President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York that he had asked him to encourage Chinese leader Xi Jinping to appeal to Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. In the Ukrainian president’s assessment, Xi Jinping has significant influence over the Russian leader.
“I told the president very frankly that he could somehow encourage Comrade Xi to appeal to Putin. All of us need to work 24 hours a day and seven days a week for all of humanity, not only for the Ukrainian people.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
Zelenskyy recalled that Xi Jinping is due to travel to the United States on September 23 for a meeting with Trump. China’s Foreign Ministry previously announced that the leaders would discuss bilateral relations and important international issues, including global peace and development.
Possible topics for U.S.-China talks
Former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told LIGA.net that the U.S. and Chinese presidents may seek agreements on Ukraine and cooperation on other key issues — energy, technology, trade and Iran. At the same time, he described Taiwan as the “super issue.”
After talks with Trump, Zelenskyy also expressed hope for a trilateral meeting in the Ukraine-U.S.-Russia format. In his view, the American president could organize it to “raise all sensitive issues and try to end the war.”
Zelenskyy and Trump meeting
Zelenskyy and Trump met on September 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. One of the main topics of their talks was an energy truce.
Speaking at the General Assembly session, Trump said that ending Russia’s war against Ukraine would happen “sooner than people realize.” At the same time, Zelenskyy said before the bilateral meeting with the American president that he hoped to end the war by winter.
