The head of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, might organise a meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping in the coming month. Ukraine perceives nations belonging to the Global South as being critical for achieving an end to its conflict with Russia. Former deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, Oleksandr Chalyi, hinted at an anticipated meeting between the leaders while talking at Xiangshan Forum, China’s principal military diplomatic event. He also emphasised the strengthening relationships between Beijing and Kyiv.
Chalyi, a participant in the Istanbul peace negotiations post the 2022 Russian intrusion into Ukraine, stated that it currently seems unlikely for both parties to reach an agreement for peace. However, he did show optimism for a potential suspension of hostilities.
An important part of Ukraine’s strategy is planning a fresh peace summit with a possible invitation extended to Russia. This could also result in China’s involvement, according to Chalyi. Chalyi also underscored the importance of several Global South nations including China, Brazil, and India in this context.
Dong Jun, China’s defence minister, presented negotiations as the only solution to conflicts like those in Ukraine and Gaza, and advocated for promoting peaceful progress globally. While China declares its neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict, it faces allegations from Western powers of directly backing Russia’s military actions.
Sergei Karaganov, leading Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defence Policy, identified Europe as a challenge. He accused Europe of triggering history’s darkest tragedies, including two World Wars and the Holocaust, and hinted at a potential third one brewing.
The crisis in Ukraine isn’t about Ukraine itself. Rather, it’s centred on the enlargement efforts of Nato and the West, which have allegedly crossed all conceivable lines, according to Prof Karaganov. During the previous year, Karaganov proposed an unsettling idea that Russia ought to apply nuclear power against Nato’s European members in order to deter Western actions and save humankind. As he stated at the Xiangshan Forum, there was a need to “deliver an atomic threat to the uninformed minds” of the Europeans who were supporting Ukraine through armament and finance.
“There is the necessity to revive, at a minimum, the terror of nuclear weaponry. Nuclear restraint has ceased to function as individuals have become indifferent. They’ve lost sight of the atrocities Europeans subjected upon themselves and mankind,” he proclaimed.