President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped to find paths to a ‘just peace’ as soon as possible, as a first international summit on pathways to end Russia’s war in Ukraine opened Saturday.
More than 50 world leaders were joining Zelensky at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland for a two-day peace summit—though with Moscow rejecting the event, it only has the modest ambitions of laying the groundwork for ending the conflict, now in its third year.
‘I believe that we will witness history being made here at the summit. May a just peace be established as soon as possible,’ Zelensky said as the event began.
The summit is aimed at  trying to agree a basic international platform for eventual peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
Swiss president Viola Amherd said future summits were envisioned, eventually involving Russia.
‘We will not be able to negotiate or even proclaim peace for Ukraine here on the Burgenstock, but we wish to inspire a process for a just and lasting peace, and we wish to take concrete steps in this direction,’ she said.
However, in a combative speech Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the conference and demanded that Kyiv effectively surrender before any actual peace negotiations.
Zelensky said Saturday the only person who wanted the war ‘was Putin. But in any case, the world is stronger’.
NATO and the United States also immediately rejected Putin’s hardline conditions.
The conference, convening 100 countries and global institutions, comes at a perilous moment for exhausted Ukrainians and outgunned soldiers, more than two years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are attending, as is the European Union chief and the leaders of Colombia, Chile, Finland, Ghana, Kenya and Poland.
US president Joe Biden sent his vice president Kamala Harris, who announced more than $1.5 billion in new aid for Ukraine, mainly for its energy sector and in humanitarian assistance.
Argentinian President Javier Milei and the presidents of Fiji and Ecuador were among the early arrivals.
Russia’s BRICS allies Brazil and South Africa are only sending an envoy, and India will be represented at the ministerial level.
China is absent, insisting it will not take part without Moscow’s presence.
After almost a year of stalemate, Ukraine was forced to abandon dozens of frontline settlements this spring, with Russian troops holding a significant advantage in manpower and resources.
Near Ukraine’s embattled eastern front, hopes for any major breakthrough are nearly nil.
Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino killed five people and wounded several, the governor of the region of Belgorod said on Saturday.
Since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in 2022, Belgorod has faced waves of attacks, which Kyiv say are retaliation for Moscow’s large-scale assault.
‘Four bodies were recovered from the rubble’ of a partially collapsed house in Shebekino, said governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who added that another woman had died in hospital.
Russia’s emergency services published footage of a crane and rescuers sifting through the rubble of a destroyed five-storey building in the night.
Six civilians were wounded in the late evening shelling, the governor said.
Shebekino is a town of 40,000 people close to the border with Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, where Russia launched a new major ground assault on May 10.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his army launched the offensive in Kharkiv to create a buffer zone that would protect Russian border villages, while Ukraine said it strikes Russian territory there to protect itself.
The summit aims to find paths towards a lasting peace for Ukraine based on international law and the United Nations Charter; a possible framework to achieve this goal; and a roadmap as to how both parties could come together in a future peace process.
A plenary session involving all delegations will be held on Saturday.
On Sunday, three topics will be discussed in detail in working groups: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects.
Ukraine hopes Russia will attend a second summit and receive a joint plan presented by the other attendees.
The Burgenstock gathering comes straight after the G7 summit, at which the seven wealthy democracies agreed to offer a new $50-billion loan for Ukraine, using profits from the interest on frozen Russian assets.
A landmark 10-year security deal signed by Zelensky and Biden on Thursday will see the United States provide Ukraine with military aid and training.
And on Friday, the European Union’s 27 member states agreed ‘in principle’ on beginning accession negotiations with Ukraine.
