Key Points
- Western leaders have urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help persuade Russia to halt the war.
- China is ready to work with France to push hard for negotiations, according to a diplomatic source.
- Fighting continues in Bakhmut, while civilians were reportedly killed in Russia-controlled areas.
Ukrainian and Russian forces battled in Bakhmut, the devastated eastern city which has become a symbol of Kyiv's defiance, while seven civilians were reported killed by Ukrainian artillery strikes in Russian-controlled areas.
Ukrainian soldiers in trenches just outside said they were ready for a long-anticipated counter-offensive once the weather improves.
Elsewhere, other Ukrainian recruits trained hard for new combat missions.
In Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to use his influence to persuade Russia to halt the war, now in its 14th month, and come to the negotiating table.
"China advocates for peace talks and seeks a political solution," responded Mr Xi, who has sought to position China as a potential mediator but is seen by the West as favouring Russia.
Mr Xi said he was willing to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ms von der Leyen said.
A French diplomatic source later said China was ready to work with France to push hard for negotiations.
Peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine collapsed last year.
Kyiv says they are only possible if the invasion is halted and troops are withdrawn.
Moscow's position is less clear, although Mr Putin has said , unveiled in March, could be used as a basis to end the war.
Vladimir Putin has said Beijing's 12-point peace plan, unveiled in March, could be used as a basis to end the war in Ukraine. Source: AAP / Gavriil Grigorov
RIA news agency said three people died in blasts at a bus stop in Lysychansk, to the northeast of Donetsk.
Reuters news agency was unable to independently verify the reports.
The months-long battle for Bakhmut, one of the last urban centres in the eastern Donetsk province yet to fall to Moscow, has proven one of the bloodiest of Russia's invasion.
"(Battles) are underway in the streets, enemy attempts to encircle the city are failing. Our command fully control the situation," said Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Mr Zelenskyy.
The leader of Russia's private Wagner militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said fighting was continuing in the west of the city.
"It must be said clearly that the enemy is not going anywhere," he said on his Telegram channel.
Mr Prigozhin has often complained of a lack of ammunition for his fighters in Bakhmut.
Ukrainian border guard Levko Stek, speaking in a video clip amid explosions, said Ukrainian forces did not sense any "ammunition hunger" on the Russian side.
