World leaders gathered at a Swiss mountain resort above Lake Lucerne on Saturday to try to build support for Ukraine’s peace proposals on the first of the two-day international summit. More than 90 countries are taking part in the event, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted the world would see “history being made”. But expectations of significant progress are low with key players, notably China, absent. Russia was not invited.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz said that G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin’s proposals for peace in Ukraine since everyone knew they were not “meant seriously”. Scholz said the Russian president’s proposals – for Ukraine to abandon four provinces Russia claims, stop fighting and drop its ambition of Nato membership – were aimed only at distracting from the conference. Countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kenya noted Russia’s absence as a hurdle. The Kremlin said on Saturday that the west had reacted unconstructively to Putin’s proposals for a new security architecture and peace talks with Ukraine.
A draft of a final summit declaration, seen by Reuters, blames Russia’s “war” in Ukraine for causing “large-scale human suffering and destruction” and urges Ukraine’s territorial integrity to be respected. The document, dated 13 June, also calls for Kyiv to regain control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and access to its seaports. The draft had deleted an earlier reference to Russian “aggression” where “war” is cited. On Sunday, three topics will be discussed in detail in working groups at the summit: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects. These will look at Black Sea shipping, prisoners of war, civilian detainees and deported children.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, who attended the summit in place of the US president, Joe Biden, announced more than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in aid for Ukraine. The $1.5bn includes $500m (£395m) in new funding for energy assistance and the redirecting of $324m (£256m) in previously announced funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair and other needs in Ukraine, the vice-president’s office said. She also announced more than $379m (£300m) in humanitarian assistance from the state department and the US agency for international development to help refugees and other people affected by the war.
The Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has stated that the EU will not directly contribute to a $50bn loan to Ukraine agreed by the G7 leaders. At a press conference closing the G7 summit in Bari, she gave fresh details about the $50bn (£39bn) loan to Ukraine to be funded out of the interest accrued from the $230bn frozen Russian state assets, saying the cash will be provided by the US, Canada, UK and probably Japan. “Currently, European nations are not involved”, she said.
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb said on Saturday the conference needed a follow-up as soon as possible. “Because peace is … always a process,” he told the more than 50 leaders gathered at a hotel overlooking Lake Lucerne. “We have 1,300 kilometres of border with Russia … Russia invaded Finland in World War Two, we lost 10% of our territory, including the land where my grandparents were born and where my father was born.”
Three people were killed and five wounded by Russian shelling in Ulakly village in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, local governor Vadym Filashkin said on Saturday. The village was hit by cluster munitions, he said on the Telegram messaging app. Filashkin said administrative buildings, a private house, a shop and eight cars were damaged.
Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border town of Shebekino killed five people and wounded several, the governor of the region of Belgorod said on Saturday. Belgorod has faced waves of attacks since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which Kyiv say are retaliation for Moscow’s large-scale assault. The reports of shellings could not be confirmed.
Swedish fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft after it briefly violated Sweden’s airspace on Friday east of the Baltic island of Gotland, the Nordic country’s armed forces said. Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, called the airspace violation “unacceptable” and said officials from the Russian embassy in Stockholm would be summoned to his ministry over the incident.
Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Ukraine-sceptic prime minister Robert Fico, was sworn in as Slovakia’s new president. His victory cemented Fico’s grip on power by giving him and his allies control of major strategic posts. Fico did not attend the ceremony as he is still recovering after being shot in the abdomen while greeting supporters on 15 May in the town of Handlova.