In Switzerland, the peace summit reaffirms the integrity of Ukraine and wants to involve Russia – 06/17/2024 at 03:27

The vast majority of countries gathered at the first Ukraine peace summit reiterated their support for Ukraine’s independence and territorial sovereignty and stressed that Russia must be part of the discussions to achieve “a lasting and just”.

But the summit had barely ended, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that Russia and its leaders – Vladimir Putin demanded a de facto capitulation from kyiv for any negotiations – “are not ready for a just peace”.

Russia can negotiate peace “tomorrow, if it withdraws from our territory”, insisted Mr. Zelensky, during a press briefing at the end of this conference which brought together leaders of more than 90 countries in a complex luxury hotelier in central Switzerland.

More than two years after the Russian invasion, the vast majority of participants managed to agree on a final communiqué outlining avenues to end the biggest European conflict since the Second World War.

But the question of “how and when to involve Russia” remains open, acknowledged the President of the Swiss Confederation and host of the summit, Viola Amherd.

“We will have to find a method allowing” Russia and China “to join these deliberations,” added Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo alongside him.

According to an official count, around 80 countries support the final declaration. Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia in particular were not part of it.

The head of the Indian delegation, Pavan Kapoor, stressed that peace could only be achieved by “bringing both parties to the conflict into sincere engagement.”

The text reaffirms “the principles of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine”. He denounces “the militarization of food security” and calls for the return of Ukrainian children deported by Russia.

He also calls “to involve all parties” to the conflict to put an end to hostilities, while Russia and its Chinese ally snubbed this first summit.

Beijing chose not to participate due to Moscow’s absence. But Mr. Zelensky assured Sunday that his country was “not the enemy” of China. “Ukraine has only one enemy: Putin,” he insisted.

– Second summit –

“We know that peace in Ukraine will not be achieved in one fell swoop. It is a road ahead. This (summit) was not a peace negotiation. Because Putin is not serious about ending the war.” , underlined Sunday the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

The Ukrainian president explained that the summit would be followed by meetings at technical and ministerial level, before a second peace summit “to end this war and have a just and lasting peace.” Its objective is to unite the international community around a peace proposal which could be presented to Moscow.

The meeting took place while Ukraine is in military difficulty, but Mr. Zelensky assured that “it is not because we become weaker that we start talking about peace.”

The call for surrender launched on Friday by President Vladimir Putin was also sharply rejected by a majority of the participants.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said on Sunday that Ukraine should “think” about the Russian president’s proposal, assuring that it was not an “ultimatum” but “an initiative of peace which takes into account the realities on the ground”.

The Ukrainian president described the summit as a “success”, adding in particular to the release of American military aid, after months of procrastination and a loan of 50 billion dollars guaranteed by frozen Russian assets.

– Bring the children in –

Sunday was dedicated to nuclear safety and global food security, including ensuring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

The final communiqué demands the release “by complete exchange” of prisoners of war but also “of all deported and illegally displaced Ukrainian children”.

“We have seen around 20,000 Ukrainian children taken from their families, their communities and their country. It is terrifying to say that, and how can the world turn its back?”, outraged the Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.

The text also calls for all illegally detained Ukrainian civilians to be “returned to Ukraine.”

– Food and nuclear safety –

Discussions on food security focused on the crisis in agricultural production and exports, which created a food and inflationary shock at the start of the war, with Ukraine being one of the world’s grain baskets.

The final communiqué underlines that “food security must not be militarized in any way” and that freedom of navigation on the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov must be guaranteed.

Discussions included not only the destruction of fertile land, but also the risks posed by mines and unexploded ordnance.

The final communiqué also demands that Ukraine regain “full sovereign control” over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe occupied by the Russians.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned of the risk of a major nuclear disaster at this facility.

The “critical situation” of the plant “is not a theoretical threat but a very real one”, notably due to the waste which must be permanently cooled, repeated the director of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, in an interview with the newspaper Russian Izvestia, saying it was important “to maintain a constructive dialogue with both parties” to the conflict.