BEIJING, July 9. /TASS/. Moscow and Kiev should keep a cool head in the Ukraine conflict, and work to de-escalate the situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said at a briefing, answering a Ukrainian journalist about allegations that Moscow bombed a hospital in Kiev.
"China's position on the Ukrainian issue is consistent and clear: all sides should responsibly contribute to cooling down the situation and create conditions for achieving a ceasefire and political settlement of the crisis as soon as possible," Lin Jian said. The spokesman did not respond in any way to a clarifying question whether the Chinese side could condemn the strike or offer condolences.
Lin Jian recalled the importance of adhering to three principles to de-escalate the conflict: not to allow fighting to spread beyond the battlefield, not to allow the war to escalate, and not to allow anyone to add fuel to the fire.
"All sides should show calm and restraint and avoid actions that could further escalate the situation," Lin Jian summarized.
Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian Armed Forces in response to attempts to attack energy facilities on Russian territory on July 8 launched a precision strike on military facilities and airbases of the Ukrainian armed forces. The strikes all hit their targets. The ministry noted that statements from the Ukrainian authorities about an alleged deliberate missile strike by Russia on civilian facilities do not correspond to reality, as photos and video from the scene confirm that the destruction occurred due to a Ukrainian air defense missile crashing into the facility. The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that "this kind of hysteria from the Kiev regime has been going on for years, each time occurring on the eve of another meeting (summit) of its NATO patrons."
Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy has said that a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine will be held on Tuesday. At the meeting, Russia will provide the UN Security Council members the facts that refute the Ukrainian version of the strike on Kiev.