Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, right, and Swiss Federal Councillor Viola Amherd take part in a media conference on the peace conference in Bern, Switzerland,Monday, June 10, 2024. Switzerland’s president says nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit on June 15-16 despite Russia’s refusal to participate. Viola Amherd told reporters Monday that the summit will aim to chart a path toward possible peace nearly 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

 Nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit over the weekend, Switzerland’s president said Monday. However, Russia won't be there.

Moscow has not been invited but says it would not have attended anyway as the conference is based on the peace proposals of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia rejects.

President Viola Amherd told reporters in the Swiss capital, Bern, that the summit, on Saturday and Sunday, will aim to chart a path toward possible peace nearly 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and the war grinding on.

“This is not about propaganda,” said Amherd. “This is about the basis of humanitarian aid provided by Switzerland, based on fostering peace (and) to provide a platform to initiate a dialogue.”

The Swiss president said that most participants would be top country leaders, with about half represented at the head of state or government level, and “a handful” from organizations like the United Nations.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are expected to attend the summit at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne in the village of Obbürgen.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will take part on behalf of the United States. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will join Harris as part of the U.S. delegation.

About 160 invitations have been sent out and Amherd said it was not a “disappointment” for the Swiss government that fewer than 100 have so far announced participation in the first phase of the peace process.

Swiss authorities said the final list of participants was expected by Friday, but key developing countries like Turkey, South Africa and Brazil haven’t indicated whether they would attend. India they said, will take part but it isn't clear at which level.

Brazil and China said they wouldn’t take part unless both sides – including Russia – were at the table, according to Swiss officials. Beijing has been one of the top supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the war started, and has said the criteria for its participation will be “hard to meet.”

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis also addressed reporters, saying Switzerland has repeatedly acknowledged that there cannot be a peace process without Russia. “The question is not whether Russia will be on board, the question is when."

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He also said Switzerland is in frequent contact with authorities in Moscow about the conference.

Ukraine has helped coordinate the summit, and Zelenskyy is expected to attend. Cassis said Swiss officials had to balance considerations that Ukraine might not have attended if Russia was represented.

Zelenskyy has gone on a diplomatic push to try and lure attendees to the summit. He has also accused China and Russia of trying to undermine it. The Swiss-hosted conference follows on the heels of the G7 summit in neighboring Italy.

Swiss officials say the conference aims to set a course toward “lasting peace” in Ukraine, to reach a “common understanding” toward getting there, and draw up the “roadmap” on how to get both sides involved in talks. Nuclear security, humanitarian aid and food security are also on the summit’s agenda.

As many as 4,000 military personnel will be deployed to provide security and support air transportation, surveillance and roll out security fencing and steel wire for the event, officials said, adding that an increase in cyberattacks in the run-up to the summit was noted, but didn’t provide details.

In a Swiss valley deep below a mountain ridge where the resort sits, Swiss troops set up a makeshift heliport in a grassy field ringed by barbed wire Monday in preparation for the summit as cowbells clanged nearby.

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Swiss summit on Ukraine set to thrash out path to peace

The summit could help 'bring closer a just end to this war', says Zelensky

World leaders from countries around the world will gather in Switzerland this weekend to try to work out a way towards a peace process for Ukraine -- albeit without Russia.

The gathering at the luxury Burgenstock resort, on a mountain ridge overlooking Lake Lucerne, will come immediately after the G7 summit in southern Italy, during which the wealthy democracies will also discuss Ukraine in the presence of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The G7, running from Thursday to Saturday, will look at ways to use frozen Russian assets to provide fresh aid to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022.

Zelensky will then head to Switzerland, to be joined by G7 and other leaders for what has been billed as the first "Summit on Peace in Ukraine".

"We would like to have a very broad process with a view to lasting, just peace in Ukraine," Swiss President Viola Amherd told a press conference in Bern on Monday.

She said the event would lay the groundwork "for a future peace summit that would involve Russia".

"The conference will focus on topics of global interest -- nuclear security, food security and humanitarian aspects," she added.

- More than 90 delegations -

Switzerland invited more than 160 delegations, representing countries and international organisations.

Amherd said more than 90 confirmations have been received so far, with around half from European countries, and with about 50 percent of countries represented by their heads of state or government.

French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are among those so far confirmed to be attending.

Organised at Ukraine's request, the outcome of the conference remains uncertain, although Switzerland is hoping for a joint final declaration.

"We need to do everything we can to bring an end to this violence," Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told the press conference.

"At the end of this road there is not just world stability and safety but also the end of suffering for millions of victims."

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- A 'just end' to war -

Ukraine hopes to gain broad international support for its conditions to end the war with Russia, now in its third year.

"The inaugural peace summit could become a format that would bring closer a just end to this war," Zelensky said on June 7.

A German government source stressed it was "very important to avoid exaggerated expectations", calling it a "building block for a peaceful settlement of this conflict".

The programme, developed by Bern, draws on a 10-point peace plan presented by Zelensky in late 2022.

