POLITICS

World leaders meet in Switzerland to discuss a Ukraine peace roadmap. Russia is notably absent

Jun 15, 2024, 12:02 AM | Updated: 1:18 pm

OBBÜRGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Dozens of world leaders converged on a Swiss resort Saturday to discuss how to bring peace to war-ravaged Ukraine, though any hopes of a real breakthrough were muted by the absence of Russia.

More than two years into the war, the combatants remain as far apart as they’ve ever been, with Kyiv sticking to its demands that Russia leave all Ukrainian territory it has seized and Moscow pressing on with its grinding offensive that has already taken large swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Despite Russia’s absence from the conference at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that one measure of the two-day event’s success was “bringing back to the world the idea that joint efforts can stop war and establish a just peace.”

Attendees faced a tricky balancing act, with many chastising Russia for breaking international law while hedging their positions to leave the door open for Moscow to join future peace talks that might bring about an end to the conflict one day.

“Here, there are representatives from Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the Pacific, North America and religious leaders,” Zelenskyy said. “Now, there is no Russia here. Why? Because if Russia was interested in peace, there would be no war.”

“We must decide together what a just peace means for the world and how it can be achieved in a truly lasting way,” he said. “At the first peace summit, we must determine how to achieve a just peace, so that at the second, we can already settle on a real end to the war.”

About half of the roughly 100 delegations were led by heads of state and government. Analysts said turnout would be a key indicator about how much pull Ukraine and its staunch Western backers have with the broader international community.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday sought to cast a shadow over the Swiss-Ukrainian initiative for the conference. Some countries such as India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia that have retained ties, at times lucrative, with Moscow — unlike Western powers that have sanctioned Russia over the war — were also on hand.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, told the conference that credible peace talks will need Russia’s participation and require “difficult compromise.”

Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, acknowledged the mistrust between Russia and Ukraine, saying “each side regards the other party’s steps (in floating proposals) as an extension of broader war effort.”

“Excellencies, I must also note that this summit could have been more results-oriented if the other party to the conflict — Russia — was present in the room,” he added.

Entering the venue, President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania, a NATO member country that has been one of the most stalwart supporters of fellow former Soviet republic Ukraine, said Russian troops must leave Ukraine, and that Moscow must be held accountable for crimes there and pay reparations for the war damage.

“Right now it seems unrealistic, but I think we have to stay united, and if international society will push the Russian Federation, everything is possible,” he told The Associated Press. “I think the situation is very clear: Ukraine has to seek territorial integrity.”

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, representing the United States while President Joe Biden attended a fundraiser in California, reiterated America’s full backing for Ukraine and announced $1.5 billion in new U.S. assistance for an array of projects such as energy infrastructure and civilian security.

China, which backs Russia, joined scores of countries that sat out the event. Beijing has said any peace process would require the participation of Russia and Ukraine, and has floated its own ideas for peace.

In a separate initiative last month, China and Brazil agreed to six “common understandings” toward a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, asking other countries to play a role in promoting peace talks to be held “at a proper time” with both Russia and Ukraine involved.

The standoff over Ukraine is steeped in security for Europe — it is the continent’s deadliest conflict since World War II — and big-power geopolitics.

U.S. intelligence officials say China has increased sales of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology to Russia that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry to fuel its war effort.

“What is clear is that China is not here, and I presume they’re not here because Putin asked them not to come and they obliged Putin,” said Biden’s top foreign policy advisor, Jake Sullivan. “And I think that says something about where China stands with respect to Russia’s war in Ukraine. I think countries should take notice of that.”

Harris and Sullivan both acknowledged that not all participants were on the same page about an eventual peace settlement.

Russian troops who control nearly a quarter of Ukraine have made territorial gains in recent months. When talk of the Swiss-hosted peace summit began last summer, Ukrainian forces had recently regained large tracts of territory, notably near the southern city of Kherson and the northern city of Kharkiv.

The conference centers on three agenda items — seen as the least controversial bits of a 10-point peace “formula” laid out by Zelenskyy: Nuclear safety, including at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant; possible prisoner of war exchanges; and global food security. The war has disrupted shipments of food and fertilizer through the Black Sea.

Zelenskyy’s plan also called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territory, the cessation of hostilities and the restoration of Ukraine’s original borders with Russia, including Russia’s withdrawal from occupied Crimea. With Ukrainian mostly on the defensive these days, those appear to be increasingly distant hopes.

Putin wants any peace deal to be built around a draft agreement negotiated in the early phases of the war that included provisions for Ukraine’s neutral status and limits on its armed forces, while delaying talks about Russian-occupied areas. Ukraine’s push to join NATO over the years has rankled Moscow.

He wants Ukraine to drop its bid to join NATO and pull its forces out of regions that Russia illegally annexed in 2022.

“The situation on the battlefield has changed dramatically,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, noting that although Russia “can’t achieve its maximalist objectives quickly through military means,” it is gaining momentum on the battlefield.

As world leaders discussed a pathway to peace in Switzerland, the war ground on in Ukraine, where shelling killed at least three civilians and wounded 15 others on Friday and overnight into Saturday, regional officials said.

Meanwhile, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s southern Belgorod region, blamed Ukraine in a social media post for shelling that struck a five-story apartment building in the town of Shebekino on Friday, killing five people. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

___

Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.

Politics

Associated Press

AP Race Call: Democrat Val Hoyle wins reelection to U.S. House in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Thursday. Hoyle, a first-term congresswoman, defeated Republican Monique DeSpain, an Air Force veteran. She succeeded longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio in 2022. The 4th District runs along the western portion of the state and includes Eugene. The Associated Press declared […]

36 minutes ago

Associated Press

AP Race Call: Independent Angus King wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Maine

Independent Sen. Angus King won a third term in the U.S. Senate representing Maine on Thursday, turning back challenges from a former Republican state party chair and a Democratic environmental activist. The 80-year-old former governor would be the oldest senator from Maine to serve if he completes his term, which ends in 2030, but he […]

1 hour ago

FILE — A group of protesters burn pictures of then-U.S. President Donald Trump, top, and then-Pre...

Associated Press

For many Iranians, Trump’s return intensifies worries about war. Yet some see reasons for hope

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians, like many around the world, are divided on what Donald Trump’s next presidency will bring: Some foresee an all-out war between Tehran and Washington, particularly as other conflicts rage in the region. Others hold out hope that America’s 47th president might engage in unexpected diplomacy as he did with North […]

2 hours ago

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance, R...

Associated Press

The Latest: Biden to deliver remarks following Trump’s win, House control hangs in the balance

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks to the nation in what will be his first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Donald Trump ’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris. Control over the U.S. House of Representatives hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with dozens of races left […]

4 hours ago

FILE - President Donald Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House in ...

Associated Press

Trump’s second term could realign US diplomacy toward authoritarian leaders

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s fiery, right-wing leader says Donald Trump’s victory will help his own battle against immigration and multiculturalism and restore traditional family values. In Argentina, a president who once bear-hugged Trump at a political conference in Maryland is attacking his critics as rats and parasites, ranting against what he calls a corrupt […]

11 hours ago

FILE - Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Dec. 15,...

Associated Press

Giuliani to appear in a NYC court after missing a deadline to surrender assets

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani will appear in a New York City courtroom on Thursday to explain to a federal judge why he hasn’t surrendered his valuables as part of a $148 million defamation judgment. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York City mayor to report to court after lawyers for […]

11 hours ago

World leaders meet in Switzerland to discuss a Ukraine peace roadmap. Russia is notably absent