Ukraine demands Russia withdraw troops amid Xi's visit of Moscow

Ukraine on Monday (March 20) urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Ukraine before Chinese President Xi Jinping's highly anticipated visit to Russia. Xi was on his first visit to Moscow since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war last year.

The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Twitter: "The formula for the successful implementation of China's 'Peace Plan'."

"The first and foremost point is the surrender or withdrawal of Russian occupation forces from (Ukrainian territory) in accordance with international law and the UN Charter," Danilov added.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Ukraine's foreign ministry further said it expected Xi to Beijing to promote the peace plan and use its influence to push for an end to the ongoing war during his visit to Moscow.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a comment sent to the news agency AFP: "Ukraine is following closely the Chinese President's visit to Russia. We expect Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to make it put an end to the aggressive war against Ukraine."

WATCH |China's Ukraine 'peace plan' can be discussed, says Russia's Putin

Meanwhile, Britain said that the Chinese president should back up Beijing's stated support for respect for territorial integrity. Britain also said that China should demand that Russia end its war in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said: "We hope President Xi uses this opportunity to press President (Vladimir) Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals, schools, to halt some of these atrocities that we are seeing on a daily basis."

President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart that Russia was open to discussing China's proposals to end the fighting in Ukraine at the start of high-stakes talks at the Kremlin. Putin told the Chinese leader: "We are always open to negotiations."

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.