French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are in Beijing today for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. After the meeting, the commission president praised the Chinese leader's stance on nuclear weapons, but warned Beijing against arming Russia, claiming that would violate international law. Von der Leyen said that President Xi had stated during talks that he was willing to talk with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, when the time was right. And she emphasized China's importance in promoting a just peace.

Earlier, Presidents Macron and Xi issued a joint call for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to take place "as soon as possible." France sees China as a key player in finding a peaceful solution to the war.

We are talking about this with our Russia correspondent Gzhegosh Shimanovski, who's reporting from the Latvian capital, Riga, since Russia shut down DW's Moscow bureau. Brussels Correspondent Jack Parrock is with us as well.

And we speak with Noah Barkin, China Analyst at the German Marshall Fund think tank.