Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said China can help achieve “a just and lasting peace” between Moscow and Kiev, as the diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday.
“One question will be central: peace in Ukraine,” he said in a video posted on Facebook.
The trip is Kuleba’s first visit to China since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kiev has repeatedly tried to win Beijing over to its side, despite the “no limits” partnership declared by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin days before Russian ground troops crossed the border and Moscow began bombarding Ukraine from the air.
Still, Kiev wants Beijing to play a stronger diplomatic role in ending the war.
The immediate goal of Kuleba’s visit is to find areas of agreement amid competing peace proposals. Kiev wants to hold a new international summit on the war, following a meeting in Switzerland in June.
China presented a 12-point peace plan last year. It does not require a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory — a stark difference from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal to end the war.
Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea.
Kuleba, who will be in Beijing for three days, said he was there at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“We must achieve a just and lasting peace, and China can play an important role in this,” Kuleba said.