China has presented Russia with its vision for “the political solution” to the conflict in Ukraine, which should be made public later this week, Russia’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.
“Chinese allies shared with us their thoughts on the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, as well as their approach to a political solution”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the trip to Moscow by China’s head of diplomacy Wang Yi. Russian diplomacy said the Chinese plan should be known later this week.
The Russian Foreign Ministry further clarified that this is not a “separate peace plan”. China, an ally of Russia, has never supported or publicly criticized the invasion of Ukraine, although it has repeatedly expressed its support for Moscow despite Western sanctions. At the same time, however, Beijing has always called for respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, while Moscow has called for the annexation of five Ukrainian regions.
The Ukrainian government has already responded to this announcement from Moscow by saying that Beijing has not consulted Kiev in preparing this peace plan for the conflict. ‘China did not consult us’said a source in the Ukrainian government.
On Tuesday, however, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, who met his Chinese counterpart in Germany, revealed in Brussels that the latter had “informed him of the main elements of the Chinese peace plan”. “We are waiting for the document to study it in detail, so as not to draw conclusions based on the oral presentation”Kuleba explained.
This Wednesday, a senior Ukrainian official warned that no peace plan should go beyond “the red lines” defined by Kiev, including territorial concessions to Russia, which occupies areas in the east and south of the country. “For Ukraine, the red lines are the principles of the UN Charter, including respect for Ukrainian territorial integrity”said this official.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than eight million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). At the moment, at least 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented 7,199 civilian deaths and 11,756 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
