Poland called on China to put pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, during a meeting of two top officials in Warsaw, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced today.

China’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui is touring European capitals and was in Kiev on Tuesday and last Wednesday, where he discussed ways to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict through a political settlement.

In a statement issued after talks between Li and Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wojciech Gerwel, the Polish Foreign Ministry said Gerwel called on Beijing to exert its influence so that Russia would end the war.

“Deputy Minister Gervel acknowledged China’s responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and expressed the hope that China will…condemn Russia’s attack and put pressure on Russia to return to compliance of international law,” the statement said.

Poland is concerned about China’s statements that it wants to strengthen bilateral relations with Russia, the statement said.

Gervel told Lee that Poland hoped China would never recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory and warned that military aid from Beijing to Moscow would have “serious consequences” for relations with Europe.

Kiev has ruled out any territorial concessions to Russia and has said it wants every centimeter of Ukrainian territory back.

Since February, Beijing has been promoting its 12-point proposal for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

The plan, unveiled on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, was largely a rehash of China’s previous positions on the war. It called on the two sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warned against the use of nuclear weapons. Li is the most senior Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

According to the Polish statement, he said during the talks in Warsaw that the situation in Ukraine is “in nobody’s interest”, but there is no “easy solution”.