Ukraine hails China’s opposition to nuclear threats

KHERSON, Ukraine, (Reuters) - Kyiv welcomed reported Chinese comments criticising threats to use nuclear weapons as G20 leaders met in Indonesia yesterday, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the spotlight.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping “underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” the White House said in a readout of a meeting in Indonesia between the two leaders on the eve of the summit.

A readout of the Biden-Xi meeting on China’s foreign ministry website made no use of the word “nuclear” but said: “Conflicts and wars produce no winner ... and ... confrontation between major countries must be avoided.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend its territorial integrity, interpreted in the West as an implicit threat to use them over lands Moscow claims to have annexed in Ukraine.

Xi and Putin have grown close in recent years, bound by their shared distrust of the West, and China has refrained from publicly criticising Russia for the invasion or from calling on it to withdraw its troops.

Zelenskiy, who had earlier visited Kherson, the biggest prize his troops have recaptured since the invasion began in February, welcomed Monday’s remarks.

“It is important that the United States and China jointly highlighted that the threats of using nuclear weapons were unacceptable,” Zelenskiy said in a late Monday address. “Everyone understands to whom these words are addressed.”

Zelenskiy is due to address the G20 summit via video link today. The United States expects the G20 group of industrialised nations to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and its impact on the global economy, a senior U.S. official said.

Russia is a member of the group so consensus on Ukraine is unlikely, and the official declined to say what form the condemnation would take.

Speaking in Bali, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Putin’s government would hear the chorus of global opposition to its actions.

“Russia’s actions put all of us at risk,” he said at the summit in Indonesia, where he is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russia has said Putin is too busy to attend the summit.

To help avoid conflict escalation, CIA Director William Burns met in Turkey on Monday with Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin to convey the consequences should Putin use nuclear weapons, a White House spokesperson said.