China urges de-escalation as Ukraine advances in Russia offensive

China on Monday urged all sides in the Ukraine war to de-escalate as Kyiv's forces pierced deep into Beijing ally Russia's Kursk border region.

Kyiv has deployed thousands of troops to the surprise operation, a Ukrainian security official told AFP, seizing the battlefield initiative after months of slow Russian advances across the east.

The assault seemed to catch the Kremlin off guard, with Moscow's army on Sunday appearing to concede that Ukraine had been able to penetrate its territory by up to 30 kilometres (20 miles) in places.

In response to the offensive, Beijing Monday urged all parties to follow "three principles for de-escalating the situation".

Those are "no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no fuelling the flame by any party", a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

"China will continue to maintain communication with the international community and play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis," they added.

China presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia, and NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war, which it has never condemned.

China also released a paper last year calling for a "political settlement" to the conflict that was criticised by Western countries for enabling Russia to retain much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.