Chinese, Ukrainian ministers meet days after Zelensky slams Beijing over Russia relations

Kyiv used meeting to urge China to attend a peace summit the Ukrainian president warned was being undermined by Beijing at Russia’s behest

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised China’s stance on the Russian invasion at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00pm, 6 Jun 2024Updated: 3:13pm, 7 Jun 2024

Senior Chinese and Ukrainian ministers met in Beijing on Wednesday in the first meeting of its kind since Russia’s invasion more than two years ago.

The meeting between Chinese foreign-vice minister Sun Weidong and Andriy Sybiha, Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s open criticism of Beijing over the weekend which has raised speculation that relations between the two countries may have reached a “turning point”.

Sybiha “informed his counterpart about the situation in Ukraine and preparations for the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland” and urged Beijing to send a delegation to the conference later this month, according to the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

“The Ukrainian side expressed its hope that the participation of the People’s Republic of China in the said event could become a good opportunity to make a practical contribution to the establishment of just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” the ministry said.

Since the war started in February 2022, Zelensky has been reluctant to openly criticise China and its growing alignment with Moscow, but speaking to reporters at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday he accused Beijing of trying to stop other countries attending the talks in Switzerland.

“Russia, using Chinese influence in the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit,” he said.