Ukraine urges China to play ‘critical’ role for peace as war enters fifth year

Kyiv’s top envoy to Beijing has called on China to play its “important” and “critical” role to help end the Ukraine" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="16665" data-entity-type="event">War in Ukraine, which is now stretching into a fifth year.“We are working with all international partners to bring a sustainable and lasting peace, and we believe that our host country, China, is uniquely positioned to play an important and in many ways critical role in this process,” Olexander Nechytaylo, Ukrainian ambassador to China, told foreign diplomats in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.“So my message here today: let’s not waste the chance for peace, [and] let’s walk this last mile together.”The remarks were made at the Ukrainian embassy in Beijing on Tuesday at an event to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.Speaking at the same event, Jorge Toledo, the European Union’s top envoy in China, called the war “an existential watershed moment” for Europe that had become a core part of Brussels’ relations with China.“The European Union has joined Ukraine in this call for an immediate ceasefire,” Toledo told his fellow ambassadors.