DEMANDING ANSWERS: Kyiv has summoned the Chinese ambassador after President Zelenskiy said that Chinese citizens were working at a drone production site in Moscow
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AFP, LONDON
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Envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations yesterday gathered for talks in the UK amid a new US push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but a planned meeting of foreign ministers was postponed.
The London meeting came as US media reported that US President Donald Trump is ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and as fresh airstrikes shattered a brief Easter truce.
The reports said the proposal was first raised at a similar meeting with European nations in Paris last week. Trump has since threatened to “take a pass” on efforts to end the conflict unless progress is made quickly.
Firefighters work to put out a blaze at the site of a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, early yesterday, amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed at least nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said yesterday.
Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.
British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy had been due to lead yesterday’s meeting, but his ministry said that the talks had been downgraded in a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations.
“The Ukraine Peace Talks meeting with foreign ministers today is being postponed. Official level talks will continue,” his office said.
Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, yesterday said that he had arrived in London with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov and Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiga — who was “likely” to meet Lammy.
“Despite everything, we will work for peace,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy on Tuesday said that Chinese citizens were working at a drone production site in Russia and suggested that Moscow might have “stolen” drone technology from China.
The Ukrainian leader made the comment at a news conference in Kyiv days after he said China was supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, the first time he has accused Beijing of direct military aid to Moscow, something China staunchly denies.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Ma Shengkun (馬升琨) and expressed Ukraine’s “serious concerns” over Chinese involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy, in suggesting that Russia might have obtained drone technology from China without Beijing actually knowing, appeared to be softening his tone toward China, which casts itself as neutral on the war.
Zelenskiy earlier this month said that Russia was recruiting Chinese nationals through social media to fight in its armed forces and that Beijing officials were aware of it.
He added that Kyiv was trying to assess whether the recruits were receiving instructions from Beijing.
On Tuesday, Zelenskiy said that he had instructed officials “to transfer information of a broader nature to the Chinese side regarding Chinese citizens who work at the drone factory.”
“We believe that it may be that Russia stole — made an agreement with these citizens outside the agreements with the Chinese leadership — stole these technologies,” he added.
A foreign ministry statement said Ukraine expressed serious concerns about the participation of Chinese citizens in military action against Ukraine and the involvement of Chinese companies in the manufacture in Russia of military goods.
When asked about the latest Ukrainian claims,the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reiterated that China is firmly opposed to “groundless accusations and political manipulation.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
