If US President Joe Biden does not attend the peace summit organised by Switzerland at the initiative of Ukraine, it will be ‘not a very strong decision’.
This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday, 28 May.
‘I would very much like President Biden to personally attend the peace summit, and I know that America supports the summit, but you and I do not know at what level,’ Zelenskyy said.
‘The peace summit and other leaders who are looking at the US response need Biden. Putin will personally applaud his absence. And he will be standing,’ Zelenskyy said.
He expressed his belief that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is very afraid of the peace summit and continues to try to disrupt it.
‘There are only two scenarios: either real peace or further expansion of the war. We see that Russia is doing everything for the second scenario, trying to disrupt the peace summit. I thank every leader, every state that understands this and does everything to ensure that the peace summit can really become a coercion of Russia to peace. It is quite possible. It all depends on how decisive the world's leaders are, and on the fact that each state really chooses whether it wants to establish real peace or whether it is satisfied with the situation that exists now. That is, they are satisfied with the war,’ Zelenskyy said, adding that he was waiting for a response from China and Brazil on their participation in the summit.
The peace conference on Ukraine will be held on 15 and 16 June in Lucerne. According to the Swiss government, 160 delegations have been invited to the peace summit, and Russia is not participating.
Background. Meanwhile, it was reported that Brazil and China have expressed a desire to hold another peace summit – one that both Kyiv and Moscow recognise.