On Thursday, the Kremlin ruled out the possibility of Chinese mediation to stop the fighting in Ukraine, saying that Russia had no choice but to continue its offensive.

"Of course, China has a huge and effective potential when it comes to mediation services," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"But the situation with Ukraine is complex and there is no prospect of a political settlement. At the moment, we have no other solution than to continue the special military operation," he added, using Russian euphemisms to describe the invasion of Ukraine.

Peskov was responding to questions about possible Chinese mediation after French President Emmanuel Macron said in Beijing that he was counting on his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who is close to President Vladimir Putin, to "bring Russia back to its senses."

During a summit in Moscow in March, Putin and Xi expressed their consensus and presented themselves as strategic allies determined to resist American hegemony.

For its part, China drafted a peace plan for Ukraine, but this plan is still very vague and theoretical, as Beijing stresses contradictory principles such as respecting the territorial integrity of countries, thus Ukraine, and defending Russia's diplomatic and security interests.

Although China officially affirms its neutrality, Xi Jinping never condemned the Russian attack and never spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky .

Ukraine has confirmed several times that peace comes through the withdrawal of Russian forces from all of its territory. For its part, Moscow demands, as a minimum, that Kiev give up the five regions that Putin announced its annexation.