(CNN) — In an interview with the Associated Press (AP) published on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky formally invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Ukraine, while warning him that Bakhmut’s fall could spur international support for the Russian invasion.
Speaking to the AP aboard a train somewhere in Ukraine, Zelensky called on Xi – who remains one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest economic and political allies – to come to Kyiv and engage in direct dialogue with him. he.
“We are ready to see him here. I want to talk to him. I had contact with him before the war. But for this whole year, more than a year, I haven’t,” Zelensky said.
During Xi’s state visit to Moscow earlier this month, a Ukrainian official told CNN that talks were “ongoing” with China to arrange a call between Xi and Zelensky to discuss Beijing’s peace proposal.
Kyiv had already publicly invited Beijing to participate in a peace process engineered by Ukraine to end the war.
Speaking of the months-long battle for Bakhmut, Zelensky warned that a defeat would spur Russia’s propaganda effort and embolden Putin to “press” more aggressively.
“Putin would sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran…if he feels any blood, if he smells that we are weak, he will push, push, push,” the president told the AP.
Addressing Washington’s role in providing military aid to Ukraine – while avoiding any reference to the 2024 presidential election and a possible change in leadership – Zelensky reiterated that if the US withdraws its support, Kyiv “will not win” the war.