Xi Speaks With Zelenskiy for First Time Since Russia's War in Ukraine Began

China’s President Xi Jinping is looking to bolster his image as a global peacemaker with his first call to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy since Russia’s invasion more than a year ago.

The readouts of the Wednesday call struck familiar themes and suggested there had been no major breakthroughs. Xi said negotiations are “the only viable way out of the Ukraine crisis,” according to the Xinhua News Agency. President Zelenskiy’s office called it “a productive hour-long conversation,” and said there could be no peace unless Russia gives back the land it took at the start of the invasion and leaves Crimea, which it seized in 2014.