Ukraine's peace summit in Switzerland will be held on June 15-16, based on an agreement between Kyiv and Bern, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 2.
The Swiss news agency Swissinfo reported on the date already on April 10. The meeting will take place in the Burgenstock resort above Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland, and 160 national delegations will be invited to the talks.
Russia, the aggressor in the ongoing war, will not be invited "at this stage" of the talks, the Swiss government said.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba justified the decision not to invite Russia in a comment for the Foreign Policy magazine, saying: "Our approach comes from reality, and from the experience that we (have) gained... Between 2014 and 2022, we had almost 200 rounds of talks with Russia in different formats, with mediators and bilaterally."
"But nothing worked. It ended up in the large-scale invasion (of 2022)," he stressed.
Switzerland has said that Moscow should be involved in the process "sooner or later."
"A peace process without Russia is not possible," the Swiss authorities said. Russia commented it would not participate even if invited.
Zelensky said that the summit will serve as a dialogue platform to "achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace for Ukraine in accordance with the U.N. Charter and the norms of international law."
The founding principles of the event were developed in a series of international meetings and centered around Ukraine's 10-point peace formula.
The formula envisages withdrawing all Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine, the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, release of all prisoners of war and deportees, preventing ecocide in Ukraine, and punishing those responsible for war crimes.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
