Ukraine opens dialogue with Russia to end war, counts on China’s mediation. The signals come during the visit of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to Guangzhou. From Kiev, the extreme synthesis of the picture is contained in the words of President Volodymyr Zelensky: “There is a clear signal, China supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. What Xi Jinping told me was also confirmed: China will not supply weapons to Russia”.
Kuleba’s Mission in China
Zelensky sent Kuleba on a mission: for the first time since the beginning of the war, an emissary from Kiev flies to China. The foreign minister met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Guangzhou, a major manufacturing and trade center in the south of the country, to discuss possible paths to end the war and China’s possible role in achieving sustainable peace.
According to Reuters, cited by several Ukrainian media, the meeting lasted over three hours. During the conversation, the Ukrainian minister stressed Kiev’s position on possible negotiations with Moscow. “I expressed Ukraine’s readiness to engage in a negotiation process with the Russian counterpart”, when Russia “will be willing to conduct negotiations in good faith”Kuleba said, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
However, Kuleba added that Russia is not currently showing such willingness. Wang called the large-scale war in Ukraine a “crisis” that has lasted for three years, according to China’s Foreign Ministry. China prefers to refer to the war in Ukraine as a “crisis.” Wang added that Beijing has “always been firmly committed to promoting a political solution” to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Russia and Ukraine – reports the Chinese Foreign Ministry, quoted by Euromaidan – have signalled their willingness to negotiate, at various levels. Although the conditions and time are not yet ripe, we support all efforts that contribute to peace and are ready to continue playing a constructive role.” The Ukrainian minister said he was convinced that “a just peace in Ukraine is in line with China’s strategic interests, and China’s role as a global force for peace is important,” according to a press release from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
“We need to end the war, restore peace and speed up the recovery of our country,” Kuleba said. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also informed Wang about the results of the Buergenstock conference in Switzerland and explained the rationale for further steps in implementing the peace formula proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky as a way to end Russian aggression in a “just” way.
Neither Russia nor China attended the Buergenstock conference in Switzerland in June. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Ukraine and China stressed the need for long-term vision and planning of relations between the two countries, as well as the opportunity to promote Sino-Ukrainian relations and bilateral cooperation.
Although this is Kuleba’s first mission to China, The minister had already met Wang last February at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Kuleba arrived in China on Tuesday and is scheduled to leave on Friday. In a video posted to his social media accounts, he said he would engage in in-depth negotiations to seek common ground in the pursuit of peace in Ukraine. “We need to move towards a just and stable peace,” he said, according to a translation published by Euromaidan Press. “China can play a significant role in this.”
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