Ukraine updates: China wants peace talks, Xi tells Zelenskyy

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that China has “always stood on the side of peace” during a Wednesday phone call.

“On the issue of the Ukraine crisis, China has always stood on the side of peace and its core position is to promote peace talks,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cited Xi as saying.

The Chinese leader said that his call with Zelenskyy showed China’s “objective” and “impartial” position on international affairs. Xi said that Beijing will send special representatives to Ukraine and hold talks with all parties to the conflict.

China published a 12-point position paper on ending the war in Ukraine in February. Beijing presents itself as a neutral mediator in Ukraine, while also maintaining a “no limits” friendship with Moscow.

Xi said China “will neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit”. He told Zelenskyy that negotiations were the only “way out” of the conflict.

Zelenskyy called the talks with his Chinese counterpart “long and meaningful.”

“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,” he tweeted.

Zelenskyy announced that Pavel Ryabikin would be Ukraine’s new ambassador to China following the call. The newly-appointed envoy previously headed the ministry of strategic industries of Ukraine.

Ukraine has not had an ambassador to China since February 2021.

Meanwhile, the White House welcomed the phone call between Zelenskyy and Xi, but said it was too soon to tell whether it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. France said it “encourages all dialogue” that can “contribute to a resolution of the conflict” that is “in line with the fundamental interests of Kyiv” and international law.

Will China rescue Russia’s economy?

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Here are some of the other headlines concerning Russia’s war in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 26:

Czechs put Russian Patriarch Kirill on sanctions list over Ukraine

The Czech government has made the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, the first person on its national sanctions list due to his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.

Kirill was listed by his civil name of Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev on the sanctions roster, which is posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

His inclusion means he is barred from entry to the Czech Republic, a European Union and NATO member country, and banned from any financial transactions with Czechs.

“His frequent public remarks supporting the war in Ukraine, justifying atrocities committed by Russian troops there, those are all clear evidence that can be publicly found,” Lipavsky told a televised news conference.

Patriarch Kirill is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and has strongly backed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions driven from their homes.

Italy’s Meloni urges quick start of Ukraine’s EU entry talks

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni urged European allies to accelerate Ukraine’s European Union membership bid, as Rome hosted a bilateral conference on the war-torn country’s reconstruction, which was attended by hundreds of Italian and Ukrainian businesses. 

“The future of Ukraine must include an always wider capacity of integrating with the European dynamics and institutions,” Meloni said, in joint statements with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the sidelines of the conference. 

“The smartest way to thank Ukrainians for what they are doing is to accelerate their chance of being part of the European institutions. We need to acknowledge Kyiv’s enormous efforts to reform its system and bring it closer to targets required by the EU Commission,” Meloni added, urging a quick start of negotiations needed to grant Ukraine full EU membership.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the conference attracted over a thousand companies, including hundreds from Ukraine. He stressed that the Italian initiative was part of a wider process, as both Germany and France already held their own bilateral conferences with Ukrainian firms in October and December, respectively, while G7 countries launched a Donor Coordination Platform in February.

Moscow says Kyiv, allies undermining peace attempts

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has accused the Ukrainian government of undermining attempts to reach a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

“The Ukrainian authorities and their Western minders have already shown their ability to mess up any peace initiatives,” the ministry said.

Moscow highlighted what it called “the readiness of the Chinese side to make efforts to establish a negotiation process.”

The ministry said that Ukraine had rejected “any sensible initiatives aimed at a political and diplomatic settlement.”

“The eventual consent to negotiations is conditioned by ultimatums with obviously unrealistic demands,” it said.

Ukraine’s government has said that it would negotiate with Moscow only following the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

‘No progress’ towards Black Sea grain deal — Russian envoy

Moscow hasn’t seen “any progress” towards meeting conditions it set for a Black Sea grain deal, a top Russian envoy has said.

Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said: “So far we haven’t seen any progress.”

The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been in place since July 2022. It allows for the export of Ukrainian grans.

Gatilov said that Moscow appreciated “the efforts of the UN” and believed the organization was “trying to do its best.”

Nonetheless, the envoy said that Russia had only been hearing “promises.”

“I don’t know whether they will be able to achieve sufficient progress in the time left.”

Russia has set a number of conditions for the extension of the grain deal, including allowing the Russian Agricultural Bank to reconnect to the Swift payment system.

Moscow also demanded that supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services resume, and obstacles to granting Russian ships insurance and access to foreign ports be lifted.

Ukraine, Russia exchange dozens of POWs

Ukraine has retrieved 44 prisoners of war from Russian custody, Ukrainian presidential advisor Andriy Yermak says.

Yermak wrote in a Telegram post that among those recovered were 42 soldiers and two civilians.

The official claimed that some of prisoners of war had sustained injuries from torture.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said that 40 Russian soldiers had been returned from Ukrainian custody.

“All those released are being provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance,” the ministry said.

Kyiv condemns Russian ‘blackmail’ on Chernobyl anniversary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of using nuclear power plants to “blackmail” the world.

He made the comments on the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

“Thirty-seven years ago the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster left a giant scar on the whole world,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

“Last year, the occupying power did not just invade this power station. It again put the world in danger,” he said.

“We have to do everything to prevent the terrorist state from using nuclear power stations to blackmail Ukraine and the world,” Zelenskyy declared.

On February 24, 2022, Russian forces took over the Chernobyl site. They withdrew from the decommissioned plant a month later.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of looting and exposing themselves to radiation by digging trenches inside the exclusion zone.

In southern Ukraine, Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of shelling the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Kuleba says NATO lacks ‘political will’ for Ukraine to join alliance

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has accused NATO of lacking the “political will” to allow his country to join the defense alliance quickly. 

“Everything is possible when there is political will,” he said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN. The diplomat referred to the recent accession of Finland, which he said was unimaginable not long ago. 

“As long as Ukraine remains outside NATO, there will be a risk of repeated Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Kuleba underlined. 

In an article published by Foreign Affairs, Kuleba called on NATO members to “stop making excuses and start the process.” He recalled the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, at which Ukraine had already been granted the prospect of membership.

At the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius in July, Kiev expects concrete membership commitments from the military alliance.

dh, sdi/jcg (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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