Jeddah: Li Hui, China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs, will participate in weekend negotiations in Saudi Arabia aimed at bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine peacefully, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Friday.

"China is willing to work with the international community to continue playing a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis," ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stated.

The meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries is taking place in Jeddah, and Ukrainian and Western diplomats are hoping that key tenets for a future peace agreement will be agreed upon.

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China's involvement is a diplomatic victory for the Kingdom. In late June, China was invited to a previous round of negotiations in Copenhagen but chose not to go.

According to a German official, Saudi diplomacy was crucial in convincing Beijing to participate in the talks in Jeddah.

The meeting, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA, would strengthen "dialogue and cooperation... to ensure a solution for the crisis through political and diplomatic means."
According to Western and Ukrainian officials, Riyadh wants to play a significant diplomatic role.

According to Yun Sun, director of the China Programme at the Stimson Centre in Washington, the meeting will be more acceptable to Beijing with Saudi Arabia serving as the host because it won't be perceived as being organised by the West.
Saudi Arabia "reach[ed] into parts of the world where (Ukraine's) classical allies would not get to as easily," a senior European Union official claimed.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, expressed hope on Wednesday that the initiative would result in a "peace summit" of world leaders this autumn to ratify the guiding principles, which are based on his own 10-point settlement formula.

Zelensky's plan calls for respecting Ukraine's territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops, both of which are repugnant to Moscow, which asserts that it has permanently annexed the occupied Ukrainian territory.

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As the war rages on and Kyiv tries to reclaim territory through a counter-offensive, Ukrainian, Russian, and international officials say there is currently no chance of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

By reaching out to nations in the Global South like India, Brazil, and South Africa, many of which have maintained a public neutrality, Ukraine hopes to first forge a larger coalition of diplomatic support beyond its core Western backers.

Earlier this week, the Kremlin reiterated its stance that there were no grounds for peace talks with Kyiv at the time and that it would monitor the Jeddah meeting.

"We must be aware of the objectives and topics to be discussed. Any effort to advance a peaceful resolution merits praise, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

According to Western diplomats, it is extremely unlikely that Zelensky's entire peace formula will be endorsed at the talks. However, they seek at least to obtain unequivocal support for concepts like territorial integrity that are enshrined in the UN Charter, the organization's founding document.

Analysts questioned whether China would try to take a leading role at the conference, and the US and its allies have also been hesitant to support a Beijing-led peace initiative.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said, "I don't see the Chinese pushing an agenda." Beijing's participation was probably driven more by prestige and the chance to court Middle Eastern and South American nations.

Western officials said they will emphasise that food prices have increased since Russia pulled out of a deal to allow the safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and launched a series of airstrikes on Ukraine's ports in an effort to win over countries in the Global South.

Another senior EU official promised that "we will definitely be making this point and loud and clear."

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A drone strike by Ukraine against Russian naval targets in the Black Sea during preparations for the talks damaged the Olenegrorsky Gornyak landing ship at the Novorossiysk naval base in southern Russia.
The intention, according to a Ukrainian security source, "was to demonstrate that Ukraine can attack any Russian warship in that zone."

The Ukrainian foreign ministry released video showing a military ship heavily listing and declared, "Another Russian ship is on the edge of its fall."
Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential aide from Ukraine, declared: "The Russian fleet's presence in the Black Sea will come to an end. For international trade, Ukraine will guarantee freedom and security in the Black Sea.