Ukraine calls on China to mediate to stop Russian invasion

China, Moscow's main partner and with good relations with Kiev, has become a possible mediator in the war in Ukraine.

As long as the proposal prospers -and in the current conflict, it is not at all certain- that the Government of President Volodímir Zelenski has transferred to him, in a telephone conversation this Tuesday between the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, and his Chinese counterpart , Wang Yi.

According to the official statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry on the conversation, published by the Xinhua agency, the dialogue between the two ministers took place at the request of Kiev, on a day in which Moscow announced new attacks and urged civilians in the capital to leave their homes.

In the call, Kuleba stressed that “China has played a constructive role on the Ukrainian issue.

Ukraine is ready to strengthen communication with China and hopes for China's mediation to reach a ceasefire."

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, according to his ministry, asked China to use ties with Moscow to try to stop the Russian invasion, Reuters reported.

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For his part, Wang said that Beijing "deplores the outbreak of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and is extremely concerned about the harm to civilians," in what are the harshest statements by his government so far on the war.

This Tuesday, Russian troops in the east continued their heavy assault on Kharkov, the second largest Ukrainian city by population (1.5 million inhabitants, most of them Russian-speaking), while a large convoy headed towards Kiev.

Beijing, according to the statement, did not reject the Ukrainian request.

China "calls for Russia and Ukraine to find a solution to the crisis through negotiations, and supports all constructive international efforts to reach a political solution," Wang said. "We have always upheld respect for China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. of all countries”, underlined the Chinese minister.

“In light of the continuing expansion of the fighting, the top priority is to calm the situation on the ground as much as possible, prevent the conflict from spreading or spiraling out of control, prevent harm to civilians and the emergence of humanitarian crises and ensure safe access to humanitarian aid,” Wang said. Another part of the conversation was devoted to the situation of the nearly 6,000 Chinese citizens in Ukraine, who are being evacuated.

The possibility of talks going ahead under Chinese supervision would depend, in any case, on whether Moscow was, for its part, willing to participate, something that is unknown up to now.

For now, the first round of meetings between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations was held on the Belarusian border on Monday.

Both parties returned to their respective capitals for consultations before resuming a second round of talks.

Until now, Beijing has refused to condemn the Russian invasion of the neighboring country.

He has also avoided talking about "war" or "invasion", instead resorting to terms like "special operation", "crisis" or "situation", in line with Moscow's description of the attack on Ukraine.

Likewise, he has spoken out against the "illegal" sanctions that the West has imposed against Russia since the invasion began six days ago and has assured that he will maintain his trade with the country, with which he shares 4,000 kilometers of border.

The Russian attack has created a dilemma for Beijing, which is forced to try to reconcile support for its strategic partner with its declarations of support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of countries, one of the traditional principles of its foreign policy.

Before the crisis, China had good relations with Ukraine, which supplies it with weapons and is a good trading partner.

Its exchange of agricultural products grew 33% in 2021 compared to the previous year.

The former Soviet republic supplies 80% of its corn imports.

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