Against a backdrop of intensifying cross-border attacks between Russia and Ukraine, a senior Chinese envoy to the United Nations has used a high-level Security Council meeting to reaffirm Beijing’s call for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated political resolution to the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
Sun Lei, charge d’affaires ad interim of China’s Permanent Mission to the UN, told the gathering that the unrelenting escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict serves no party’s interests, and only deepens civilian suffering and inflicts irreversible damage to critical civilian infrastructure.
“The latest developments have once again proven that conflict and confrontation produce no winners,” Sun stated on Monday. He added that a rapid end to hostilities aligns with the core long-term interests of all involved parties, and matches the widespread desire for peace held across the global community.
Sun’s remarks came just as the conflict saw a sharp uptick in violence over the 24-hour period spanning Monday and Tuesday. In the early hours of Tuesday, Moscow’s mayor confirmed that more than 390 Ukrainian drones had targeted the Moscow region overnight, with local authorities confirming damage to multiple residential properties. For its part, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched more than 100 drones at Ukrainian targets between late Monday and early Tuesday.
The spike in attacks also coincided with a scheduled high-stakes meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a meeting that comes amid emerging reports of behind-the-scenes talks around a potential new peace initiative.
In his address to the Security Council, Sun emphasized Beijing’s stance that all attacks targeting civilian populations must end immediately. He called on all belligerents to maintain calm and maximum restraint, adhere strictly to the provisions of international humanitarian law, prioritize the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and take tangible steps to de-escalate tensions to keep the door open for a rapid return to peace.
Russia has indicated it remains open to engaging with new proposals aimed at advancing the peace process, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed Monday. “We again confirm our readiness for possible discussions, proposals, ideas, which we will be ready to consider. No one here has ever refused this,” Zakharova said. She also claimed that Ukrainian strikes on Russian civilian areas had killed 86 people between July 15 and 24, and accused Western powers of abetting these attacks through continued large-scale arms supplies to Kyiv.
Separate figures from the United Nations showed a sharp rise in civilian casualties in recent weeks. Kayoko Gotoh, director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, told the meeting that more than 170 civilians have been killed in Russian aerial attacks across Ukraine since the Security Council last convened to discuss the crisis on July 9.
Last week, a Ukrainian source disclosed to Reuters that U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been discussing a proposal for a limited air ceasefire that could be presented to Russian negotiators as a starting point for a new round of peace talks. The Kremlin, however, said Monday that it had not received any concrete details of this or any other new peace proposal.
Closing his remarks, Sun stressed that the pursuit of common security must be at the center of any path out of the crisis, noting that Russia, Ukraine and all other European countries are permanent neighbors who cannot relocate or escape one another. Even with deep divides between the parties and significant challenges plaguing existing peace efforts, “Dialogue and negotiation remain the only viable way to resolve the crisis,” Sun said. “As long as the parties begin talks and remain committed to them, there is hope for peace.”