Xi calls Zelenskiy and sends emissary

More than a year after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy finally got a call from China’s President Xi Jinping. The Ukrainian president continues to hold out hope that Beijing will press Russia to negotiate peace with Ukraine. He does not have many other options.

The news came out of the blue on Wednesday evening, Beijing local time: China’s President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the President of Ukraine, as state media reported. As Zelenskiy shared on Twitter shortly after, the conversation was „long and meaningful.“ The phone call had been expected, especially by the Ukrainian side, for months. There had been radio silence between the two leaders since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.

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