Zelenskyy gives qualified support for China proposals

Ukraine's leader is giving qualified support for China's new pronouncements about the war in his country, saying Beijing's interest is 'not bad.'

Ukraine's leader is giving qualified support for China's new pronouncements about the war in his country, saying Beijing's interest is "not bad."

"China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a news conference on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. "But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to."

China called for a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in a vaguely worded proposal released Friday that analysts said was unlikely to deliver results.

Zelenskyy said there were points in the Chinese proposals that he agreed with "and there are those that we don't."

"But it's something," he added.

Beijing claims to have a neutral stance in the war that began one year ago, but has also said it has a "no limits friendship" with Russia and has refused to criticize Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, or even refer to it as an invasion. It has accused the West of provoking the conflict and "fanning the flames" by providing Ukraine with defensive arms.

Still, Zelenskyy suggested that China's help could be useful in trying to isolate Russia.