China will send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European nations from Monday to discuss a “political settlement” to the war in Ukraine, Beijing announced on Friday as it continues to project itself as a mediator in global conflict dynamics. Li, a fluent Russian speaker who spent 10 years as China’s ambassador to Russia, has been Beijing’s Eurasian Affairs’ special envoy since 2019. Wang added that the situation in Ukraine is still escalating, and “spillover effects” are continuing to appear. Liu’s visit to Ukraine comes two weeks after President Xi Jinping spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late April, more than a year after ally Moscow invaded the eastern European country. In February, China had released a 12-point peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine, a peace plan that many observers had called vague.

Source: Hindustan Times May 13, 2023 00:00 UTC