Dozens of world leaders have gathered in the Swiss city of Lucerne to try to find a way to end the more than two-year-old war in Ukraine, but the absence of Russian and Chinese officials has dimmed the prospect of much progress.
A day before the opening of the two-day summit on June 15th, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Kyiv to abandon its NATO ambitions and hand over four provinces that Moscow claims it claims.
The proposal, which Kyiv called “manipulative” and “absurd” and tantamount to surrender, signaled Putin’s determination to continue the conflict, casting a further shadow on the meeting.
More than 90 countries and international organizations are participating in the meetings held in the mountain resort in central Switzerland.
Among those who will attend are the United States (U.S.) Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Britain and Japan. India, Turkey and Hungary, which maintain friendly relations with Russia, are also expected to join.
Switzerland has agreed to host the summit at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is seeking to pave the way for a future peace process involving Russia. But Moscow was not invited to attend the gathering, which Ukrainian officials billed as a “peace summit.”
Even before Putin’s June 14th statement at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russian officials dismissed the event as futile.
This prompted China, which is a strong trading partner of Moscow and supports many of Moscow’s positions on the global stage, to also refuse to participate.
Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, launched in February 2022, shows no signs of abating. Despite Russian military losses that U.S. officials say are at least 350,000 killed and wounded, Russia has continued to advance.
Ukraine’s casualties are believed to be comparable to Russia’s, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
