Beijing is said to have recently contacted the White House and proposed a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Chinese soil. According to reports, the meeting would focus on peacekeeping efforts after a potential ceasefire – but without involving Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, writes the newspaper.
The Chinese offer is said to have been met with skepticism in the US and Europe, mainly due to the increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Moscow. The US has previously accused China of prolonging the war in Ukraine through its support for Russia.
On Wednesday, Trump said he had spoken by phone with Putin with the aim of initiating talks on a war settlement. The American president said he intends to meet his Russian counterpart in the near future.
The Russian power center, the Kremlin, appears to be on board and says that it is urgent to arrange such a meeting.
There is definitely a need to arrange such a meeting quite quickly, the heads of state have a lot to talk about, says the Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitrij Peskov to reporters according to AFP.
From the Chinese side, they are pleased that Russia and the US have strengthened their dialogue, says a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing according to AP.
