The US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, stated that Washington wants to see China press Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

As reported by CNN, Burns made these remarks during a discussion at the Stimson Center, an American think tank specialising in international politics, on Tuesday.

"What we need to see from China is to push Russia to withdraw its troops and so that Ukraine can have all of its territory back and can be fully sovereign again in all aspects of that word," said the American diplomat.

According to Burns, China could push Russia to cease bombing Ukrainian schools, hospitals, and residential buildings.

"We’ve seen a tremendous loss of life just in the last month or two under this vicious Russian aerial assault and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians. So I think that's what we would like and I'm sure that's what the European countries would like, that's what Ukraine wants from China," he added.

In the opinion of the American ambassador, the conversation between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was "a good first step," but it's unclear if any action will follow it.

"We would like to see China be much more tough-minded in its advice to the Russians. We'd like to see action to end the war as quickly as possible in terms, of course, that the Ukrainian government can accept," said Burns.

China officially claims neutrality in the Russian-Ukrainian war and supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, but it provides economic and political support to Moscow.

Zelenskyy-Xi phone call on April 26 was the first since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After the call, China was to send its representative to Ukraine and other countries for consultations on the war settlement.