US encourages Chinese leader to talk to Zelenskyy

This was stated by a representative of the White House on Monday, amid reports that the Chinese leader will have a telephone conversation with Zelenskyy, CNN reports.

"We have been encouraging President Xi to reach out to President Zelenskyy because we believe that PRC and President Xi himself should hear directly the Ukrainian perspective and not just the Russian perspective on this,” National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. “We have, in fact, advocated to Beijing that that connection take place.”

He said the US had encouraged that conversation “publicly” as well as “privately to the PRC.”

Sullivan added that US officials "spoke with our Ukrainian counterparts today" and that the Ukrainians had not received official confirmation that there would be a phone call or video conference with Xi.

"We hope there will be. That would be a good thing because it would potentially bring more balance and perspective to the way that the PRC is approaching this, and we hope it would continue to dissuade them from choosing to provide legal assistance to Russia," he added.

• It was reported that Xi Jinping plans to talk to Zelenskyy for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine. The conversation is due to take place next week, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to visit Moscow.

• On February 24, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced plans to meet with Xi Jinping.