"I had a long and meaningful phone call with President Xi Jinping," Zelensky said on Twitter, according to Moscow Times.
"I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine's ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations," he wrote.
Zelensky's spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said on Facebook that the two had "an almost one-hour-long telephone conversation."
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that during the call Xi told Zelensky "talks and negotiation" were the "only way out" of the war.
"On the issue of the Ukraine crisis, China has always stood on the side of peace and its core position is to promote peace talks," CCTV reported Xi as saying.
According to a readout of the call, reported by CCTV, Xi said China "will neither watch the fire from the other side, nor add fuel to the fire, let alone take advantage of the crisis to profit."
"When dealing with the nuclear issue, all parties concerned should remain calm and restrained, truly focus on the future and destiny of themselves and all mankind, and jointly manage and control the crisis," Xi said.
Zelensky has said repeatedly he would be open to talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi.
In February Beijing unveiled a 12-point paper calling for a "political settlement" to the crisis in Ukraine.
The document portrayed China as a neutral party and urged the two sides to enter into peace negotiations.
The paper's first point was that "the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld."
MNA/PR