Zelensky: Ukraine to present action plan to Russia at second peace summit

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends the plenary session of the Summit on peace in Ukraine, at the luxury Burgenstock resort, near Lucerne, on June 15, 2024. World leaders from countries around the world gather in Switzerland this weekend to try to work out a way towards a peace process for Ukraine. (Photo by Michael Buholzer/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine will present an action plan to Russia at a second peace summit once a peace formula is decided, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at Ukraine’s global peace summit in Switzerland on June 15.

Speaking at the summit plenary meeting, Zelensky told the audience that Russia is uninterested in peace and that summit participants should decide together how to achieve peace “in a truly lasting way” under the UN Charter.

“When the action plan is on the table, agreed by all, and transparent for the peoples, then it will be communicated to the representatives of Russia,” Zelensky said. “So that at the second peace summit, we can fix the real end of the war.”

Over 100 representatives from countries and international organizations are attending the peace summit held at the Burgenstock resort, outside the city of Lucerne. Kyiv hopes to develop a new joint peace plan based on Zelensky’s 10-point peace proposal, although is open to opinions from other countries.

“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,” Swiss President Viola Amherd said, speaking before the Ukrainian leader.

She added that a peace process that doesn’t include Russia is “inconceivable.”

Zelensky said that Russia was not invited to the summit as Moscow is not interested in peace.

While one of the key components for Zelensky’s peace formula is the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, the president instead said that the summit will focus on three different points: Nuclear safety, food security, and the release of prisoners and deportees.

“We will focus on these initial points of the peace formula, and in the process of working on them we can reach an agreement and create an action plan for each point of the peace formula,” he said.

Zelensky noted that the summit will prove that peace and security is possible and will provide a “real plan” to ensure every step to peace works.

He stressed that the rules of the UN Charter should be enforced and that Kyiv and the summit participants need to decide how countries will cooperate and who will be co-leaders to implement the action plan.

Despite Zelensky’s optimism, the turnout was lower than expected. Initially, Kyiv said that 107 countries would attend.

China refused to participate due to Russia’s absence and reports emerged on June 13 that Beijing was pushing its alternative peace plan.

Brazil, the Holy See, the U.N., and the Ecumenical Patriarchate are attending the summit not as full participants but as observers.

The U.S. will be represented by Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.