Burgenstock: Moscow reacts to the peace summit in Switzerland

There peace conference on Ukrainewhich brought together more than 90 countries on Saturday and Sunday in Switzerland, in the absence of Russia and China, resulted in “zero” results, the Kremlin estimated on Monday.

“If we talk about the results of this meeting, they are close to zero,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press.

According to him, many of its participants understand “that any serious discussion has no future without the presence of Russia.”

The overwhelming majority of the more than 90 countries represented at the Bürgenstock summit in Switzerland agreed on Sunday that “dialogue between all parties” and respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity was the path to follow to end to the Ukrainian conflict, which has lasted since the launch of the Russian offensive in February 2022.

But neither Russia nor China were represented in Switzerland and the final communiqué did not receive the support of countries such as India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, considered close economic partners of Moscow.

“Open to dialogue”

According to Mr. Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, remains “always open to dialogue and serious and substantial discussions.”

For his part, Mr. Putin declared last Friday that he would negotiate with Ukraine in the event of withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the four regions he claims and when kyiv has given up joining NATO.

In the process, his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, rejected what he said was an “ultimatum”.

Intensified attacks

Ukraine judged on Monday that Russia was intensifying its attacks on the eastern front to “maximize the exhaustion of Ukrainian troops”, before the arrival of Western military aid, notably F-16 fighter planes.

Russian forces have, in recent months, gained ground in the border regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv, thanks to a shortage of men and ammunition in Ukraine.

“The command of the Russian troops is currently doing everything possible to increase and expand the intensity of hostilities in order to maximize the exhaustion of our troops,” announced Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of the Ukrainian army, on his Telegram channel.

According to the latter, Moscow is aware that “time will play a role” in favor of kyiv, with the receipt of a “significant quantity of weapons and equipment” from its allies, including the F-16 planes, supposed strengthen Ukrainian air defense.

Russian forces

The Ukrainian commander specifies that Russian forces are concentrating their efforts in the surroundings of “Koupiansk, Pokorvsk, Kurakhové and Vremivka”, located on the eastern front, while “fierce fighting” continues in the East and South.

The prosecutor of the southern region of Kherson, partially occupied by Moscow, announced Monday that a 50-year-old man had been killed by an “explosive dropped from a drone.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has, for several months, continually requested systems to protect the Ukrainian skies from his Western partners, but these have been arriving in trickles.

He also estimated in May in an interview with AFP that his country needed “120 to 130” F-16 combat planes or other modern aircraft, “so that Russia does not have superiority in the air” .

Putin visits North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kremlin announced, a rare visit to this state, one of the most reclusive in the world, accused of supplying Moscow with ammunition for its offensive in Ukraine.

“At the invitation of Kim Jong-un (…), Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18 and 19, 2024,” the Kremlin said in a statement. The Russian president will then visit Vietnam on June 19 and 20.

ATS

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