Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused China of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming Swiss-organised peace conference on the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference, Mr Zelensky said that China is pressuring other countries and their leaders not to attend the upcoming talks. He did not say which ones.
“Regrettably this is unfortunate that such a big independent powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin,” he said at a news conference at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence forum.
The Swiss had been hoping China would attend the peace conference in mid-June, but Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning signalled on Friday that that was unlikely. China has been calling for a peace conference with equal participation of all sides, including Russia, which has not been invited.
Meanwhile, Russia has claimed new gains in the eastern Donetsk province, one day after unleashing large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure across Ukraine.
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