Swiss summit on Ukraine set to thrash out path to peace

BURGENSTOCK, Switzerland: World leaders will gather in Switzerland this weekend to try to lay out a roadmap for an eventual peace process for Ukraine -- albeit without Russia.

The gathering at the luxury Burgenstock resort, on a mountain ridge overlooking Lake Lucerne, comes immediately after the G7 summit in southern Italy, during which the wealthy democracies will also discuss Ukraine in the presence of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The G7, running from Thursday to Saturday, will look at ways to use frozen Russian assets to provide fresh aid to Ukraine, invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Zelensky will then head to Switzerland, to be joined by G7 and other leaders on Saturday and Sunday for what is being billed as the first “Summit on Peace in Ukraine”.

“We would like to have a very broad process with a view to lasting, just peace in Ukraine,” Swiss President Viola Amherd told a press conference in Bern on Monday. She said the event would lay the groundwork “for a future peace summit that would involve Russia”.

“The conference will focus on topics of global interest -- nuclear security, food security and humanitarian aspects,” she added.

Switzerland invited more than 160 delegations, representing countries and international organisations.

Amherd said more than 90 confirmations had been received so far -- around half from European nations -- with about 50 percent of countries represented by their heads of state or government.

Attendees include French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.