EXPLOSIONS rang out over the Ukrainian capital and black smoke could be seen rising from the center of Kyiv, AFP journalists reported on Monday, in a rare day-time aerial attack on the city.
The mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said fragments of missiles downed by air defense systems had fallen in two central districts of the capital and that emergency services were responding.
This developed as Chinese President Xi Jinping told visiting Hungarian leader Viktor Orban that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine re-start direct peace talks, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“The international community should create conditions and provide assistance for the two sides to resume direct dialogue and negotiations,” Xi told Orban, adding: “Only when all major powers exert positive energy rather than negative energy can the dawn of a ceasefire in this conflict appear as soon as possible.”
Orban, who has recently visited Moscow and Kyiv, said earlier his unannounced trip to the Chinese capital was a “Peace mission 3.0”.
The visit comes a day before NATO is due to hold a summit to mark its 75th anniversary, with setbacks in Ukraine set to dominate discussions, and follows Orban’s surprise trips to Russia and Ukraine in the past week.
CCTV said Xi and Orban’s talks “focused on in-depth communication on the Ukrainian crisis”.
“Xi Jinping appreciated Orban’s efforts to promote a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis and elaborated on China’s views and propositions,” the broadcaster reported.
“Xi Jinping stressed that it is in the interests of all parties to cease fire and seek a political solution as soon as possible,” CCTV said in a readout.
“The current focus is to abide by the three principles of ‘no spillover of the battlefield, no escalation of the war, and no fueling of the flames by all parties’ to cool down the situation as soon as possible,” it added.
Meanwhile, when NATO leaders welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to their summit in Washington this week, they will reaffirm that Kyiv will one day become a member and vow to keep arming its troops.
But they will not give Zelenskyy what he wants most: a firm invite for his war-torn country to join their nuclear-armed alliance anytime soon.
Last year, NATO’s failure to issue Ukraine a clear time frame for membership did not go down well.
Zelenskyy unleashed a diplomatic firestorm at NATO’s 2023 summit in Lithuania by blasting the alliance’s refusal as “absurd”.
Still, in the end he did not get leaders to budge from saying that an invite would only come “when allies agree and conditions are met”.
In Washington, Western officials say they are hoping to avoid another bust-up — with Zelensky being told clearly there will not be concrete progress.
Multiple diplomats said that NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg set out what was on offer at a meeting with the Ukrainian leader ahead of time.
“The scene is better prepared now,” said one NATO diplomat, speaking like others under condition of anonymity.
“Zelenskyy will have to accept whatever is offered.”
A smooth summit is particularly important for US President Joe Biden as he struggles to right his reelection campaign after a damaging debate performance.
