China’s Xi holds first phone call with Ukraine’s Zelensky since offering plan for peace with Russia

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, marking the first personal contact between the two leaders since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and signaling a small shift in Beijing’s posture, which has aligned closely with Moscow. 

The call was months in the making and highly anticipated after Xi in February announced intentions to play mediator between Russia and Ukraine, introducing a 12-point plan for peace that was widely rejected by Kyiv, Washington and partner countries as an empty collection of meaningless position statements.

Zelensky tweeted on Wednesday that he held a “long and meaningful” call with the Chinese leader and that he was appointing a Ukrainian ambassador to Beijing to develop bilateral relations between the two countries. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying tweeted that Beijing’s stance is to “facilitate talks for peace.”

“China did not create the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to the crisis. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, China would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains,” Hua said. 

Beijing will send a “Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs,” to Ukraine and other countries, Hua added, to have “in-depth communication with all parties on political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. 

Andriy Yermak, a senior advisor to Zelensky as Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on Twitter that “dialogue is important” alongside emoji flags of Ukraine and China.  

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said the White House welcomed the news that there was a phone call between Xi and Zelensky, saying it provided China the opportunity “to avail themselves of the Ukrainian perspective on this illegal, unprovoked invasion by Russia.”

Kirby added that the White House did not have advance knowledge of the call and did not expect to be consulted.

The Biden administration has urged cautious alarm over Chinese overtures for peace, speaking out against any effort by Beijing to call for an unconditional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that would freeze battlelines and would gift Moscow with illegal territorial gains in the country. 

U.S. officials, and leaked Pentagon intelligence documents, have also pointed to China’s consideration of providing weapons to Russia, which would violate global sanctions aimed at bankrupting Moscow’s ability to fund its war against Ukraine. 

Xi has placed China closely on the side of Russia more than one year into Moscow’s war against Ukraine, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly before he launched the invasion in early 2022, and holding a summit with the Russian leader in Moscow late last month. 

Still, the Chinese leader is seeking to portray himself as a global peacemaker in an effort to elevate Beijing’s standing on the world stage and as a counter to U.S. efforts rallying allies and partners to confront what it views as Beijing’s plans to overtake democratic countries and reshape the current global order. 

Ukraine has been preparing for months to launch a highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian troops occupying territory in its east and south.

The upcoming fight is expected to determine the course of the war, with Kyiv hoping to force Russia to the negotiating table with a decisive military defeat.

A more difficult battle, however, could signal a longer, drawn-out war of attrition.

–Updated at 9:41 a.m.