Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Chinese Communist Party diplomats in Beijing on Wednesday that his country was “willing and ready for dialogue and negotiations with Russia” — a stark departure from the situation under President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, which has repeatedly refused to consider direct negotiations.
Russia has engaged in colonial adventurism in Ukraine for a decade, first “annexing” Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula under President Barack Obama in 2014 and supporting pro-Russian “separatist” groups in the Donbas region. In February 2022, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a “special operation” to oust President Zelensky, consisting of a full-scale military invasion of the country that continues to this day. President Zelensky has refused to meet with Putin for two years, stating that no meeting should take place until Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine.
Zelensky’s last direct contact with Putin was in December 2019, a meeting witnessed by French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but an increasingly frustrated Zelensky dismissed the meeting as futile and asked “serious” countries to mediate on his behalf.
Kuleba was in Beijing to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other Communist Party officials about the ongoing invasion and trade ties between Kiev and Beijing. China is Ukraine’s largest trading partner, despite being Russia’s perhaps closest geopolitical ally.
“Today in China, I held detailed and in-depth discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the path to peace,” Kuleba said in a statement posted on social media after his meeting with Wang. “We stressed that Ukraine needs a just and lasting peace, not an illusory peace. I am grateful that this position was echoed by my counterpart.”
Kuleba said he and Wang “agreed that all sides must work together to find common ground on the path to restoring genuine peace, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter.”
Today in China, I held detailed and in-depth negotiations with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a path toward peace.
I emphasized that Ukraine needs a just and lasting peace, not an illusory peace, and I am grateful that this position has been mutually accepted.
We agreed to… pic.twitter.com/9SrnvgreEm
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) July 24, 2024
China’s Foreign Ministry provided further details to reporters after the meeting, noting that Kuleba supported China’s false colonial claims to Taiwan and praised China’s commercial ties with the Communist party.
“Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that China and Ukraine are friendly countries,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning. Said “Ukraine was one of the first countries to support and join the Belt and Road cooperation. In recent years, China has been Ukraine’s largest trading partner and largest agricultural exporter.”
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a global Chinese government plan to give predatory loans to poor countries and hire Chinese contractors to build expensive infrastructure projects. If the poor countries can’t repay the loans, as happened in Sri Lanka, China will seize the projects.
Mao noted that in his meeting with Wang, Kuleba had denied Taiwan’s sovereignty and described China’s role in the invasion as “positive and constructive.”
“Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia,” Kuleba said, Mao claimed. “And of course, the negotiations should be rational, substantive and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.”
Ukrainian state media “Ukrinform” Reproduced Kleber’s “willing and ready” statement seems to confirm that this is accurate.
China State Media Newspaper Global TimesCiting pro-regime “experts,” the report interpreted Ukraine’s change in attitude as a victory for China, but also a sign that U.S. President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election may be forcing Kyiv to recalibrate its approach to the war.
“It is widely believed that Washington’s stance on the Ukraine crisis may change following US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race,” it said. Global Times The propaganda outlet cited pro-regime “scholars” as saying that “Donald Trump’s statements that he would immediately resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine if he takes office have worried Kiev,” forcing Ukraine to consider peace talks.
Zelensky himself has denied concerns about a possible return of former President Donald Trump to the White House.
“If Donald Trump becomes president, we’ll work together,” he told Bloomberg News this month. “I’m not afraid of that.”
Trump and Zelensky met for the first time in years this weekend, shortly before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, with Zelensky thanking Trump for the meeting and hinting at the possibility of a face-to-face meeting in the future.
“Ukraine has always appreciated the US’s assistance in strengthening our capabilities to counter Russian terrorism. Russian attacks on our cities and villages continue every day,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media. “We agreed to meet personally with President Trump to discuss what steps should be taken to make peace just, truly and lasting.”
Biden’s policy on the Ukraine war has been very favorable to Zelensky, providing him with massive financial and military aid with no end in sight. Trump has questioned this policy, at one point joking that Zelensky is “probably the greatest salesman of all time” because “he brings home $60 billion every time he comes to our country.” But Trump maintained a much tougher sanctions regime against Russia, including crucial sanctions against the now-defunct Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Biden lifted those sanctions about six months before the full-scale invasion, infuriating Zelensky, who was in for an “unpleasant surprise.”
