China Should Hear About War 'Directly From Ukraine', State Dept Says

The United States on Tuesday welcomed the Ukrainian Foreign Minister's trip to China saying that it was important for Beijing to hear directly from Kyiv about the war, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Minister Dmytro Kuleba's visit to China is the first by a high-ranking Ukrainian official since Russia's invasion in February 2022, a move that China has not publicly condemned.

"It’s important that China hear directly from Ukraine about the toll that Ukraine has suffered through Russia’s war of aggression, which we know China is doing a great deal to fuel through their support for reconstituting Russia’s defense industrial base," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

"We have always made clear that it is important that every country in the world recognize that in this conflict there’s an aggressor and there’s a victim," Miller went on to add.   "And we shouldn’t treat the two parties as if they bear equal responsibility or as if this is some war that just magically popped out from nowhere without one side being responsible; and that when it comes to looking at how this war can end, it’s important to remember those core principles," he said.

The U.S.and allies have engaged with China on the topic of the war in Ukraine, Miller said.  Secretary Antony Blinken is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart this week in Vientiane in the margins of the ASEAN summi.