President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Donald Trump to press China to end its support for Russia in its war against Ukraine when the US President meets his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a tour of Asia this week.
In wide-ranging comments made to reporters that were released on October 28, the Ukrainian leader said he was ready to hold peace talks anywhere except for Russia and its ally Belarus, though Ukraine is not ready to cede territory.
“It’s absolutely clear that we’re approaching diplomacy only from the position where we currently stand. We will not take any steps back and leave one part of our state or another,” Zelenskyy said.
“And the important result is that the American side finally made this a public signal: President Trump came out with such a message,” he added in a reference to Trump recently backing Kyiv’s call for an immediate ceasefire on current lines.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a security conference in Minsk on October 28 that Moscow hopes Trump “remains sincerely committed to resolving the Ukrainian crisis and will uphold the principles that were developed at the summit in Anchorage.”
Lavrov was referring to an August meeting between Putin and Trump in Alaska in which Moscow has said Putin’s position was that Russia would agree to end the war only after eliminating the “primary causes” of the conflict — namely the disarming of Ukraine and the ceding of territory lost to Russia during the war.
It wasn’t immediately clear what specifically Lavrov was referring to. The Russians initially portrayed the Anchorage summit as a significant step toward peace, but Russia’s continued barrage of Ukrainian cities, and its unwillingness to halt fighting, even along current frontlines, has soured Trump and US negotiators.
Zelenskyy’s comments come as Russia appears to be making a breakthrough on the battlefield around the key city of Pokrovsk, which Russian troops have been trying to capture for over a year.
The Ukrainian leader admitted “around 200 Russians” have entered the eastern city, which is currently their “main target.”
Pokrovsk, a city of about 7,000 inhabitants — down from more than 60,000 prewar — holds crucial road and rail junctions and has been under threat of encirclement by Russian forces for most of the year.
In early October, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian troops had entered the city, but Ukrainian officials at the time denied the report and said Kremlin forces continued to suffer heavy losses in the region.
Ukrainian military expert Roman Svitan told Current Time on October 28 that Ukrainian troops have been sent in to stem any further advance.
“The situation [in Pokrovsk] is difficult for [Ukraine], but it’s just as difficult for the Russians because they’re under two-flank attacks,” he said.
Trump, who last week said he is not going “to be wasting my time” by meeting with Putin if the Kremlin leader is not ready to make a deal to end his war on Ukraine, is on a week-long tour of Asia that is expected to culminate with a meeting with Xi on October 30 in South Korea.
Zelenskyy said the meeting is an opportunity for Trump to further ratchet up pressure on Russia after his administration sent shockwaves across global energy markets on October 22 by sanctioning state-controlled Rosneft and privately owned LUKoil.
The two are Russia’s largest oil companies, whose exports go a long way toward filling the Kremlin’s coffers used to fund the war.
Observers are watching closely to gauge reactions by India and China — the two biggest buyers of Russian oil exports. China is one of Moscow’s top allies and trading partners, sourcing much of its Russian energy via Siberian pipelines.
“I think this may be one of [Trump’s] strong moves, especially if, following this decisive sanctions step, China is ready to reduce imports” from Russia, Zelenskyy said.
In the meantime, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s European and Western allies will likely need to continue providing financial support for the coming two or three years if peace talks aren’t successful and Ukraine has to continue to repel invading Russian forces.
European Union leaders on October 24 stopped short of a deal to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine, after Belgium — where most of the money is held — raised legal and technical concerns about the proposal.
“I emphasized this again to all European leaders. I told them that we are not going to fight for decades, but you must show that for some time you will be able to provide stable financial support to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
“And that is why they have this program in mind — 2-3 years,” Zelensky said, referring to Brussels’ plans to tap Russia’s frozen assets to help Kyiv.
