BEIJING, June 16  -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Monday urged calm and restraint after a Ukrainian military transport plane was shot down and all 49 soldiers on board killed.

"As the situation in Ukraine is at a critical period, (we) hope all sides will keep calm," Spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing. Media reports say the plane was shot down by pro-Russia rebels.

Hua said all sides concerned are intensely pursuing a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko mapped out a peace plan.

She urged the sides to cease fire as soon as possible to create favorable conditions for a political solution.

During the briefing, Hua also condemned the attack by hundreds of Ukrainian protesters on Russia's embassy in Kiev.

According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and other international conventions, the safety of diplomatic missions and personnel should be ensured effectively, said the spokeswoman.