President Zelenskyy Had Telephone Call with Xi Jinping
On 26 April, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone call with the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping.
"I had a long and meaningful phone call with 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," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
Провів тривалу змістовну телефонну розмову з Головою 🇨🇳 Сі Цзіньпіном. Вірю, що вона, а також призначення Посла України в Китаї дасть потужний поштовх розвитку наших двосторонніх відносин.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 26, 2023
Ukrainian President's spokesman reported that Zelenskyy had an hour-long telephone call with the leader of People's Republic of China.
At this moment of time, there is no decree on the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China on the President’s website, but as of 13 April 2023, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba reported that he submitted candidates for the positions of Ukraine’s ambassadors to China, India and Brazil for President’s consideration.
Chinese publication Xinhua reports that Xi Jinping tried to convince Zelenskyy to begin a dialogue and negotiations: "Dialogue and negotiations are the only viable option of settling the ‘Ukrainian crisis’ [this is the way China and its media calls Russian invasion in Ukraine – ed.]; no one can win the nuclear war."
On 16 April, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba reported that he discussed the principles of establishing peace in Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang.
On 20-22 April, Xi Jinping paid an official visit to the Russian Federation, where he met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Chinese President Xi Jinping showed no sign of changing his position on Russia's war in Ukraine after talks Thursday with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
It was reported earlier that Chinese leader Xi Jinping planned to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
On 24 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would like to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.