President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a “long and meaningful” phone conversation on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, their first known contact since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.
The phone call, which officials said lasted nearly an hour, is a significant development in efforts to resolve the conflict. It comes two months after Beijing, which has long been aligned with Russia, announced that it wanted to act as a peace mediator in the war against Ukraine and after Xi visited Moscow last month.
“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 noted in a Facebook post.
Ukraine’s presidential office announced that more details of what was said would be published later in the day.
In China, the phone call was reported by state media. China Central Television divulged that Beijing intends to send an envoy to Kyiv to discuss “a political settlement” for the war.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova commended China’s approach but was sarcastic about Ukraine’s stance. Referring to the call, she praised Beijing’s “readiness to strive to establish a (peace) negotiations process,” while slamming what she called Kyiv’s “rejection of any sound initiatives aimed at a settlement.”
Discussions between Zelenskyy and Xi had been anticipated for weeks, after China produced a 12-point proposal to halt the fighting. The phone call was for China another step toward deeper involvement in resolving the conflict.
While Zelenskyy has moved his country closer to NATO and has successfully pleaded with alliance member nations to send sophisticated modern weapons to help defeat Russia, Beijing has accused the West of provoking the conflict and “fanning the flames” by providing Ukraine with defensive arms.
When, in February, China called for a cease-fire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Zelenskyy cautiously welcomed Beijing’s involvement. However, he said that success would depend on actions, not words.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed Xi to the Kremlin, in what was seen as a powerful message to Western leaders that their efforts to isolate Moscow over the fighting in Ukraine have fallen short.
Zelenskyy Echoes Warnings About Potential Threat Of A New Atomic Catastrophe
Also on Wednesday, Zelenskyy used the 37th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster to repeat his warnings about the potential threat of a new atomic catastrophe in Ukraine amid his country’s war with Russia.
Zelenskyy drew a parallel between the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, to Moscow’s brief seizure of the plant and its radiation-contaminated exclusion zone following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Last year, the occupier not only seized the (Chernobyl) nuclear power plant, but also endangered the entire world again,” Zelenskyy stated in a Telegram post in English.
Russian forces were stationed at the Chernobyl plant between February and March last year, before it was recaptured by Ukrainian troops.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv has since then reestablished prewar security measures and scientific activities within the zone. But he cautioned that future moves from Moscow could endanger global nuclear safety.
“Ukraine and the world have paid a high price for the liquidation of the consequences of the (Chernobyl) disaster,” he iterated.
Zelenskyy’s office published photos of him laying flowers at two Kyiv memorials to Chernobyl victims and observing a minute’s silence.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Environment Minister stated that more than 150 members of the Ukrainian National Guard captured during Russia’s occupation of the Chernobyl exclusion zone remain in Russian custody.
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