Kremlin welcomes Xi-Zelensky call on Ukraine, but says its aims remain the same

The Kremlin said on Thursday it welcomed anything that could bring the end of the Ukraine conflict closer when asked what it thought of a phone call a day earlier between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But the Kremlin said it still needed to achieve the aims of what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The Chinese and Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday spoke for the first time since Russia sent its troops into Ukraine in February last year, fulfilling a longstanding goal of Kyiv which had publicly sought such talks for months.