The Swiss hosts immediately tempered expectations. The head of Swiss diplomacy Ignazio Cassis explains in a video posted on social networks that the objective is to be able to confront ideas on a possible peace, to establish “confidence for a first step” while emphasizing that he “many more” will be needed.
And on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin loudly invited himself into the conversation by demanding the de facto surrender of Ukraine before any talks. Mr. Zelensky denounced the Russian president’s “Hitler”-style “ultimatum” and the United States and NATO immediately and categorically rejected these conditions from the master of the Kremlin, who launched the large-scale invasion of the neighbor Ukrainian in February 2022.
Outlining a path to peace
Around fifty heads of state and government, among some 90 delegations, are meeting in the luxurious Bürgenstock hotel complex, in central Switzerland, until Sunday to try to outline a path towards peace ultimately involving Moscow. “I look forward to joining our allies and partners in supporting Ukraine’s efforts to secure a just and lasting peace,” US Vice President Kamala Harris said shortly before leaving for the Summit. President Biden preferred to return to the United States after the G7 in neighboring Italy.
Ms. Harris is to meet Volodymyr Zelensky immediately after landing by helicopter at Bürgenstock. French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the summit on Saturday before returning to France. His G7 partners, which he has only just left after the summit in Puglia, will also all be present.
The Swiss hosts wanted to bring together as many countries as possible, particularly those from the global south. But, if among the BRICS, Saudi Arabia sends its head of diplomacy, Brazil will be an observer, India sends a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, South Africa an envoy. As for China, it had warned that it would not participate as long as Russia was not in the round table. EU leaders as well as the presidents of Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Finland and Poland will be present.
Doubtful
In Ukraine on the eastern front of Donetsk, where violent fighting is taking place, particularly for the key town of Chassiv Iar, Maxime and his tank unit are doubtful about this major diplomatic raid. This thirty-year-old “would like to hope” that the Summit will achieve something. “But experience shows that nothing will come of it,” the soldier with piercing blue eyes told AFP.
In kyiv, Victoria, who works in the energy sector, “doesn’t have high hopes” either. “I would like us to find a path to peace, because I am exhausted by this war (…) but I am not very optimistic,” explains this thirty-year-old. Experts are equally cautious. “Meaningful negotiations that could truly end the devastating war in Ukraine remain elusive,” says the International Crisis Group think tank. “kyiv and its supporters will have difficulty obtaining tangible results from the meeting (…) beyond the reaffirmation of the principles of territorial integrity of the United Nations Charter,” he adds.
Billions, weapons, alliances
Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived on Friday evening, has just spent the last few weeks pleading his cause throughout the world, not without success. He arrives from Italy and the G7 summit with a loan of 50 billion dollars in his pocket. The funds will be guaranteed by the interest earned on Russian assets frozen since the start of the invasion. For Vladimir Putin, it is “a theft that will not go unpunished”.
The Ukrainian president also signed security agreements with the United States and Japan on the sidelines of the Summit of Seven after having done the same with several other allies in recent months, including France and the United Kingdom. He is once again receiving weapons from the United States after long months of waiting which have put the Ukrainian army in great difficulty and Washington, as well as other allied countries, have authorized him – under conditions – to use their weapons to strike directly on Russian territory. Finally on Friday evening, the 27 gave their “agreement in principle” to the opening of negotiations for accession to the EU.
Second summit
The meeting, held in the ultra-chic resort of Bürgenstock, perched above Lake Lucerne in a postcard-perfect landscape, will begin with a plenary session on Saturday afternoon, followed by a dinner. On Sunday, three subjects will be discussed in detail in working groups: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects, in particular the fate of Ukrainian children deported to Russia.
A second summit is being considered, in which kyiv hopes a Russian delegation will attend and receive a “common plan” presented by the participants, Mr. Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Tuesday. Moscow may denigrate the meeting in Switzerland, but “Russia is doing everything possible to show its discontent” and thus proves that it is “worried”, Samuel Charap, an expert from the American think tank RAND, told AFP.