CHINA made a plea today for more countries to endorse its peace plan for Ukraine, after a round of diplomacy with Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa to support its plan.

Envoy Li Hui called the three countries representative of the global South and “important forces in promoting world peace” who share similar positions with China. 

Mr Li, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, said: “They have maintained communication with both Russia and Ukraine and stay committed to a political settlement to the crisis through dialogue and negotiation.”

China and Brazil issued a joint peace plan earlier this year that calls for a peace conference with both Ukraine and Russia and no expansion of the battlefield. China and Russia were absent from a peace summit hosted in Switzerland in June. 

Russia was not invited while China chose not to attend.

Initially, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said China had pressured other countries to not attend the peace summit. But since then, Ukraine has recognised China’s role in a peace process, given its close relationship with Russia, with the Ukrainian foreign minister paying a visit to the country in July, the first since the war began.

While a diplomatic dialogue between Russia and Ukraine so far appears out of reach, the war has continued to rage.

In August Ukraine opened a new front by invading the Russian region of Kursk. Mr Zelensky has said the aim was to create a buffer zone to protect Ukraine from attacks.

Mr Li noted the invasion and slammed Western support for Ukraine. “All sides are worried that the West continues to relax conditions for Ukraine to strike the Russian territory with aided weapons,” Mr Li said. 

“And recent developments on the battlefield confirmed these kind of worries.”

The Russians today launched another massive drone and missile attack across Ukraine.

Mr Zelensky said at least four people had been killed by the Russian attack which came a day after a heavy barrage pounded energy facilities throughout the country.

Mr Zelensky said the attacks included 81 drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles and that 16 people were injured. He did not say where the four deaths occurred.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the attacks used “long-range precision air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones against critical energy infrastructure facilities that support the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. All designated targets were hit.”

In Russia, meanwhile, officials reported four Ukrainian missiles were shot down over the Kursk region.