The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine on Thursday morning issued a warning to its citizens in the country, urging them to display the Chinese flag on their vehicles for security reasons.

“The situation in Ukraine has deteriorated dramatically. There have been shellings in several cities and military operations are ongoing,” the embassy statement said. He urged citizens to stay at home and stay away from windows or glass, warning that “serious rioting” could occur in the streets.

He also asked Chinese nationals to pay close attention to the situation, keep in touch with overseas Chinese organizations and “reach out to each other to reflect the image of the Chinese people and the strength of China.” .

A tricky point for China: China has found itself in an uncomfortable position during the current crisis; China and Russia have presented an increasingly united front in the face of what they see as Western interference in their internal affairs and threats to their security. This partnership was very publicly reinforced just a few weeks ago at a Xi-Putin summit.

Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, called on all parties to “keep a cool and rational head” on Wednesday night, saying “a peaceful solution” was still possible – even though the Ukrainian ambassador said that it was “too late” to de-escalate given the Russian attacks.