(Brussels) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday urged his American counterpart Joe Biden to participate in the peace summit planned for June in Switzerland, saying that his possible absence would be equivalent to “applauding” Vladimir Putin.
Posted at 6:14 a.m.
“The peace summit needs President Biden,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Brussels. “His absence would be like applauding Putin,” he said.
Washington has at this stage not confirmed the arrival of Joe Biden, who is due to go to a G7 Summit in Italy around these dates.
The United States is Ukraine’s key supporter in the face of the Russian invasion that has continued for more than two years. But Kyiv has been frustrated by significant delays in U.S. military aid deliveries that have been blocked by procrastination in Congress and have significantly weakened Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
Volodymyr Zelensky, on a European tour since Monday, also estimated that the countries which are avoiding the summit scheduled for June 15 and 16 in Switzerland were “satisfied” with the war ravaging Ukraine for more than two years.
“There are only two scenarios: real peace or a further extension of the war”, estimated the Ukrainian head of state for whom the conference in Switzerland could serve to “force Russia into peace”.
“It’s absolutely, absolutely possible. Everything depends on the determination of world leaders and the real choice of each State: whether it wants to establish real peace or whether it is satisfied with the current situation, that is to say, whether it is satisfied with the war,” assured Mr. Zelensky.
He accused Vladimir Putin of trying to “fail” this summit organized by Switzerland at the request of Ukraine.
“Putin is very afraid of the peace summit. He tried to make this summit fail and continues to do so,” denounced the Ukrainian president, after having rejected the day before the proposal from China and Brazil to invite Russia which was going to “block everything”
Moscow is seeking to organize an “alternative” meeting, he said again on Tuesday, calling on the international community to shun this one.
“If you want peace, let’s meet at the peace summit. It is right that we prepare this platform with other partners, because the war is at home […] We are the victim, we are attacked and killed,” he said.
“And if you want war, you will participate in this gathering that Russia wants to organize,” insisted the president.
European weapons on Russian soil?
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell urged the 27 on Tuesday to find a balance between fear of an escalation and the need for the Ukrainians to defend themselves, judging that Kyiv must be able to strike Russian soil with Western weapons.
“According to the laws of war, it is perfectly possible, and there is no contradiction, I can retaliate or fight against anyone who attacks me from his territory,” he said before a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels.
“There needs to be a balance between the risk of escalation and the need for Ukrainians to defend themselves,” he added.
The debate over the use or not on Russian soil of Western weapons supplied to Ukraine is agitating Washington and European capitals.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared himself in favor of it, but several allied countries of Ukraine, including Germany and the United States, are much more reluctant, fearing a direct conflict with Moscow.
“Germany has made a sovereign decision,” German State Secretary for Defense Siemtje Möller said on Tuesday, reaffirming Berlin’s categorical opposition.
Ukraine regularly pressures its Western partners, particularly Washington, its largest arms supplier, to allow it to use longer-range Western weapons against targets in Russia.
Kyiv “has the right to defend itself” and therefore has “the right to strike legitimate military objectives outside Ukraine,” Mr. Stoltenberg stressed on Monday in Sofia.
Several European countries, including Estonia and the Netherlands, were in favor of this option on Tuesday.
“I never ruled it out […] and I hope that other countries which have a different position will change it,” declared Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren, upon her arrival in Brussels.
