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China’s foreign ministry call for a ceasefire in Ukraine and urged all parties to engage in dialogue and consultation to find a way to address the security concerns after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West over what he described as “nuclear blackmail”.
“Every country’s reasonable security concerns should be valued, and all efforts conducive to resolving the crisis peacefully should be supported. China calls for dialogue and consultation to resolve the divergences,” the ministry’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Putin in a televised address to the nation, said that “I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff to declare partial mobilization in the Russian Federation,” which was the first time since World War II.
The move comes a day after the announcement of referendums in Russian-controlled Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to become a part of Russia this weekend.
Putin said he had already signed the relevant decree, and mobilization activities have started.
Russia’s defense minister said that 300,000 additional personnel will be called up in part of the mobilization, conceding Russia not only fights against Ukraine, but also the Western countries.
Putin accused the West of wanting to destroy Russia and trying to turn the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder and stressed that the Western countries are waging a proxy war against Russia.