Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help bring back the children, allegedly deported by Moscow.
“We need to involve everyone… to put pressure on the Russian aggressor and the terrorists who kidnapped so many of our children,” said Zelensky.
“The UN, many others want to do something, but so far the results have been poor. So I have appealed to the leader of China,” he added.
The Ukrainian government has claimed nearly 16,000 children have been abducted by Russia since February last year. Kremlin has not denied the accusation, albeit presented it as a humanitarian campaign to protect the orphans present in the conflict areas.
Due to the allegations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this year issued an arrest warrant in the name of Putin. Though ICC attempts to start a legal battle, Moscow has stated it will not be entertaining any arrest warrant. The country withdrew its membership from ICC in 2016.
“I had a long and meaningful phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine’s ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations,” Zelensky said.
Chinese state media broadcaster CCTV reported about the call and said that Xi told Zelensky that China has “always stood on the side of peace”.
“On the issue of the Ukraine crisis, China has always stood on the side of peace and its core position is to promote peace talks,” CCTV reported Xi as saying during the phone call.
Since the turn of the year, the Chinese leader has presented himself as the mediator of peace. During his visit to Russia to meet Putin in March, Xi repeatedly batted for maintaining stability and peace in the region. Beijing even prepared a 12-point peace plan to bring the war to an end.
China has established a “no-limits” friendship with Russia in the aftermath of the war where it has refused to denounce Moscow’s aggressiveness, all the while presenting itself as impartial. However, Zelensky’s recent outreach efforts may force Beijing to rethink its impartial approach, experts stated.
(With inputs from agencies)
