The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, opened this Saturday together with his Swiss counterpart and host, Viola Amherd, the first peace summit promoted by kyiv with an appeal to multilateralism and global unity around the principles of the United Nations Charter to end the war and achieve a “just peace.”
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“The opinions, ideas and leadership of all countries are equally important to us,” said Zelensky, who announced that The summit will have representatives at different levels from a total of 101 countries and international organizations.
The Ukrainian president reviewed the long road to the summit taking place this weekend, which began with the presentation of the call Ukrainian “Peace Formula” at the G20 summit held in Bali in November 2022 and continued with four meetings of advisors to heads of State and Government to discuss this document.
Zelensky described as a “success” the fact that the process now culminates with the celebration of a summit in which a greater number of countries have joined than those that were represented in previous meetings.
“Everything that will be agreed upon at this summit today will be part of the process to achieve the peace that we all need. I believe that we will witness how history is made at this summit,” declared the Ukrainian head of state, who thanked all the participants for accepting his invitation to the meeting in Switzerland.
What does the peace summit on Ukraine seek?
World leaders meet this Saturday in Switzerland with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, in a summit that due to the Russian absence it is seen as a mere first step in a long process.
The appointment occurs the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded kyiv’s surrender before any negotiations. The two-day meeting is being held at the luxurious Burgenstock hotel complex and will bring together Zelensky with more than 50 heads of state and government and other lower-level delegations.
The summit will have a large Latin American representation, with the Argentine presidents Javier Milei, the Chilean Gabriel Boric and the Ecuadorian Daniel Noboa. Although the presence of Colombian Gustavo Petro was expected, a few hours before the start of the event the president canceled his attendance.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also declined to attend and his ambassador in Bern will participate in his place.
Other allies of Russia in the BRICS group such as South Africa and India will send second-rank positions and China refused to participate.
The objective, according to the host country, is to pave the way towards a roadmap for peace that will subsequently also involve Russia. Putin, however, called the summit a “trick to divert attention.”
National delegations should agree on a declaration with some basic principles for an eventual peace process. These basic principles will be drawn from the ten-point peace plan presented by Zelensky at the end of 2022 and from widely supported UN resolutions.
But experts advise against maintaining high expectations for the meeting.. “Meaningful negotiations that can truly end the devastating war in Ukraine are out of reach as long as kyiv and Moscow cling to theories of victory that involves imposing on the other,” said the International Crisis Group think tank.
A plenary session with all delegations will take place on Saturday and specific working groups will be formed on Sunday for three priority issues: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security and humanitarian aspects.
The content of these groups includes navigation in the Black Sea, the fate of prisoners of war and detained civilians or the return of deported children.
In a televised speech, the Kremlin leader said he will order a ceasefire and begin negotiations “as soon as” kyiv begins the withdrawal of troops from the disputed areas of eastern and southern Ukraine and renounces joining NATO.
Zelensky rejected Putin’s “ultimatum” and said it reminded him of Adolf Hitler’s style. NATO and the United States also repudiated Moscow’s conditions to end the war that began with the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The German head of government, Olaf Scholz, assured for his part that the Russian demands are equivalent to “dictating” peace.
“What we need is not a dictated peace, but a just and equitable peace that takes into account the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” he insisted on the German channel ARD.
After nearly a year of stagnation, Ukraine had to abandon dozens of positions on the front in recent months due to the offensive of Russian troops, more numerous and better equipped.
But from mid-May, the Russian advance slowed and Zelensky hopes to reverse the trend from this peace summit and the previous G7 summit in Italy, which was closed with a $50 billion loan to kyiv financed with interest on frozen Russian assets.
Zelensky said the loan would go “for both defense and reconstruction.” For his part, Putin described this measure as “theft” and warned that “it will not go unpunished.”
In that same forum, Zelensky signed with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, a bilateral security agreement that will entail the provision of military aid and training to kyiv’s troops.
Biden is the only G7 leader who does not plan to travel from Italy to neighboring Switzerland and his vice president Kamala Harris will attend in his place.
Harris also announced more than $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine on Saturday, primarily for its energy sector and humanitarian assistance.
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