Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Ukraine after traveling to Moscow last week. In this way, the Kiev government is trying to make a statement at the highest level of international diplomacy, presenting an offer of dialogue to the Kremlin’s main supporter. The announcement comes just days after Xi unveiled his 12-point peace plan in the Russian capital. “We’re ready to see you here,” Zelensky said during an interview with the Associated Press published Wednesday. “I want to talk to him. I was in contact with him before the great war. But this year, for more than a year, I have lost contact,” Zelensky added during one of the trips that took him to several fronts that he led in the country today According to the Wall Street Journal, it was announced shortly before the visit to Moscow that the Chinese president wanted to meet the president of Ukraine.
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Beijing has not yet responded or reacted to this invitation. He does admit – like Zelensky himself – that he has open channels for “communication with all parties involved, including Ukraine,” as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning commented on the president’s gesture. . For their part, Russian officials understand that it is not their role to decide whether or not Xi should go to Ukraine and not qualify Zelenskyy’s gesture. “We are aware of China’s balanced position, we value it very much and believe that the Chinese leader makes his own decisions (…). We do not feel competent to advise you on this matter,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Ukrainian leader’s offer was known the night before, when Spanish President Pedro Sánchez traveled to Beijing at Xi’s invitation. He will be the first in a string of European leaders to travel to the Chinese capital after Xi’s move to try to find a solution to the war in Ukraine. At the beginning of April, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, will travel to Beijing with French President Emmanuel Macron. Later, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, will do so.
Since Xi’s last trip to Russia was announced in February – his eighth visit with Vladimir Putin – the Ukrainian president has repeatedly spoken out in favor of involving China in finding solutions to the conflict. The strategy used was to fight for it, although there are aspects of the document presented by Beijing that could not please Kiev in principle, such as the explicit demand for the end of unilateral sanctions against Russia, avoiding the demand, instead , Moscow will return occupied territories such as the Crimean peninsula or part of the eastern Donbass region.
The Chinese president, who is gaining international popularity following his re-election to a third term, traveled to the Russian capital last week to present his peace plan to Putin. Beijing wants to promote dialogue to end the war that has been unleashed since the Russian president invaded the neighboring country with his troops 13 months ago. Xi is one of the few pillars of support Putin has internationally. The fact that the trip to Moscow ended without any announcement that Beijing would supply arms or ammunition to Russia was welcomed even by Zelensky, who interpreted the Russian leader’s isolation in this way. “The visitors [de Xi] Russia was not doing well,” he said in an interview with the AP.
Sign the peace plan
With the invitation, the Ukrainian president steps forward and tries to test the Chinese president’s initiative to see if he proposes a solution that really satisfies Kiev. Zelensky wants to show that he is not limited to receiving and visiting his main allies in the European Union, NATO or the US. He also wants to meet the leader, who is Putin’s main pillar on the international stage.
During the more than 13-month invasion, the Ukrainian president frequently moved to enclaves close to the hottest points of the conflict. In Putin’s case, his recent visit to Mariupol was the most risky — and most controversial — of his decision. This city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which had been removed from the front lines for months, was razed to the ground before being taken by its troops last May. Ukrainian authorities say at least 22,000 people have been killed.
With this frantic pace, Zelensky is trying to stay in control in Ukraine, inside and outside the country. In recent days he has been making daily trips to the eastern and southern fronts of the country; On the return journey by train, he also visited the north, close to the border with Russia, where he gave the interview for which he is inviting Xi.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
