South Africa, Brazil, China and Indonesia continues to play a critical role in finding a lasting and peaceful resolution to the conflict between the Ukraine and Russia, says Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui.

He was addressing a high-level briefing of diplomatic envoys on Tuesday.

Li said China and other key players in the international community were concerned that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia might escalate. All efforts were focused on de-escalating the situation.

“We visited Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia on the current situation of the Ukraine crisis. These three countries represent the Global South which is very important when it comes to world peace and development. When it comes to the Ukraine crisis, we share the same position and remain committed to negotiation and dialogue which will see an end to the the crisis.”

Li said all parties were generally concerned about the risk of the conflict escalating and spilling over.

He said there appeared to be more sinister and selfish interests at heart and all sides believed that the war was being manipulated by the global industrial military complex.

“This conflict is no longer just about Russia and Ukraine,” he said.

Li expressed concern about “the deep-rooted reasons for the protracted crisis”. He said he “highly appreciated the six common understandings issued by China and Brazil, which provide a valuable path for promoting the resolution of the crisis”.

He said he met South Africa's director general at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation and leaders from Indonesia who had all put forward their own ideas on the peace process and looked forward to strengthening exchanges with China to promote a fair and just solution to the crisis.

Li said the situation had recently become more complex, but he remained optimistic that a peaceful resolution would be found.

On Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported that Russia launched a barrage of missile and drone attacks in Ukraine, killing at least four people, a day after it carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid.

“Two people were killed when a hotel was wiped out in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih …Two more people died in drone attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia, east of Kryvyi Rih,” read the report.

Concluding the briefing, Li said China would continue to promote peace talks between the two countries while hoping to find solutions to the political settlement of the crisis.

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