By Janet Ekstract NEW YORK -As the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland wrapped up on Sunday, Western leaders and other nations pushed for an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine. The summit was an opportunity to discuss the way forward for Ukraine since Russia invaded that nation over two years ago. Talks on Sunday focused on leaders taking a joint position on nuclear and food security in Ukraine as well as returning prisoners of war and children taken from Ukraine during the conflict. Meanwhile, at the G7 Summit that ended on June 13, the same day, President Biden and Ukraine’s President Zelensky signed a historic U.S.-Ukraine Bilateral Security Agreement that reiterates the U.S. commitment to Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” as President Biden has reiterated. Meanwhile, summit leaders plan to find a host country for the next meeting on peace in Ukraine with Saudi Arabia a possibility. This first summit of its kind on Ukraine, saw the absence of Russia and China with Russia’s President Putin, labeling the summit “a waste of time.” It’s possible that another intermediary conference minus Russian participation might be necessary, according to Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. A number of Western leaders at the summit echoed their condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rejected Putin’s demands to take swaths of territory in Ukraine as a condition for peace. As Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the press “The text is balanced, all of our principled positions on which Ukraine had insisted, have been considered,” referring to a final communique to be issued on the summit
Regarding the communique, Nehammer said: “In my view, the communique will not be signed by everyone, because again, it’s a question of the specific choice of words, but even those who won’t sign it, have all made clear that their position is the same, that the war must end.” He added “The more allies that can be found to say ‘Things can’t go on like this,’ ‘This is too much,’ ‘That’s overstepping the mark,’ that also increases the moral pressure on the Russian Federation.” The wording of the communique – the summit’s final declaration, had been a sticking point, according to sources. Though Russia is open to engaging in future talks with Ukraine, Russian officials insist that guarantees are necessary to seal the credibility of any negotiations. It’s still not clear if Saudi Arabia will host the second summit but Saudi officials made it clear that any negotiations would require a “difficult compromise.”
