Ukraine still arranging Zelenskyy-Xi Jinping phone call, official says
Xi Jinping (Photo:Sputnik/Alexei Maishev/Kremlin via REUTERS)
Plans for a phone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are still in the works, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian TV broadcasters on March 23.
“It’s being planned,” said Podolyak.
“Both the Office of the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – both (Zelenskyy’s Chief-of-Staff Andriy) Yermak and (Foreign Minister Dmytro) Kuleba – are involved in setting it up.”
“We are being proactive with this, because today there is practically no one except President Zelenskyy who can explain the consequences of a wrong way to end this war…, including to neutral countries,” he added.
He stressed that there are difficulties in organizing the phone call, due to "China's current lack of a clear position” on how involved it wants to be in facilitating settling the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“It's quite difficult,” Podolyak said.
“There is the issue that China hasn’t yet found its new political place. Whether it wants to take over the issue of a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, or it will cautiously stand aside. As far as I understand, China hasn’t yet figured this out for itself.”
On March 20-22, Xi Jinping visited Moscow – for the first time in four years. He is the first leader to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for his war crimes in Ukraine.
On March 20, the Financial Times reported that after a visit to the Kremlin, Xi Jinping will hold a phone call with Zelenskyy. However, according to the President of Ukraine, Beijing is yet to confirm this.
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