In the immediate aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the People's Republic of China stated that it respects Ukraine's sovereignty but Russia's opposition to the enlargement of NATO should also be addressed. It abstained from United Nations votes that condemned the invasion. The Chinese government has attempted to mediate between the two countries, but its proposals have been rejected as being pro-Russia. In 2025, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi was reported to have told the European Union's top diplomat that China cannot accept Russia losing its war against Ukraine. China has consistently objected to international sanctions against Russia. International sanctions led Russia to become heavily economically and technologically dependent on China.
Drones made by Chinese manufacturers are used by both sides in the conflict, with Russia receiving a surge of key drone components from China in 2025 along with other support. Chinese companies and individuals involved in the export of dual-use technology and component parts from China to Russia have drawn sanctions from the U.S., European Union, and Ukraine and condemnation from the G7 and NATO. Russians have also been reported to have been trained at military facilities in China. Commentary critical of Russia has been censored on the internet in China, and Chinese state media outlets and netizens have often given more weight to Russian state views, sometimes reposting disinformation. In addition to capturing Chinese nationals fighting for Russia, Ukraine has sanctioned Chinese companies it accuses of helping Russia produce weapons.
In 2026, it was reported that large-scale disguised shipments to Russia by a Chinese state-controlled company containing materials were used to build drones for attacking Ukraine.
Chinese government Only after the invasion began did the Chinese embassy in Ukraine, on 25 February, advise its citizens to leave the country immediately. On 7 March 2022, the Chinese government stated that it had evacuated most Chinese citizens. Some of the students who had been trapped in Ukraine criticised the embassy's poor response.
On 2 March 2022, The New York Times published an article citing a Western intelligence report which said that the Chinese government had asked the Russian government to delay the invasion until after the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Chinese government denied the allegations, stating that the goal of "this kind of rhetoric is to divert attention and shift blame, which is utterly despicable".
On 15 March 2022, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post stating that "conflict between Russia and Ukraine does no good for China", that "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine, must be respected; the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously", and that "threats against Chinese entities and businesses, as uttered by some U.S. officials, are unacceptable".
On 29 April 2022, Zhao Lijian, one of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons, called China–Russia relations a "new model of international relations" that involved "not causing confrontations or targeting other nations", rising above "the model of military and political alliance in the Cold War era".
Quoting the Russian parliament, The New York Times reported that in September 2022 Li Zhanshu, then chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the third highest-ranking Politburo Standing Committee member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), blamed NATO for expanding next to Russia and told a group of Russian legislators that "we fully understand the necessity of all the measures taken by Russia" and that it was placed in an "impossible situation" on the Ukrainian issue. The Wall Street Journal reported that to advance its own interests, Russia has repeatedly leaked information without Chinese knowledge or ahead of China's announcements and decisions. According to people close to China's top decision-makers, had they known about Russia's intention to leak Li's comments, his "choice of words would have been more careful to prevent China from being seen as an accomplice to Russia".
In November 2022, during the 2022 G20 Bali summit, China objected to calling the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine a "war". In the same month, Russia's ambassador to Beijing announced that Xi Jinping would be visiting Moscow, reportedly before China was ready for an announcement. The Wall Street Journal quoted people close to the Chinese leadership saying that the "Chinese side hadn't even made a decision yet".
According to U.S. intercepts of Russian intelligence from the 2022–2023 Pentagon document leaks, Russia believed that China had approved sending "lethal aid" disguised as civilian items. U.S. officials said that they have not yet seen evidence, but have repeatedly warned China against doing so.
On 31 January 2024, during a meeting between admiral Dong Jun and Sergei Shoigu, Dong stated the militaries of Russia and China should be bolstering mutual trust and expanding cooperation to "elevate the relations between the two militaries to a higher level". According to the transcript of the meeting released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Dong stated that China would continue to support Russia on the 'Ukraine issue', and despite pressure from the United States and the European Union, "China will not abandon its established policies and the outside world will not interfere with normal cooperation between China and Russia". When asked about Dong's statements at a press briefing, Foreign Ministry of China spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated that China's position remains unchanged and does not provide military aid to either side of the conflict. In February 2024, at the 60th Munich Security Conference, Wang Yi discussed peace prospects with Ukraine's foreign minister and stated that China will not "sell lethal weapons in conflict zones".
