Zelensky invites Xi to visit Ukraine: ‘Ready to see him here’
Mike Brest
Video Embed
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit his war-ravaged country.
China has urged a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine, though the context of their proposal heavily favors Russia’s goals and is not viewed seriously by Ukraine or its western allies. Xi recently visited Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, further highlighting his relationship with the Russian president.
PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA SUPPORTS ‘MANY OF THE PROVISIONS’ IN CHINA’S UKRAINE PEACE PLAN
“We are ready to see him here,” Zelensky told the Associated Press in an interview published on Wednesday. “I want to speak with him. I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday she had no new information to announce regarding a possible trip to Ukraine.
“On the Ukraine issue, China has maintained communication with all relevant parties, including Ukraine. I have no information on the specifics you asked about,” she said.
The Kremlin would not comment on whether Xi should meet with Zelensky but noted it supported China’s position in the war.
“We are familiar with the balanced position of China, we highly praise it and believe that the Chinese leader decides on his own the expediency of certain contacts,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referencing a possible meeting between Xi and Zelensky. “We have no right to advise on this issue.”
Xi was in Moscow early last week, where he and Putin reiterated their economic support and allied stance toward the west, but the Chinese leader left without publicly committing to providing Russia with the weapons and ammunition it needs to refill its depleted stockpile, a possibility that United States officials have warned is a possibility since last month.
Defense and administration officials have warned Beijing that providing Russia with lethal aid for their use in Ukraine would be a dramatic step that would incur significant consequences from the west.
Last month, Beijing published a peace plan for ending the war, which was quickly dismissed as a non-starter by Ukraine and its allies due to the tenets of the deal that would benefit Russia. Specifically, the proposal would include a ceasefire that would result in the solidification of Russia’s gains within Ukraine, which Kyiv has said is non-negotiable, and U.S. leaders have said would simply provide Russia with the time its forces need to regroup, resupply and launch additional offensives.
Putin said he supports “many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China” last week.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
U.S. officials have pushed for a Xi-Zelensky meeting.
“President Xi saw fit to fly all the way to Moscow, hasn’t talked once to President Zelensky, hasn’t visited Ukraine, hasn’t bothered to avail himself of the Ukrainian objective, and he and his regime keep parroting the Russian propaganda that this is somehow a war of the west on Russia, that it’s some sort of existential threat,” national security council coordinator John Kirby told reporters last week. “That’s just a bunch of malarkey.”