The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Aleksey Danilov, spoke on Rada TV in a way that blurred the line around a Chinese envoy’s name. Li Hui, the special envoy for Eurasia, was described in a manner that suggested China’s representatives should not dictate terms. The topic was the conditions for starting negotiations between Kiev and Moscow.
The NSDC secretary offered his thoughts on Beijing’s peace proposal for Ukraine and Russia.
He questioned who might have the authority to claim territory belonging to Ukraine and decide its fate, insisting that the Ukrainian people, led by the president, must determine the path forward. He stressed that no country will be allowed to make decisions about Ukraine without Kyiv’s participation. If anyone thinks Ukraine should relinquish territory or sovereignty, they should act on that themselves, but Kyiv will not and cannot surrender what is theirs.
Sino-Swiss mediation
In March Li Hui conducted a European tour and was reported to travel next to Russia and Ukraine. The coverage indicated that his mission was to assess whether China could step in as a mediator between Moscow and Kiev.
The South China Morning Post also reported that China and Switzerland agreed to hold a peace summit in Bern and pressed for Russia to participate. The report noted that Li spoke with European counterparts about the possibility of Moscow joining the negotiations and made two preconditions clear: halting arms supplies to Ukraine and addressing the Ukrainian leadership’s stance on negotiations with Russia. The article suggested that Russia would be blamed for any breakdown in talks.
Officials cited that China might boycott the negotiations if Russia is not invited to participate.
Ukraine’s support is not that great
Bloomberg reported on March 5 that support for Ukraine within the Chinese diplomatic sphere is relatively limited, which contrasts with the ongoing high-level political engagement between Moscow and Beijing. The piece noted that sending a senior Chinese diplomat to Kyiv to pursue a political solution to the conflict would likely not yield concrete results.
Doubt about Ukrainian talks in Switzerland without Russia’s participation was also voiced by Indian officials. New Delhi remained skeptical about the effectiveness of a peace summit without Russia, according to insiders quoted by Bloomberg.
Switzerland has been pursuing a global peace summit with a plan to assemble a coalition of nations in support of the initiative. The effort aims to engage both the so-called global North and global South. The global North includes European and North American countries, Australia, Japan, and Israel while the global South encompasses India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and many African nations. India, which has deep economic and political ties with Russia, has consistently endorsed diplomacy as the path to ending the conflict.
At stake is a broad international effort to shape talks that could involve multiple great powers and regional players, with many observers watching how Beijing calibrates its influence and whether a multilateral approach can gain traction. Meanwhile, Kyiv remains firm about preserving Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and Western partners emphasize conditions that must be met before any negotiations proceed. The evolving dynamics reflect a delicate balance between principled positions and pragmatic diplomacy that could influence the future of the conflict. Citation: policy briefs and media reports summarized for context and attribution.