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and responsible major country, we will neither sit idly by, nor pour oil on fire, still less seek to profit from it,” Xi reportedly said. Ukraine is currently poised to launch a counteroffensive with Western equipment and guidance.