Ukraine’s Zelenskyy confirms invitation to China for talks, ‘waiting for answer’

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Kyiv has invited China to talks and is waiting for an answer from Beijing, as Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts China's Xi Jinping in Moscow.

“We offered China to become a partner in the implementation of the peace formula. We passed over our formula across all channels. We invite you to dialogue. We are waiting for your answer,” Zelenskyy told a press conference, adding that: “We are receiving some signals, but there are no specifics yet”.

On Ukraine, Putin praised Xi for a peace plan he proposed last month, and blamed Kyiv and the West for rejecting it.

“We believe that many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China are consonant with Russian approaches and can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement when they are ready for that in the West and in Kyiv. However, so far we see no such readiness from their side,” Putin said.

But Xi barely mentioned the conflict at all, saying that China had an “impartial position” on it.

Responding to the meeting, the White House said China's position was not impartial, and urged Beijing to pressure Russia to withdraw from Ukraine's sovereign territory to end the war.

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