China's president calls for peace talks

Chinese President Xi Jinping has described the situation in Ukraine as worrying and called for "maximum restraint".

He made the comments during a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reports.

Xi said the priority should be preventing the situation in Ukraine from spinning out of control, and said the three countries should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

China and Russia currently enjoy a close diplomatic relationship and Beijing has neither condemned nor condoned the action against Ukraine. However China did abstain from a UN Security Council vote condemning the invasion, reports BBC.