Amherd said it aims to find paths towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine, based in international law and the United Nations charter; a possible framework to achieve this goal; and a roadmap as to how both parties could come together in a future peace process.

It will also touch on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea and on prisoners of war.

"If we agree on this and other basic principles, we have already made progress," the German government source said.

- Russia's stance -

Up to 4,000 Swiss troops will be on duty, while 6.5 kilometres (four miles) of steel fencing is going up.

Switzerland said there had already been cyber attacks and extreme misinformation surrounding the conference, without giving details.

The Kremlin has repeatedly indicated it will not participate in any negotiations if Kyiv does not accept Moscow's annexation of the approximately 20 percent of Ukrainian territory Russia currently occupies.

As Russia no longer considers Switzerland to be neutral, Moscow said it was not interested in participating in the summit. Bern therefore did not issue an invitation.

Further summits hosted by other nations are tentatively envisaged.

Cassis said it was more a question of "when Russia will be on board" in the process rather than if.

As for China, he said they would not attend a summit without Russia at the table.

"We continue to be in contact and work together but it's difficult for China to participate at the moment", he said, adding that Beijing had hitherto "really helped give us a hand on this journey".

Turkey and India have confirmed they will participate in the conference, while Russia's BRICS allies Brazil and South Africa are yet to officially confirm their attendance, Cassis said.

He welcomed the possibility of parallel peace proceedings involving China and other states not coming to the Burgenstock.

"Anything that can be done to walk through that mindset would be beneficial, because the mindset might be different," he said.

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Russia reports battlefield gains ahead of Ukraine summit

Ukrainian troops have been forced to retreat from several settlements in the eastern Donetsk region this year.

Russia on Monday claimed the capture of another village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a string of gains ahead of a major Ukraine summit in Switzerland.

Dozens of world leaders and top diplomats are to convene for a meeting at the weekend that President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes will rally global support behind Kyiv as it struggles more than two years into Russia's invasion.

Zelensky has ruled out direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is keen to win over more non-Western countries, including those who maintain close ties with Moscow.

After almost a year of stalemate, Ukraine has been forced to abandon dozens of frontline settlements this spring, with Russian troops holding a significant advantage in manpower and resources.

Russia's defence ministry said Monday its forces "continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defence and liberated the settlement of Staromaiorske," located southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

The loss of the village is a symbolic blow to Kyiv, as one of the few Ukraine managed to recapture last year in a largely lacklustre counter-offensive.

Staromaiorske is located on the southern front of the Donetsk region, one of the four regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022 and where some of the fiercest fighting is now taking place.

Putin told an economic forum last week that Russia has seized 47 Ukrainian towns and villages so far this year.

That includes gains in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Moscow launched a major ground assault last month -- causing thousands of Ukrainians to evacuate and further stretching Kyiv's forces.

US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday that Russia's advance on the Kharkiv border region has "stalled out" after Washington partially lifted restrictions on using US-donated weapons to strike inside Russia.

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- 90 countries -

In a diplomatic setback for Kyiv, Biden confirmed last week he will not be attending the 15-16 June summit at the Burgenstock Resort, which overlooks Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland.

Vice President Kamala Harris will instead represent Ukraine's most important military and financial backer.

Zelensky had also hoped to secure high-level attendance from some of Moscow's allies, principally China.

Beijing has criticised the gathering and said it would be "difficult" to attend without Russia's participation.

The Swiss presidency said Monday that 90 countries have confirmed their attendance at the summit, which will come on the back of a G7 summit in Italy.

The initiative is unlikely to produce any significant breakthrough, but Ukraine hopes it will build international support for its position that Russia should not be able to crystallise territorial gains through its invasion.

The gathering will also allow Kyiv to lobby for more military, financial and diplomatic aid.

The Kremlin has blasted any talks about the conflict without its participation as "absurd".

- 'Obsession' -

On the battlefield, Russia has now shifted its focus to two strategic towns in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian soldiers fighting there told AFP at the weekend.

"The fiercest fighting is taking place in this area: Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar. This is the sector they really want. This is their obsession," said Oleksandr, a 36-year-old tank сrewman.

Russian forces have been attacking the hilltop town of Chasiv Yar for months.

Its capture would be a strategic blow to Ukraine and could leave it vulnerable to further Russian advances.

Another Ukrainian soldier, Danylo Madiar, 33, said it "had become very difficult to hold this front line" with many losses.

The head of Ukraine's Kharkiv region said Monday that one person had been killed and two more wounded by Russian fire in the village of Dergachi.

Ukrainian forces separately claimed to have struck an advanced Russian air defence system overnight on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

The general staff said that Ukraine had hit an S-400 air defence system near the town of Dzhankoy and also targeted two S-300 systems near Chornomorske and Yevpatoriya.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the alleged strikes and AFP could not independently verify the claims.

Seven people were also injured in Russia's Belgorod border region -- four after a mine blast and three by a Ukrainian aerial attack, the governor said.

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