Ukraine updates: World leaders head to Swiss peace summit
Expectations for the summit remain dampened as Russia has already dismissed the talks
Switzerland is hosting scores of world leaders this weekend as they discuss the first building blocks of a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.
Prime ministers, presidents and other high-ranking representatives from more than 90 countries, as well as from international organizations, are due to attend.
Russia was frozen out of proceedings after dismissing the event as a waste of time and saying it had no interest in attending.
Here are the latest developments from Russia's war in Ukraine on Saturday, June 15:
US Vice President Harris to meet Zelenskyy, address summit
US Vice President Kamala Harris is attending the Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland over the weekend.
Harris is scheduled to arrive for the international talks at midday on Saturday.
She will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and address the summit's plenary session.
Harris is standing in for President Joe Biden at the event.
Biden has spent the last two days participating in the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy and is returning to the US to attend a fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Los Angeles.
World leaders arrive for peace summit in Swiss hilltop village
The ultra-exclusive Bürgenstock Resort in the Swiss village of Obbürgen was doing the final preparations to host a peace summit on Saturday as world leaders were set to discuss what a possible roadmap to peace in Ukraine could look like.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived on Friday for the talks where he will be joined by more than 50 other heads of state, but significantly without any representatives from Russia present.
"There will be two days of active work with countries from all parts of the world, with different nations that are nonetheless united by a common goal of bringing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine closer," Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The Ukrainian leader said that talks will focus on the issues of nuclear safety, food security and the return of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children taken to Russian-controlled territory.
Moscow had previously announced that it was not interested in participating and was subsequently frozen out of the talks.
The two sides have not held direct talks since the first weeks of the war.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the summit a "trick to distract everyone".
He said Russia would agree to a cease-fire and begin peace talks "immediately" if Ukraine pulled its soldiers out of the east and south and gave up its NATO membership bid.
Ukraine and the United States have rejected Putin's hardline conditions.
In the last few weeks, Zelenskyy embarked on a whirlwind diplomatic tour to shore up support and attendance for the conference, ending with his participation in the G7 summit in Italy.
US President Joe Biden, who signed a 10-year security deal with Zelenskyy on Thursday, is sending Vice President Kamala Harris in his stead. The other G7 leaders are set to attend.
Nevertheless, government circles in Germany have warned against "exaggerated expectations" as Moscow appears adamant that it can outlast Ukraine and its Western backers.
dvv/ab (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)