By personally visiting Putin, Xi Jinping sends US message that "Russia will not lose"

Ukrainian diplomat Ruslan Osypenko shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"One of the aspects of Xi Jinping's visit to Putin is that Eastern diplomacy is always symbolic. Xi personally coming to see Putin is the same as Joe Biden coming to Ukraine and promising that Ukraine will win. Xi is doing the same thing when he goes to Russia, with this visit he is telling the US that they will not lose," he said.

Osypenko added that there is also a symbolism in the fact that he is going to see Putin in person, while he intends to communicate with the Ukrainian president online. 

"After talking to Zelenskyy, he will not pass any messages to Putin. Xi will collect the stances of the parties to discuss and make decisions within his politburo. The whole logic of the process suggests that after this visit, he should also talk to the Europeans in order to have a complete picture for making a strategic and political decision on assistance to Russia," the diplomat concluded.

• According to Reuters, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Moscow next week and meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

• The WSJ reported that Xi Jinping plans to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.