Geneva
A Swiss Air Force helicopter arrived in Obruggen, next to the luxury resort town of Bürgenstock in central Switzerland, on June 10, 2024, ahead of the Ukraine Peace Summit on June 15 and 16.
Ahead of the first summit on Ukraine peace, Kiev said on Tuesday it wanted Russia to attend the second summit to receive an internationally agreed roadmap for ending the conflict.
Moscow said it had no intention of taking part in this weekend's talks and had not been invited by Swiss hosts, but Ukraine wants concrete results from the meeting to move forward to a second summit.
Andriy Yermak, head of the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the “bad experience” of past negotiation formats involving Moscow before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 meant that an end to the war needed to be built on a broad base of support from the start and rooted in international law.
“At the second summit we will work with all countries and colleagues who are interested in taking part,” Yermak told European media via video link from Berlin.
“We plan to jointly prepare a joint plan that will have the support of all responsible countries, and we are exploring the possibility of inviting Russian representatives to the second summit to jointly present this joint plan.”
A position supported not just by Ukraine but by “more than 100 countries” from all continents, he said, “will be a real plan that will be very difficult to disagree with… a real road map for stopping this war and resolving the crisis.”
Summit 'already a success'
Swiss President Viola Amherd said on Monday that the summit aims to find a path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine based on international law and define a framework for engaging both warring parties in a future peace process.
Switzerland has invited more than 160 countries and international organisations to the two-day summit, which will be held at the Bürgenstock resort complex, and has so far received confirmation of participation from over 90.
Roughly half will be represented by heads of state or government and roughly half will be from Europe.
“We consider it a success already because so many countries are participating, from all continents,” Yermak said.
He said Ukraine was “ready to discuss all ideas” from participating countries if they could help stop the war.
“We want the liberation of our land, we want our people and our children back, and we want justice,” Yermak said.
The door to China is open
Among Russia's allies, China is not participating, and Brazil and South Africa are likely to also withdraw.
“We know that Russia is opposed to this summit and is trying hard to prevent countries from attending,” Yermak said.
“If Russia is that worried, it's proof that we're moving in the right direction,” he said, still hoping that wavering countries would eventually attend.
“We are ready to listen to China's position,” Yermak said, adding that he hopes China will join the process sooner rather than later.
“Like Ukraine, territorial integrity is important to China. Nuclear security is also important,” he added.
“They have a few days to change their position. We would be happy if a senior Chinese official comes to Switzerland,” he said.
“If not, we will continue to work with China and do our best on our side to have them attend the second summit.”
Yermak said that if the war in Ukraine were to end, it would show that “world leaders can truly come together to solve such serious problems” and could serve as a model for future conflict resolution.
