(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s top diplomat said Kyiv is seeking to organize a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the war-battered nation plans a leaders summit to push forward its blueprint for peace. 

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the government is pushing for the direct channel between Xi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. 

“There are things that they can talk about,” Kuleba said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. Zelenskiy’s peace formula is “a way to restore long lasting just peace in Ukraine.”

China has called for negotiations toward peace but maintained its ties with Russia, declining to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Xi and Zelenskiy have spoken once since the invasion began almost two years, in April 2023, when Xi said talks are “the only viable way out of the Ukraine crisis.” 

Zelenskiy on Monday unveiled plans for a high-level meeting in Switzerland later this year to move forward with Ukraine’s initiative, which insists that Russian forces withdraw completely from Ukrainian territory. Security officials from more than 80 nations met in Davos Sunday to discuss the blueprint, but the meeting ended with no clear path forward. 

China didn’t attend, although Premier Li Qiang was present at Davos. Zelenskiy, who met with the Swiss president soon after Li had a bilateral meeting at the same location near Bern, later said he didn’t meet with him for protocol reasons — as president, his counterpart is Xi. 

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who co-chaired the Ukraine gathering on Sunday, said the meeting is probably the final one in the current format, leaving the next steps unclear. Some nations see the summit pitched by Ukraine as premature, while others want to immediately involve Russia in the process.

Ukraine is urging allies to step up the supply of weapons and ensure long-term financial support for the country against Kremlin forces. Zelenskiy told attendees in Davos that assistance to Kyiv is an investment in Western security. 

More than $100 billion in US and European Union funding is currently held up amid political infighting. In Washington, Congressional leaders said they were cautiously optimistic about reaching a deal on Ukraine aid with concessions to Republicans on border security after a meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

“We received reassurance that the US aid is on its way,” Kuleba said. “The Congress is not debating aid to Ukraine per se, there is no disagreement to what extent Ukraine should be helped.”

Kuleba echoed Zelenskiy’s pitch that funding for Ukraine’s war effort was an investment in Western security. 

“Whatever the price of supporting Ukraine today is, the price of fixing the mess in the world if Ukraine loses will be much much higher,” Kuleba told Bloomberg. 

--With assistance from Lisa Abramowicz, Jonathan Ferro and Daryna Krasnolutska.

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