The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday called on China to use its influence on Russia to end violence in Ukraine.
Borrell said that if the United Nations General Assembly fails to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine it is "the law of the jungle."
"I've been talking with the Chinese minister this morning, asking him to use their influence ... to respect the sovereignty and integrity of everybody, including Ukraine," Borrell told reporters.
Referring to a resolution on Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. Security Council, he said that it would be vetoed by Moscow, but he hoped the resolution would then be adopted by the General Assembly.
"If the United Nations doesn't condemn what Russia is doing then it is the law of the jungle. It is the law of the stronger, the one who is mighty and then invades the others using brutal force," he told reporters as he went into a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"If the United Nations don't condemn the Russian behaviour then it is the whole international system that is being put in cause," he added.
Invading Russian forces closed in on the Ukrainian capital Friday, in what appears to be an encircling movement after a barrage of airstrikes on cities and military bases around the country.
The advance on Kyiv is seen as an attempt to replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a Kremlin-friendly regime.
Pre-dawn explosions rocked Kyiv and gunfire was reported in parts of the city, while Ukraine's military said a group of Russian spies and saboteurs was seen on the capital's outskirts. Police told people not to exit a central subway station because of gunfire in the area.
The assault, anticipated for weeks by the West, amounts to Europe's largest ground conflict since World War II. It could also portend the emergence of a new "Iron Curtain" between the West and Russia, with global repercussions.
