Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged US president Joe Biden and China鈥檚 president Xi Jinping to attend a peace summit in Switzerland next month.
The Ukrainian leader made the request in English in an emotive video showing him standing in front of ruins in the heavily bombarded eastern city of Kharkiv.
鈥業 am appealing to the leaders of the world who are still aside from the global efforts of the global peace summit: to president Biden, the leader of the United States, and to president Xi, the leader of China,鈥� Zelensky said.
鈥楶lease support the peace summit with your personal leadership and participation,鈥� he asked.
Zelensky said that the leaders should attend because 鈥榯he efforts of the global majority are the best guarantee that all commitments will be fulfilled鈥�.
He also said he wanted the attendance of leaders 鈥榳hom Russia will not be able to deceive鈥�.
The conference on the Ukraine war is to be held at a luxury resort near Lucerne from June 15-16.
The Swiss government is hosting the event at Ukraine鈥檚 request.
It has said it has invited 160 delegations but Russia will not attend the event, which is expected to last just over a day.
Biden鈥檚 presence has not been confirmed, while organisers say countries participating include members of the G7, the G20 and the BRICS group.聽
Russian president Vladimir Putin said earlier this month 鈥榯hey are not inviting us鈥�, adding that Russia would not push to attend an event where it is unwelcome.
China restated its position this week, saying in a joint statement with Brazil that it supports 鈥榓n international peace conference held at a proper time that is recognised by both Russia and Ukraine, with equal participation of all parties as well as fair discussion of all peace plans鈥�.
Xi is Putin鈥檚 strategic ally, and the Russian leader made a trip to China after re-election this month.
US officials said last month that Beijing is helping Russia with military expansion, including joint production of drones, while stopping short of directly providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Zelensky said 鈥榤ore than 80 countries confirmed they will come鈥� to the summit and Ukraine was continuing efforts to invite leaders.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Russian strikes on a hardware store in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv rose to 16 Sunday, the regional governor said as rescuers searched the charred debris for bodies.
鈥楿nfortunately, 16 have already been recorded dead,鈥� Oleg Synegubov, Kharkiv regional governor, said on Telegram, while 43 were wounded.
Russian strikes hit the Epitsentr superstore on Saturday, sparking a massive fire that makes the dead hard to identify.
Police said six of the dead had been identified, including a 12-year-old girl who was visiting the city, while several people were still listed as missing.
Police were asking relatives to give DNA samples to help identify bodies in the ruined store in the northeastern outskirts of the city.
Earlier, Synegubov said two of those killed worked in the hypermarket.
A video posted by police showed staff and shoppers in the store before an explosion erupted, followed by flying debris and darkness.
鈥業t took 16 hellish hours to tame the flames鈥� of the subsequent fire, interior minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram.
Still wearing her uniform, Lyubov, a cleaner at the store, recalled how she escaped the building as the fire broke out.
鈥業t happened all of a sudden. We didn鈥檛 understand at first, everything went dark and everything started falling on our heads,鈥� she said.