ANKARA

The French foreign minister on Wednesday urged China to make Russia understand that it has reached a deadlock in Ukraine.

"It is necessary that China uses its relations with Russia to make it better understand it is in a deadlock, and to ask it to come to its senses for restoring peace and not continuing the war," Catherine Colonna said in a news conference following the council of ministers in Paris, along with her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

France's position in Ukraine are well-known, Colonna added.

France expects China to defend the principles which founded the international order, she added.

Colonna is set to hold talks with her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang during the day, according to a statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry.