Xi speaks with Zelenskyy for first time since war in Ukraine began

China’s President Xi Jinping looked to bolster his image as a global peacemaker with his first call to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia’s invasion more than a year ago.

The two countries’ readouts of the call on Wednesday struck familiar themes and suggested there had been no major breakthroughs. Xi said negotiations are "the only viable way out of the Ukraine crisis,” according to the Xinhua News Agency. While Zelenskyy’s office called it "a productive hourlong conversation,” he said there could be no peace unless Russia gives back the land it took at the start of the invasion and leaves Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

But the symbolism of the call was important for Xi, who had ignored Zelenskyy’s requests for a call for months even as he bolstered ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including with a trip to Moscow last month. Xi’s silence toward Zelenskyy had fueled Western allies’ already deep skepticism about his insistence that China was neutral in the conflict and wanted to play a role in resolving it.