The recent Ukraine Peace Summit, held amidst global anticipation and hope, has brought the challenges inherent in resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, to bare.
World leaders convened with the ambitious goal of charting a path towards ending Russia’s aggression against its neighbor.
Yet, as the summit drew to a close on June 16, 2024, it became glaringly clear that achieving peace in Ukraine is far from a straightforward endeavor.
Ultimately the idea was to present a plan to Russia with such international consensus behind it, that Moscow has no alternative but to accept.
However, that point, if it’s ever possible, still looks a very long way off as Western powers and their allies at a summit in Switzerland denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but they failed to persuade major non-aligned states to join their final statement, and no country came forward to host a sequel.
In her closing remarks, Swiss President, Viola Amherd warned that the “road ahead is long and challenging.”
“We know that peace in Ukraine will not be achieved in one step, it will be a journey,” European Commission Chief, Ursula von der Leyen said, calling for “patience and determination”.
“It was not a peace negotiation because (Russia’s President Vladimir) Putin is not serious about ending the war, he’s insisting on capitulation, he’s insisting on ceding Ukrainian territory – even territory that today is not occupied.”
Ursula von der Leyen
These words encapsulate the reality that peace in Ukraine cannot be achieved through a single diplomatic initiative or agreement.
With US presidential elections later this year and a surge in votes in Europe for far-right parties, often sympathetic to Russia, support for Ukraine may falter in the coming months.
In a final communique issued at the end of a major two-day diplomatic summit, a number of countries called for Kyiv’s “territorial integrity” to be respected, as they urged “dialogue between all parties” to find a lasting settlement in the ongoing conflict with Russia.
The vast majority of countries represented also backed a call for the full exchange of captured soldiers and the return of deported Ukrainian children.
While some key developing nations opted not to sign the final communique that reiterated Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the vast majority of the more than 90 participating countries did.
India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom have important trading relationships with Russia as members of the BRICS economic group, attended the weekend meeting but did not sign the joint statement.
Thailand, Indonesia and Mexico and were among countries that did not sign a final communique.
Brazil, which attended the summit as an “observer” country, did not sign.
Viola Amherd, the Swiss President who hosted the event, told the final news conference that the fact that the “great majority” of participants agreed to the final document “shows what diplomacy can achieve.”
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the “first steps toward peace” at the meeting, and said the joint communique remains “open for accession by everyone who respects the UN Charter.”
The support of western and other leaders at a Swiss summit on peace for Ukraine demonstrates that the rule of international law can be restored.
“I hope that we can achieve results as soon as possible. We’ll prove to everyone in the world that the UN charter can be restored to full effectiveness.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy said that the participants at this weekend’s peace summit had agreed to continue working in special groups afterwards and that once “action plans for peace” were ready, a path to a second summit would be open.
Putin’s Demands Labelled “Unreasonable”
US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan dismissed the peace proposal presented by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as unreasonable.
He said that meeting Moscow’s demands would make Kyiv even more vulnerable to further aggression.
“Not only does Ukraine have to give up the territory that Russia currently occupies but Ukraine has to leave additional sovereign Ukrainian territory,” Sullivan told western and other leaders gathered at the Swiss resort of Buergenstock to explore a path towards peace for Ukraine.
He noted that Kyiv would also be bound to disarm under the Russian proposal “so that it is vulnerable to future Russian aggression down the road.”
“No responsible nation can say that this is a reasonable basis for peace. It defies the UN charter, it defies basic morality, it defies basic common sense,” Sullivan emphasized.
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