IAEA says Ukraine has asked for help protecting nuclear plants

China said it would “continue to play a constructive role in easing tension over Ukraine,” after Ukraine’s top diplomat appealed to China’s foreign minister to help them broker a peace deal. cease-fire in the Russian invasion.

“China always supports and encourages all diplomatic efforts conducive to a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, welcomes the start of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and hopes the two sides will continue the process of dialogue and negotiations and strive for a political solution,” Foreign Minister Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “It accommodates the legitimate security concerns of both sides.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, who said that Ukraine is ready to continue communication with China and “expects China’s mediation to achieve a ceasefire.”

Wenbin’s comments come a day after the start of China evacuating its citizens from Ukraine.

Unlike citizens of many other countries, Chinese citizens of Ukraine were not instructed to leave the country before the start of the Russian invasion. Before the Russian attack, Chinese officials retreated Warnings From the United States and its allies that an aggressive move from Moscow was imminent.

However, China appears to have changed course this week.

About 400 students from the Black Sea city of Odessa, and another 200 from the capital, Kyiv, left the country on Monday, according to the state newspaper, Global Times, citing the Chinese embassy in Ukraine. It added that another 1,000 citizens are expected to be evacuated to neighboring countries on Tuesday.