“We are ready to see him here,” he said during the meeting, referring to the Chinese president.
Zelensky added: “I want to talk to him… but for all this year, and for more than a year, I have had no contact with him.” According to the Associated Press, Zelensky has already sent an invitation to Xi Jinping to visit Ukraine.
A few days ago, news agencies quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying, in an interview on state television on Sunday that Russia and China are not working to establish a military alliance, and have indicated that military cooperation between the two countries is transparent. Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, declared friendship between the two countries and pledged to strengthen relations in a summit that brought them together during the Chinese president’s visit to Moscow last week, in one moment in which Russia is struggling to make gains in its military operation in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president also warned during the meeting with “Associated Press” of terrible repercussions for Ukraine if Bakhmut loses. On a train from Sumy to Kiev, where the meeting took place, Zelensky said: “Either victory or agreement that sees concessions from Ukraine.”
Zelensky has warned that unless his country secures victory at Bakhmut, Russia will begin to mobilize international support to sign a deal that forces Ukraine to make unacceptable concessions. He explained that Bakhmut’s fall into the hands of Russian forces will allow President Putin “to promote this victory in West, in the Russian interior, in China and in Iran”.
“If he smells blood — the smell of our weakness — he’ll make more progress,” Zelensky said in English, which he used for almost the entire interview.
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