Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says China's interest in the war launched by Russia is "not bad", while revealing plans to meet President Xi Jinping after Beijing called for urgent peace talks to end the conflict.
Mr Xi called for a comprehensive ceasefire as part of a 12-point plan for dealing with the war that was largely a reiteration of its approach since Russia launched what it calls a "special military operation".
The plan calls for United Nations-led talks and a ceasefire, warns that nuclear weapons must not be used and opposes Western sanctions on Russia.
"China has shown its thoughts. I believe that the fact that China started talking about Ukraine is not bad," Mr Zelenskyy said at a news conference on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
"But the question is what follows the words. The question is in the steps and where they will lead to."
Mr Zelenskyy said meeting with Mr Xi "will be important for world security", but he did not say when such a meeting might take place.
"China has historically respected territorial integrity, and so it should do everything so that the Russian Federation leaves our territory," he said at a news conference dedicated to the first anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine.
News of the Chinese president's peace plan comes a day after the country's top diplomat, Wang Yi, visited Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the pair hailed relations between the two nations.
The Chinese foreign ministry announced in a statement on Saturday that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Mr Putin, will be visiting China from February 28 to March 2.
UN calls China's plan an 'important contribution'
China's proposal on the Ukraine conflict was an "important contribution", the United Nations secretary-general's spokesman said on Friday, underlining Beijing's call to avoid the use of nuclear weapons.
"I think the plan put forward by the Chinese government is an important contribution. I think the call on the need to avoid the use of nuclear weapons is particularly important," Antonio Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
"We all have a collective responsibility to do what we can to reach a just peace."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the UN Security Council on Friday that it should not be fooled by calls for a temporary or unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, saying a "just and durable" peace cannot allow Russia to rest and rearm.
The council met to mark the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, which was launched on February 24 last year as the 15-member body met in New York over Western concerns that Moscow was planning such a move.
"Any peace that legitimises Russia's seizure of land by force will weaken the (UN) Charter and send a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they can invade countries and get away with it," Mr Blinken said.
The 193-member UN General Assembly overwhelmingly isolated Russia on Thursday, calling for a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace" in line with the founding UN Charter and again demanding Moscow withdraw its troops and stop fighting.
"No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia's war on Ukraine and on the UN Charter," said Mr Blinken, who has accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against such a move.
China says 'sending weapons will not bring peace'
Western powers have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons since Russia invaded.
China told the General Assembly on Thursday that "sending weapons will not bring peace" in Ukraine.
"We have always taken an objective and impartial stance based on the merits of the issue and are ready to continue to play a responsible and constructive role in easing the situation, resolving the crisis," China's deputy UN ambassador Dai Bing told the Security Council on Friday.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Security Council that any new peace proposals should be aligned with the demands made by the General Assembly.
Russia says it is trying to "denazify" Ukraine and protect Russian speakers in the east of the country, and also accuses the West of waging a "proxy war" against it by arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Moscow.
Western powers say it is an unprovoked land grab and that if Russia stops fighting and withdraws then the war will end, but if Ukraine stops fighting then it will cease to exist as an independent country.
"It sounds pretty but it's absolutely false," Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council.
"Where, when and from whom did you hear that the goal of our military operation is to destroy Ukraine … We have never stated such a goal."
The Security Council has held dozens of meetings on Ukraine in the past year but has been unable to take any meaningful action because Russia is able to wield a veto.
ABC/wires
