Zelenski seeks “direct” talks with Xi Jinping to urge Russia to end war

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Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski has announced his intention to hold a direct conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ask him to use his influence on Russia to put an end to the war.

He confessed this Thursday in an interview with the Hong Kong daily ‘South China Morning Post’, in which he said that his country is also counting on China to join the other Western powers in supporting the reconstruction of Ukraine.

“It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy. So it can influence Russia politically and economically. And China is (also) a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” said Zelenski, who would have asked for a conversation with Xi from the first day of the Russian invasion, although he has had no response.

In this regard, the Ukrainian president said that he expected “a different approach” from China to the war – so far it has refrained from economically sanctioning Russia – while expressing his willingness to strengthen bilateral relations between the two states.

“The Russians are the invaders. This is a war on our territory. And China, as a big and powerful country, could put Russia (in) its place (…) Of course I would like China to review its attitude to Russia,” Zelenski has asserted.

“I am sure that without the Chinese market for Russia, Russia would feel completely isolated economically,” he said, adding that China could limit trade to the point that the Kremlin would be forced to end the war.

In 2021, the two countries marked three decades of formal bilateral relations, according to data from the Ukrainian Embassy in China collected by the aforementioned newspaper.