China Urges UN Security Council to Ensure Political Resolution to Ukrainian Conflict

BEIJING (Sputnik) - China is urging the United Nations Security Council to take constructive and responsible actions to create conditions and space for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday in connection with the referendums in the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics (DPR, LPR), as well as in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The meeting was initiated by the United States and Albania at Ukraine's request.

"We believe that the UN Security Council, as the core of the collective international security mechanism, should make full use of the tools for mediation and conciliation bestowed upon it by the organization's charter, as well as follow the right course in the struggle for peace, and take constructive and responsible actions to create conditions and space for a political settlement in particular," Wang told a briefing.

Wang emphasized that China has always stood for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and respect for the UN Charter. With regards to the Ukrainian conflict, the minister said that Beijing has always promoted peace, reconciliation and negotiations.

Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer

© AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky

The DPR, the LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson are holding referendums on accession to Russia from September 23-27. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia would accept any outcome of the referendums.

The DPR and the LPR proclaimed their independence from Ukraine in 2014 after holding self-determination referendums. In February 2022, Russia recognized the DPR and the LPR and launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to their calls for help in fencing off Ukrainian attacks.