China's Xi calls Ukraine's Zelenskyy, after weeks of intensifying pressure to do so

This combination of file photos shows China's President Xi Jinping, taken in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 19, 2022, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, taken outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 7, 2023. Chinese leader Xi talked Wednesday with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. (AP)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over a month after Xi's summit in Moscow with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin.

Xi made the call to Zelenskyy after weeks of intensifying pressure from Western leaders to use his influence with Putin to broker a deal toward ending the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion in late February 2022.