China’s President Xi Jinping called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with [Chinese] President Xi Jinping,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “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.”
This marks the first time the Chinese leader — who had only met Russia’s Vladimir Putin since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago — has reached out to Kyiv amid Western pressure to do so.
No information has yet been released about the precise content of the conversation, which was also reported on by Chinese state media Xinhua.
Zelenskyy’s spokesman Sergii Nikiforov said in a Facebook post the discussion lasted for almost an hour, adding that he would reveal details later.
Zelenskyy had previously called on Xi publicly to make contact with him, after China circulated a purported peace plan for Ukraine.
This is a developing story.
