Russia must be involved in the peace process with Ukraine, Swiss President Viola Amherd said at Ukraine’s global peace summit in Switzerland on June 15.
Addressing the audience at the summit plenary meeting, Amherd said it was “inconceivable” to not include Russia in the peace process, as a “lasting solution must involve both parties.”
She stressed that the international community can help pave the way to peace by coming together “even in areas that are difficult” and will discuss the conditions under which Russia can be included in the process.
The peace summit, held at the Burgenstock resort, includes representatives from around 100 countries. The goal is to discuss a possible way toward peace and other key concerns related to Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
Russia was not invited.
Chris York
Ukraine hopes to formulate a new joint peace plan based on Zelensky's 10-point peace formula but is open to all opinions from other countries, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak said on the sidelines of the summit.
Amherd noted three areas that will be discussed in working groups at the summit: Nuclear safety, food security, and the human aspect of the war.
“Our most important goals for this weekend are to inspire a process leading to a framework for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace for Ukraine based on international law and the UN Charter,” she said.
Speaking one day ahead of the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out his own conditions for peace talks, namely Ukraine's full withdrawal from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, including territories currently held by Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected these conditions, comparing them to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939.
Martin Fornusek
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