Photo: An apartment building in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, was destroyed in shelling. \AP

The Ukrainian Peace Summit was held on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, from the 15th to the 16th. The host country Switzerland had previously invited more than 160 countries around the world, but only more than 90 countries finally attended the summit, and Russia was not invited. Reuters said that the bleak situation of this summit proved that Russia was not isolated globally as the West imagined; the Ukrainian army was at a disadvantage on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield recently, putting the Kiev authorities in a precarious situation; and the continued escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict also diverted the world’s attention from Ukraine.

[Ta Kung Pao News]Swiss President Amhed said before the meeting that more than 90 countries have confirmed their participation, half of which are from Europe and North America, and the other half are from the global South. Ukrainian President Zelensky posted on the social media Telegram on the 15th: “We will witness the birth of history at this summit.”

The summit did not address core issues

However, US President Biden, who has always claimed to support Ukraine, flew directly back to the United States to attend a campaign fundraising event after finishing his trip to the G7 summit in Italy on the 14th, while Vice President Harris attended the Swiss summit. German Chancellor Scholz also expressed his hope before the meeting that the Ukrainian peace summit “can bring us something closer to peace.” For Zelensky, the fact that this summit can be held as scheduled is already a success.

The key issues of the summit include the safety of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, further ensuring the safe export of Ukrainian food, and releasing Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. The joint statement after the summit will not involve the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, although this is the core of Ukraine’s real demands.

International Crisis Group UN affairs expert Gao En said that this peace summit may expose the limitations of Ukraine’s diplomacy. Walker, who once served as Swiss ambassador to many countries, said frankly: “What can (Zelensky) expect? The international community’s support for Ukraine has taken another small step forward.”

Before the peace summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the lead in setting conditions for a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the 14th. He pointed out that once the Ukrainian army withdraws from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions and abandons the plan to join NATO, Russia will immediately announce a ceasefire and start negotiations. In addition, according to Russia’s new proposal, within the framework of a peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the West must lift all sanctions against Russia.

Putin believes that the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis is not the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, let alone the conflict between the two peoples, but the direct result of global and European developments from the late 20th century to the early 21st century, especially the aggressive and adventurous policies pursued by the West. He stressed that without the participation of Russia and without honest and responsible dialogue with Russia, it would be impossible to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian crisis or reach an agreement on the entire European security issue. Ukraine should make decisions based on reality and the real interests of the Ukrainian people, rather than according to Western instructions.

Zelensky responded that Putin’s ceasefire proposal was not credible, “These are no different from all the ultimatum messages sent in the past.” Kremlin spokesman Peskov pointed out later that day that Zelensky had misinterpreted Putin’s words, “This is not a warning, nor an ultimatum.” For Ukraine, the conditions for peace talks in 2022 were better, but “they refused to negotiate at the time,” and the current conditions are based on reality. “Should we wait for the situation to deteriorate further? If there are people there who are clear-headed and understand how the situation is developing, they will think about it.”

EU agrees to start Ukraine accession negotiations

Belgium, the rotating presidency of the European Council, said that representatives of the 27 EU member states “agreed in principle” to start accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on the 25th of this month. The launch of accession negotiations will enable Ukraine to start a reform process that may last for several years before it can eventually become a member of the EU.

Three people familiar with the matter said that the European Commission believes that Ukraine has met the conditions for joining the European Union and recommended on June 7 that Ukraine’s accession negotiations be launched this month, before Hungary takes over the rotating presidency in July.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, Ukraine applied to join the European Union and was granted candidate country status in June of that year.