Switzerland-Peace Conference / Without Russia and China – Talks Deadlock as Russian Army Advances

Dozens of Western and other leaders are meeting in an effort to draw up a road map for peace in Ukraine. The summit is being held while the Russian army continues its advance.

Tomorrow, Sunday, at the conference in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, three issues will be approached in working groups: nuclear security, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects, notably the fate of Ukrainians forcibly taken to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today expressed hope that “a just peace will be reached as soon as possible” at the start of the first Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland without Russia.

With the absence of Russia, which was not invited and its strong ally China, this conference does not seem to be constructive, despite the presence of dozens of leaders participating in order to find diplomatic solutions.

“Russia will not send any message to the participants of the Swiss summit on Ukraine and hopes that next time the conflict will be discussed in a more constructive conference,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

“We don’t want to convey anything to them… We want to come together next time in a more focused and promising conference,” the Kremlin official said.

The circle of countries participating in the process of drawing up a peace plan for Ukraine should be expanded, French President Emmanuel Macron said today.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al-Saud, said Russia must be involved in any peace talks over the war in Ukraine, as a “difficult compromise” would be required. The minister emphasized that Saudi Arabia is committed to ending the war, stressing that the international community must encourage serious negotiations that will require difficult compromises, based on a road map for peace.

Today, G7 member countries agreed during their annual conference in southern Italy to secure loans to Ukraine that will be raised from the interest rates on Russian funds frozen in Western countries. The US, through Vice President Kamala Harris, announced more than $1.5 billion in new aid for Ukraine’s energy sector, humanitarian aid and civil defense.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the new US aid package to Ukraine announced by Kamala Harris during her meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Conference.

“US Vice President Kamala Harris announced the allocation of $1.5 billion to Ukraine for humanitarian and energy projects. Are the demolition of Pushkin monuments, the replacement of the native Russian language with English, and the mockery of the memory of anti-fascist fighters humanitarian projects? And energy – the bombing of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant?” says Maria Zakharova in her post on Telegram.