Zelensky wants China at Ukraine peace talks

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants to work with countries like China with “influence on Russia” as his country faces a renewed Moscow offensive, urging Beijing to attend peace talks next month.

Zelensky said Chinese leader Xi Jinping assured him in a phone call that Beijing supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity – though he did not say when the exchange happened.

He was speaking in an interview with news agency AFP aired on Friday, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to China, during which the two countries pledged deeper strategic cooperation.

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Beijing has never condemned Russia’s February 2022 invasion, instead claiming neutrality in the conflict, having released a vaguely articulated 12-point position on its resolution. Ahead of expected peace talks in Switzerland next month, Xi has called for negotiations that take both sides’ positions into account.

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China has not committed to the event, though its ambassador to Switzerland Wang Shihting said in March that Beijing was considering participating.

Russia has not been represented at any of the four rounds of closed-door international peace talks that have taken place so far, and will not be at this one. China has attended one, hosted by its increasingly close strategic partner Saudi Arabia.

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