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India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, all of which have important trade relations with Russia as members of the BRICS economic group, attended the weekend meeting but did not agree to sign the joint statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists at a press conference alongside the leaders of the European Union, Ghana, Canada, Chile and Switzerland that it was “important that all participants in this meeting support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, because there will be no lasting peace without territorial integrity “.
More than 100 countries and organizations gathered in an idyllic seaside resort near Lucerne to rally support for the 10-point peace plan that Zelensky first outlined in late 2022.
That formula includes demands for an end to hostilities, the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian soil, and the restoration of Ukraine’s pre-war borders with Russia—terms that Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to ever agree to.
Among the high-ranking guests present were the leaders of Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
US Vice President Kamala Harris was also in attendance and used the occasion to announce a $1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) aid package that will go towards humanitarian costs and help Kiev rebuild its destroyed infrastructure.
“This high attendance shows one thing. The world is deeply concerned about the war provoked by Russia’s aggression,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Despite a strong showing among Western democracies, there were questions ahead of the event about exactly how much could be achieved, given that neither Russia nor China, whose increasingly close trade relationship with Moscow has helped the Kremlin survive Western sanctions, were present.
The communiqué issued on Sunday said the signatories had entered into several other agreements. Among them were the principle that Ukraine should be allowed its own nuclear power plants – including the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant – and that the Kremlin refrain from both the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The parties also said that all children and civilians who were illegally displaced should be returned to Ukraine.
On Friday, a day before the summit began, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the Kremlin’s own peace plan, which calls for Ukrainian troops to withdraw from four southern and eastern areas of Ukrainian territory that Moscow said it would annex in violation of international law and demands that Kiev abandon its bid for NATO membership.
Putin warns the West on the sacred military day
While Russian forces have made modest gains in two of the regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – in recent months, they are far from occupying all four, which include Kherson and Zaporozhye.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who traveled with Harris to Switzerland, told reporters at the summit that Putin’s framing “contradicts basic morality”.
“He (Putin) said that not only does Ukraine have to give up the territory that Russia currently occupies, but Ukraine has to leave additional sovereign Ukrainian territory before Russia will negotiate,” Sullivan said.
And Ukraine must disarm itself so that it is vulnerable to future Russian aggression down the road. No responsible nation can say that this is a reasonable basis for peace.”
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