In April 2024, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) reported that a sanctioned Russian ship transferring weapons from North Korea to Russia was moored at a Chinese shipyard in Zhejiang.
Meetings with foreign leaders
On 1 March 2022, the Ukrainian and Chinese foreign ministers, Dmytro Kuleba and Wang Yi, held their first phone call since the beginning of the invasion. Chinese media reported that Wang told Kuleba that he was "extremely concerned" about the risk to civilians and that it was necessary to "ease the situation as much as possible to prevent the conflict from escalating". Kuleba was reported to have said that Ukraine "looks forward to China playing a mediation role in achieving a ceasefire".
On 9 March 2022, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a video meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in which he stated that China was "pained to see the flames of war reignited in Europe" and called for the three countries to promote peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Later that month, Xi and American President Joe Biden held a two-hour long meeting over video in which the conflict in Ukraine featured significantly. The American White House told the press after the call that Biden had warned Xi of "consequences if China provides material support to Russia".
On 20–22 March 2023, Xi visited Russia and met with Vladimir Putin, both in an official and unofficial capacity.
On 26 April 2023, Xi made an hour-long call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy described the call as "long and meaningful" and stressed "a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine".
During Xi's visit to France in May 2024, he said to Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Beijing did not intend to supply weapons to Moscow and that it was ready to look into the issue of dual-use materials that enabled Russia's war effort.
In May 2024, Putin visited China and met with Xi. The purpose of the visit was to deepen the strategic partnership between Russia and China.
On 23 July 2024, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China for the first time since the Russian invasion for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to achieve a diplomatic solution to the war. The South China Morning Post and CNN reported that in a July 2025 meeting with Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, Wang Yi stated that Beijing did not want to see Russia's loss in Ukraine. European diplomats said Wang Yi is concerned that the United States would focus more on China once the conflict in Europe ends.
United Nations votes
On 25 February 2022, China abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote denouncing the invasion. On 2 March 2022, China joined 35 countries in abstaining from a United Nations General Assembly resolution which condemned Russia's aggression and demanded Russia's "immediate, thorough, and unconditional" withdrawal of troops from Ukraine. In December 2023, China voted against condemning Russia at the United Nations.
Peace proposals
On 24 February 2023, China issued a twelve-point peace plan outline, calling for a ceasefire and peace talks. The same day, Zelenskyy indicated he was willing to consider aspects of the proposal, while Russia's foreign ministry stated that it welcomed the Chinese proposal. Zelenskyy stated that he planned to meet Xi Jinping because it would be useful to both countries and global security. Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said "we paid a lot of attention to our Chinese friends' plan", but new "territorial realities could not be ignored" as these realities became "an internal factor" (for Russia). Peskov then rejected the Chinese peace proposal, saying that "for now, we don't see any of the conditions that are needed to bring this whole story towards peace". U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken questioned China's peace proposal, saying "the world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms".
During the 2023 Belarus-China summit, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Xi jointly stated "deep concern about the development of the armed conflict in the European region and extreme interest in the soonest possible establishment of peace in Ukraine[.]"
In June 2023, China's envoy to Ukraine Li Hui urged all parties to respect territorial integrity, stop arming the battlefield, and ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.
Following the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the peace plans presented by other countries such as China were attempts to mediate on behalf of Russia and that Ukraine is willing to accept a mediator only if the Russians can be convinced to withdraw from all Ukrainian territories.
China's 12-point peace plan was presented during a 42-nation peace discussion on 5 August 2023, at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and live feedback was received.
In early May 2024, China's designated envoy on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict had visited neutral nations of the Global South like Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Kazakhstan.
On 23 May 2024, China presented a new six-point peace plan, but according to critics, including Zelenskyy, Russia called on China to undermine the June 2024 Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland. According to sources, Chinese diplomats told developing countries that the peace summit in Switzerland would prolong the war, but did not directly ask any country to abstain from the meeting. The six-point proposal by China and Brazil called for an international peace conference "held at a proper time that is recognised by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties as well as fair discussion of all peace plans".