China's Xi hails Russia's 'positive efforts to defuse Ukraine crisis'

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday hailed Moscow's "positive efforts to defuse" the Ukraine crisis in a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, state media said.

Xinhua news agency reported Xi as saying "China is happy to see Russia and relevant parties make positive efforts to defuse" the crisis in Ukraine.

Moscow and Beijing have strengthened military and trade ties since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, though China has sought to depict itself as a neutral party amid the nearly three-year conflict.

Beijing remains a close political and economic partner of Moscow and has never condemned Russia's actions, leading some NATO members to brand Beijing an "enabler" of the conflict.

Speaking of China's ties with Russia, Xi said "history and reality" show the two countries "are good neighbours that cannot be moved away, and true friends who share weal and woe, support each other and achieve common development", Xinhua reported.

The state news agency earlier said Xi held a phone call with the Russian leader "upon invitation".

Both sides have made much of Xi and Putin's supposedly strong personal bond, with Xi calling the Russian leader his "best friend" and Putin lauding his "reliable partner".

Monday marks three years since Putin's decision to launch what he called a "special military operation", setting off the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Earlier in the day, Russia said it was ready for talks on the three-year old war in Ukraine but would only stop fighting when a peace settlement "suits" Moscow.

Russia also said it was trying to settle the Ukraine conflict with the United States, but that Europe wanted the war to "continue".

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Turkey on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with uncertainty hanging over US support for the wartorn country under President Donald Trump and Kyiv ceding ground to Moscow on the front line.

Lavrov said Moscow was ready to negotiate with Ukraine, Europe or "any representatives who in good faith would like to help achieve peace."

"But we will stop hostilities only when these negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation," he said in a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

Lavrov also called on the United States to appoint a representative for future peace talks with Russia, after what he said were his "positive" discussions in Saudi Arabia last week with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday accused Europe of wanting to prolong the fighting, unlike the United States.

"The Europeans continue on the path of a sanctions nosedive, on the path of conviction in the need to continue the war," Peskov told reporters after the EU hit Moscow with a new round of sanctions.

"This conviction of the Europeans completely contrasts with the mindset of finding a settlement on Ukraine, which we are now doing with the Americans."

Erdogan calls for 'fair' talks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday underlined his support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and said Moscow and Kyiv should be represented "fairly" at any talks on ending the conflict.

"The path to a just and lasting peace can only be paved with a framework in which both sides of the war are represented equally and fairly," Erdogan told a Ukraine summit via video link, while reiterating support for Ukraine's "territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence".