World leaders back just peace for Ukraine, eye eventual Russia talks

AFP | Burgenstock, Switzerland

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

World leaders yesterday backed Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity, and the need for eventual talks with Russia on ending the war -- but left the key questions of how and when unresolved.

More than two years after Russia invaded, leaders and top officials from more than 90 states spent the weekend at a Swiss mountainside resort for a two-day summit dedicated to resolving the largest European conflict since World War II.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the diplomatic “success” of the event, which took place without Russia, and said the path was open for a second peace summit, with a view to ending the war with a just and lasting settlement.

But he told a closing press conference that “Russia and their leadership are not ready for a just peace”. “Russia can start negotiations with us even tomorrow without waiting for anything -- if they leave our legal territories,” he said.

Moscow meanwhile doubled down on its demand for Kyiv’s effective surrender as a starting point for negotiations.

Sovereignty and independence “Reaching peace requires the involvement of and dialogue between all parties,” said the summit’s final communique, supported by the vast majority of countries that attended the summit at the Burgenstock complex overlooking Lake Lucerne.

The document also reaffirmed a commitment to the “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine, within their internationally recognised borders”.

It said any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the war was “inadmissible”, and food security “must not be weaponised”.

The declaration also urged a full exchange of prisoners of war and the return to Ukraine of “all deported and unlawfully displaced children”, and other unlawfully detained Ukrainian civilians.

But not all attendees backed the joint communique, with India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among those who did not appear on a list of states backing it.

Kremlin reiterates Putin call On Friday, Putin demanded Kyiv’s effective surrender as a basis for peace talks, but his call for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the south and east of the country, which Russia claims to have annexed, was widely dismissed at the summit.

The Kremlin nonetheless insisted Sunday that Ukraine should “reflect” on Putin’s demands, citing the military situation on the ground.

Zelensky called for Beijing, which refused to send a delegation to the summit due to Russia’s absence, to engage seriously with the developing peace proposals.