First telephone conversation between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I had a long and meaningful phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine's ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations," he wrote on Twitter. Ukrainian president.
"Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable way out", according to the Chinese president.
"There are no winners in a nuclear war," Xi said.
In addressing the nuclear issue, "all stakeholders should remain calm and sober, truly focus on the future and destiny of themselves and all mankind, and jointly manage and control the crisis," Xi added, in the report. of the state CCTV network.
"Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity is the political basis of China-Ukraine relations."
President Xi Jinping said "China-Ukraine relations have gone through 31 years of development and reached the level of strategic partnership," Xi added in a report by the state-run CCTV network. "I appreciate President Zelensky's repeated emphasis on developing relations and cooperation with China and I thank Ukraine for providing great assistance in the evacuation of Chinese citizens" in 2022.
According to UNIAN reports, after the phone call Zelensky appointed Pavel Ryabikin as ambassador of Ukraine to the People's Republic of China.
"We are happy that Xi and Zelensky have spoken. We have been asking for China to listen to the Ukrainian perspective for some time": thus the spokesman of the American Security Council, John Kirby, in a briefing with the
press
.
"We can't know if this phone call leads to anything. It's up to Ukraine and Zelensky to decide whether they want to sit at the peace negotiating table," he underlined.