THE Ukraine invited the Chinese president Xi Jinping to attend a planned “peace summit” of world leaders in Switzerland, a top diplomatic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.

China has close ties with Russia and refrained from criticizing its invasion of Ukraine, but also said that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected and offered to help mediate the conflict.

“We definitely invite China to participate in the summit, at the highest level, at the level of the president of the People’s Republic of China,” adviser to the Ukrainian president Ikhor Zovkva told Reuters in an interview this week.

“China’s participation is very important for us. We are working with the Chinese side. We are engaging our partners in the world to convey to the Chinese side how important it is to participate in such a summit.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin they declared a “boundless” corporate partnership in Beijing just three weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since then China has dramatically increased its imports of energy resources from Russia.

Putin says the invasion was necessary to protect Russia’s security, while Kiev and the West say it is an unprovoked war of aggression and a land grab.

Neutral Switzerland has agreed to host the Ukraine peace summit at Zelensky’s request, but no date or venue has yet been set. Zovkva said the teams are still working on the details.

Peace plan

Zovkva also said that security advisers from a record 82 countries attended the talks this month in the Swiss city of Davos, where they focused on Ukraine’s ten-point peace plan.

Russia has not been invited to the planned summit and has declared Ukraine’s ten-point peace plan a failure.

The plan in question provides for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of all Russian troops, the protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear security and the release of all prisoners of war.

“We will talk about a specific road map (at the summit) for the implementation of this (peace) formula,” Zovkva said.

Ukraine is trying to retain international support amid signs of war fatigue among its Western allies after Kiev’s failed counter-offensive last year. The front lines have changed little and the war in Gaza has recently become a more pressing focus of global attention.

Zhovkva welcomed the participation of many southern hemisphere countries in the Davos talks, saying Ukraine hoped to maintain this level at the summit.

China’s representative attended a meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia last summer, and Xi and Zelensky have also spoken by phone.

Beijing last year put forward its own 12-point plan for peace in Ukraine, which includes declaring a ceasefire but does not stipulate that Russia should withdraw from any of the territory it has seized.