Yermak: Switzerland summit aims to create new joint peace plan to be presented to Russia
Participants of Ukraine's global peace summit will seek to formulate a new joint peace plan that could based on President Volodymyr Zelensky's formula, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak told reporters at the summit on June 15.
The two-day summit brought together representatives of 101 nations and organizations organizations to the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland. Ukraine hopes the summit will address several key issues, such as energy security, the exchange of captives, the return of deported children, global food security, and other topics.
"Today and tomorrow, world leaders will discuss the principles of the future joint plan, which we would like to base on the formula," Yermak said on the sidelines of the summit in Switzerland, adding that Ukraine is also "open to all opinions" from other countries.
Zelensky's 10-point peace formula includes Russia's full withdrawal from Ukraine and prosecution of war crimes, among other steps.
"We are looking at the possibility of presenting this plan to representatives of Russia," which can happen during a second summit, Yermak noted.
The Presidential Office's head rejected a suggestion by a journalist that Zelensky's formula was drafted during a time more favorable to Ukraine than now, pointing out recent Russian losses in the Black Fleet and Kyiv's ability to reopen the sea corridor.
"No compromise with independence, no compromise with sovereignty and territorial integrity. But we are very clear about our philosophy of the peace formula and this procedure today," Yermak said.
Russia was not invited to the peace summit, but the Swiss hosts said it would have to take part in the process "sooner or later."
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.
Zelensky rejected these conditions, comparing them to Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938-1939.
Yermak said that there will be no other "Minsk agreements and no Budapest," referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum and 2014-2015 Minsk agreements.
"Our position is absolutely clear: a joint plan of all civilized and responsible countries... that can be handed over to a Russian representative at the second summit."
Nate Ostiller
