US urges Chinese leader to talk to Zelenskyy about war in Ukraine

Washington welcomes possible conversation between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which will be the first contact of this level between the two countries after the start of the full-scale war.

Source: European Pravda correspondent with reference to US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan at a briefing on Monday.

"We encouraged President Xi to contact President Zelenskyy because we believe that Mr Xi himself should hear the Ukrainian view [on the war in Ukraine – ed.], not just Russian. We actually defended the idea to Beijing that this contact should take place. We did this publicly and non-publicly," he stressed.

The White House official noted that so far the Ukrainian side has not received confirmation of the conversation between Zelenskyy and Xi, but the United States hopes that this will still happen.

"This will be a good thing because it will potentially bring more balance and views to the PRC's approach to this [the war in Ukraine – ed.]. And we hope that we will continue to dissuade them from deciding to provide lethal assistance to Russia, which we obviously warned them about," Sullivan said.

Earlier on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to talk to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war, probably after a trip to Moscow.

The Chinese leader's trip to Moscow, which allegedly may take place next week, and his plans to communicate with Zelenskyy probably indicate Beijing's attempts to play a more active role as a "mediator" to end the war. 

Background: On the anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale war, China published its vision of how to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!