- Switzerland is hosting world leaders this weekend to discuss peace in Ukraine without Russia’s involvement.
- The government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky kept Russia out of the talks and Switzerland also did not invite them.
- The conference is based on Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan to be held by the end of 2022, which aims to garner international support.
Switzerland will host a number of world leaders this weekend to determine the first steps towards peace in Ukraine. Although RussiaThe one who started this war will not take part in it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government did not want to involve Russia, and the Swiss – aware of Moscow’s doubts about the talks – did not invite Russia. The Swiss insist that Russia should be included at some point, and hope it will one day join the process. The Ukrainians are also considering this possibility.
The conference, based on elements of the 10-point peace formula presented by Zelensky in late 2022, is unlikely to yield major results and is seen as a largely symbolic attempt by Kiev to rally the international community and show strength against its better-armed and numerically superior rival.
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But the summit will be dominated by the question of how the two countries can step back from the brink of war and finally silence the guns, a war that has already cost hundreds of billions of dollars and left hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded, and that too without Moscow’s presence.
The logo of the Peace Summit is pictured in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, on June 13, 2024. Switzerland will host a number of world leaders this weekend to outline the first steps towards peace in Ukraine, although Russia, which started the current war, will not attend. (Urs Flueller/Keystone via AP)
The conflict has also led to international sanctions against nuclear-armed Russia and heightened tensions between NATO and Moscow. The summit comes as Russian forces are making modest territorial gains in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, tightening their grip on about a quarter of the country.
Here’s a glimpse of what to expect from the weekend event at the Bürgenstock Resort, perched on a cliff above Lake Lucerne.
who is going?
At stake will be a simple approach: how many countries can the Swiss and Ukrainians get on board. The bigger the turnout, the bigger the international effort and pressure for peace, it is thought.
Swiss officials have sent out about 160 invitations and said about 90 delegations would attend, including a handful of international organizations such as the United Nations. About half of them will be from Europe. Zelenskyy has made diplomatic efforts in Asia and beyond to boost participation.
It will be attended by several dozen heads of state or government, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
According to a senior Biden administration official, United States Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday. Harris, who is making a quick trip to Lucerne to attend Inauguration Day, is also expected to deliver an address ahead of the gathering.
The official, who briefed a small group of reporters on the vice president’s plans but spoke on condition of anonymity, said Harris intends to focus her attention on “defending and strengthening the international rules-based order.”
What to know about the upcoming Swiss summit on Ukraine’s peace plan?
Who are the main absentees?
US President Joe Biden, who was wrapping up a trip to Italy for the Group of Seven summit on Friday, opted to send Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Meanwhile, the president was heading to Los Angeles for a glitzy campaign fundraiser with actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as former President Barack Obama.
Biden and Zelensky signed a 10-year security deal at the G7 summit on Thursday.
Russia’s key ally, China, will not participate.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said it believes any such international peace conference should include both Russia and Ukraine, although Beijing supports efforts to end the conflict and is monitoring developments in Switzerland.
The final list of participants is not expected until late Friday, and questions remain over whether major developing countries such as India, Brazil and Turkey will take part.
But so far fewer than half of the UN’s 193 member states are planning to attend, evidence of a wait-and-see policy in many world capitals.
“Russia doesn’t have a lot of allies in this particular situation,” said Keith Krause, a professor of international security studies at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. “It has a number of countries that could come under pressure, and there are some that want to stay out of what they see as a northern, U.S.-Russia, NATO-Russia confrontation.”
“In reality they — what they consider to be fighting — have no strength,” he said.
What can be expected?
Critics say a peace summit without Russia will fall short of concrete achievements toward peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government does not believe Switzerland, which has backed EU sanctions on Moscow over the war, is neutral.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said peace talks without Russia’s participation were “a path to the unknown.”
“In fact, the main goal is to present an ultimatum to the Russian Federation in the form of a so-called ‘peace plan,'” the ambassador was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti.
Participants are expected to unite around an outcome document or a joint plan, and Ukraine will have a lot of input into it. But clarifying the language to build consensus among delegations is still a work in progress, and this may explain why some countries are not yet saying whether they will attend.
Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukrainian officials want countries that respect Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity to be invited. He said the basis for the talks should be a 10-point peace formula presented by Zelenskyy, and raised the possibility that Russia could be invited to another such summit.
Speaking to reporters late Tuesday, Yermak said Ukraine and other partners would draw up a “joint plan” to unite, “and we are exploring the possibility of inviting a Russian representative to the second summit and presenting this joint plan together.”
Asked what would be the criteria for a successful summit at Bürgenstock, he replied: “We believe it is already a success, because of the large number of countries participating.”
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What is the Ukrainian 10-point peace formula?
Ukraine’s peace plan introduced by Zelensky outlines 10 proposals that encapsulate the president’s step-by-step approach to ending the war against Russian aggression, now in its third year.
The plan contains ambitious calls, including the withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territory, an end to hostilities and the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders with Russia, including Crimea. This is an unlikely outcome at this stage in the war, as Ukraine is unable to negotiate from a position of strength. Moscow’s forces have the upper hand in firepower and number of troops, while Kiev’s momentum is stalled by delays in Western military supplies.
This is perhaps why the most controversial elements of the plan are not being discussed.
The summit will discuss just three topics: nuclear security, including at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; humanitarian aid; and food security, not just in Ukraine but globally – particularly the effects of the war on Ukrainian agricultural production and exports.
Western officials in Kiev said these topics are beyond international interest and are easy for Kiev to win over to the international community. But they do not include difficult issues that can only be resolved through dialogue with Moscow.
Russia’s hesitation about the conference stems partly from its unwillingness to show any sign of accepting the Ukrainian peace formula, which it rejects, or agree to any red lines set by Kiev.
Putin has supported a deal based on a draft peace agreement made in the early days of the war that includes the following provisions: For Ukraine Russia delayed negotiations over the status of Russian-occupied territories, maintaining a neutral position and placing limits on its armed forces.
What is the way forward?
The Graduate Institute’s Krause said Ukraine needs to emerge from this summit with momentum — reaffirmations of commitment from its top allies and partners on issues such as territorial integrity and future relations, even if membership in NATO or the European Union seems far in the future.
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He said Ukraine would like to see a reaffirmation that it was up to Kiev to reach an agreement on what terms. war will end.
“I don’t think anyone is under any illusions that this will lead to a new peace plan or even an agreement that will stop hostilities on the battlefield,” Krause said. “But as past wars have shown, including World War II, discussions about the contours of peace begin long before the fighting stops on the battlefield.”
