Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned China in a newspaper interview on Monday against supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine and said doing so would bring on a world war.

"For us, it is important that China does not support the Russian Federation in this war. In fact, I would like it to be on our side," Zelenskiy told German daily Die Welt. "At the moment, however, I don't think it's possible."

"But I do see an opportunity for China to make a pragmatic assessment of what is happening here," he added. "Because if China allies itself with Russia, there will be a world war, and I do think that China is aware of that." (Writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Matthias Williams)