Ukraine-Russia war latest: Foreign Minister Zelensky arrives in China, Kyiv launches major drone strike in Crimea

Ukraine’s top diplomat has arrived in China, the first official visit by a Ukrainian delegation since Russia launched an all-out war more than two years ago.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in China, a close ally of Russia, earlier today. Beijing is one of the few countries besides Ukraine and Russia to have proposed a peace plan for resolving the conflict in Eastern Europe – some African countries have also put forward a plan – but many see the Chinese plan as pushing Moscow’s negotiating points. Western officials have publicly stated that China is the only country that can dissuade Vladimir Putin from launching a war in Ukraine.

“Have had extensive, detailed, substantive discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to achieve a just peace,” wrote Mr. Kuleba on Facebook.

“We must avoid competing peace plans. It is very important for Kiev and Beijing to engage in direct dialogue and exchange positions.

“We will also discuss bilateral relations. I believe that after Ukraine begins negotiations to join the European Union, China should look at its relations with our country from the perspective of strategic relations with Europe.”

Ukrainian President Zelensky met with the Vatican Secretary of State.

The two focused on their first peace summit in Switzerland last month and Ukraine’s ongoing humanitarian issues, according to a statement from Zelensky, which you can read in full below.

The EU’s foreign policy chief has said the next peace summit organised by Ukraine could also involve Russia.

Josep Borrell was asked about the next peace summit at a news conference in Brussels after a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. The first peace summit was held in Switzerland last month, to which Russia was not invited.

“I am sure that President Zelensky will continue to push these talks forward in order to have the next meeting with the participation of Russia,” Borrell said. “That is of course true. We have already said it – the next step requires the participation of Russia.”

But he also stressed that while it is important to seek a diplomatic agreement, it is necessary to reject Putin’s current peace conditions. Currently, Putin insists that any peace agreement is premised on Ukraine ceding the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions and all the territory of the Crimean Peninsula.

“Yes, of course, we must hope for a diplomatically negotiated peace, but on a certain basis,” Borrell added. “And this is not Putin’s basis.”

Russia has expanded the list of British citizens banned from entering the country because they have made anti-Russian remarks on Ukraine or are involved in training or arming Ukrainian armed forces.

The Russian Foreign Ministry published a list of 15 people, saying that these people are representatives of the British military-industrial complex, or experts or propagandists who promote anti-Russian lines in the media.

Images showed rescue workers evacuating a small city near the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Photos released by Ukraine’s state emergency services showed a small number of residents being evacuated from the city of Toretsk, less than three miles from the nearest Russian soldiers.

Here are some of the latest photos from the Ukrainian front. These soldiers were photographed in the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.