Reuters. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in China on Tuesday (July 23) to discuss ways to achieve peace in Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
"We must avoid the competition of peace plans. We must move towards a just and constant peace. And China can play an important role in this," he said on Instagram, announcing his presence in China.
The trip is unusual as China is widely seen as close to the Kremlin, with which Beijing declared a "no limits" partnership in 2022 just days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Though the world's second largest economy has not condemned the Russian invasion and helped keep Russia's war economy afloat, Kyiv has been cautious in its criticism of Beijing. China meanwhile says its ties with Russia are built on the basis of non-alliance and do not target any third party.
Various peace initiatives have emerged in recent months as the fighting has dragged on ahead of a U.S. election in November that could see the return to power of ex-president Donald Trump who has threatened to cut vital aid flows to Ukraine.
Kyiv held an international summit without Russian representation in Switzerland in June to promote its vision of peace and now says it hopes to be ready to hold another one in November that would feature Russian representation.
China, which did not attend the Swiss summit, together with Brazil published a separate six-point peace plan on May 23, saying they supported an international peace conference being held that would be recognised by both sides in the war.
