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But Zelensky urged the ambassador to “come back” so he could thank him personally for the Bushmasters.

“And that is why, to shake hands with the ambassador of Australia, I will do it with pleasure.

“Please come, come back but on Bushmaster, we need one more,” he said, prompting laughter in the room, which was filled with about 200 international journalists.

“I’ll be very happy, really. I have relations with Australia and they really helped us a lot. I had a big, huge, deficit with armoued vehicles and it [was a] very important moment.

“And I don’t want to share all the information [about]] how many we got from Australia but anyway, we’ve got it and that is great.”

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The OECD, headed by Australia’s former finance minister Mathias Cormann, announced the organisation would be opening a liaison office in Kyiv.

Zelensky used the media spotlight to increase pressure on China, which has attempted to cast itself as a peace broker. This was despite warnings from the US and NATO that Beijing may give Russia lethal aid to help it defeat Ukraine.

“China spoke its mind about the matter,” he said.

“China started talking about Ukraine and I think this is a good thing.

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“But it begs the question what will these words be followed with? Because the steps to be taken, this is what’s important.

“What they are saying looks like respect for territorial integrity, but it doesn’t mention the country. But it’s our territorial integrity which has been breached.”

He said there are points in the Chinese proposals that he agrees with, and some he doesn’t. He said China’s involvement could be useful in isolating Russia, adding that Ukraine’s task “is to gather everyone to isolate the one”.

“If there are ideas that are aligned with the idea of international law, territorial integrity and security guarantees, then we need to put those to good use, we need to work with China on that, why not?”

Zelensky said his main goal was making sure China doesn’t supply weapons to Russia.

He also said he’d like to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping: “I believe that it will benefit our countries and the security of the world.”

The G7 leaders held a call and in a statement called on countries and “other international actors” supplying Russia to cease “or face severe costs”.

“To deter this activity around the world, we are taking actions against third-country actors materially supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine,” the leaders said without naming a country.

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After the call, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Reflecting on China’s ceasefire proposals, the prime minister said he supported President Zelensky’s calls for China to engage with Ukraine, adding that peace could only be achieved on Ukraine’s terms.”

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