Source: Ukraine Peace Summit: Leaders meet in Switzerland, Russia absent | AP News
Dozens of world leaders converged on a Swiss resort Saturday to discuss how to bring peace to war-ravaged Ukraine, though any hopes of a real breakthrough were muted by the absence of Russia.
Three years into the war, the combatants remain as far apart as they’ve ever been, with Kyiv sticking to its demands that Russia leave all Ukrainian territory it has seized and Moscow pressing on with its grinding offensive that has already taken large swaths of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Despite Russia’s absence from the summit at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted at the outset that the talks would lead to “history being made.”
“We have succeeded in bringing back to the world the idea that joint efforts can stop war and establish a just peace,” he said at a news conference alongside Swiss President Viola Amherd.
While addressing the conference later, Zelenskyy said the summit could lay the groundwork for an eventual end to the conflict.
“At the first peace summit, we must determine how to achieve a just peace, so that at the second, we can already settle on a real end to the war,” he said.
The Swiss hosts said more than 50 heads of state and government would attend the gathering at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne. Some 100 delegations, including European bodies and the United Nations, were also expected.
Who would and wouldn’t show up was a point of intrigue about a meeting that critics said would be pointless without the presence of Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
數十名世界領導人週六齊聚瑞士度假勝地，討論如何為飽受戰爭蹂躪的烏克蘭帶來和平，儘管由於俄羅斯的缺席，真正取得突破的希望渺茫。 戰爭已經进入第三年，雙方距離仍然一如既往地遙遠，基輔堅持要求俄羅斯放棄其佔領的所有烏克蘭領土，而莫斯科則繼續猛烈攻勢，已經佔領了東部大片地區。 儘管俄羅斯缺席了在俯瞰盧塞恩湖的布爾根施托克度假勝地舉行的峰會，但烏克蘭總統澤連斯基一開始就預測會談將「創造歷史」。 他在與瑞士總統維奧拉·阿赫德一起舉行的新聞發布會上表示：“我們成功地讓世界重新認識到共同努力可以製止戰爭並建立公正和平的理念。” 澤倫斯基後來在會議上發表演說時表示，峰會可以為最終結束衝突奠定基礎。 他說：“在第一次和平峰會上，我們必須確定如何實現公正的和平，才能在第二次峰會上我們就能夠真正結束戰爭。” 瑞士東道主表示，50 多位國家元首和政府首腦將出席在俯瞰盧塞恩湖的布爾根施托克度假村舉行的聚會。預計還有約 100 個代表團，包括歐洲機構和聯合國。 誰會出席、誰不會出席是這次會議的一個微妙看点。批評者稱，如果沒有俄羅斯的出席，這次會議就毫無意義。
