China envoy calls for end of arms shipments to Ukraine

China's envoy to the United Nations on Thursday called for de-escalating the conflict in Ukraine and a halt to arms shipments there.

"Many (Security) Council members, including China, have expressed concerns about the increased lethality of the weapons and the rising risk of diversion and proliferation," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said at a Security Council meeting on the Ukraine crisis.

"The continued supply of weapons to the battlefield will only exacerbate the cruelty, danger and unpredictability of the war, hasten the spread of the spillover effects, and further dim the hopes for the cessation of hostilities," he said.