Kyiv and its allies agreed on a watered-down declaration at a peace summit in Switzerland that backed Ukraine’s territorial integrity but failed to lay out steps to end the war.

Of the 92 national delegations at the two-day summit, only 80 signed the final declaration that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky had hoped would act as a catalyst for peace.


Karl Nehammer, Austria’s chancellor, who did sign the declaration, explained that blaming the Kremlin for the war had been a source of contention.

He said: “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.”

Russia was not invited to the summit, which it dismissed as a “road to nowhere”, and China, its most important ally, also pulled out early.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has built support in Asia and Africa over the past two years by promising cheap grain, oil and gas, and weapons and he used this influence to lobby for a boycott of the summit and the declaration.

India, Brazil and South Africa and energy superpowers Saudi Arabia and the UAE appeared to opt for a compromise by sending junior delegations to the summit which then declined to sign the final declaration.

No countries in south Asia or south-east Asia signed up to the summit’s declaration and only a handful of African countries agreed to it.

The declaration also appeared to be a compromise. It talked about the “ongoing war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” but then focused on side issues such as protecting civilians and securing grain corridors rather than laying down next steps for peace.

Even so, Mr Zelensky still hailed the summit as a success.

He said: “A united world is a world of peace, a world that knows how to do right. I thank everyone who worked for this day. Every leader, all the leaders’ teams and advisers, all the states.”

The president added that he would be open to peace talks “tomorrow” with Russia if it pulled its troops out of his country.


He said: “Russia can start the negotiations with us tomorrow, not waiting for anything, if they pull out from our legal territories.”

Putin said last week that he would sign a peace deal immediately if Ukraine gave up all the occupied territory.

Most Nato countries’ leaders, including Rishi Sunak, attended the summit at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock near Lucerne although US president Joe Biden ducked out. He instead flew from a G7 meeting in Italy on Friday to Los Angeles to meet Hollywood stars for a fundraising event ahead of this year’s US presidential election.

Instead, Kamala Harris, the vice-president, attended, giving a speech in which she said: “Russia’s aggression is also an attack on international rules and norms.”

Although it fell short of shoring up a global consensus against the Kremlin and failed to lay down steps towards peace or decide on a venue for a follow-up meeting, analysts said that the Swiss summit had still been useful.

Sergey Radchenko, a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC, described it as an important “solidarity summit”.

He said: “Drumming up support for Kyiv makes a lot of sense, and in the sense that the summit contributes to European resolve to keep Ukraine well-supplied with weapons, it is a step towards peace.”

JUNE 17, 2024 1:23 PM CET
BY SEB STARCEVIC

​​​​​​​NATO is considering deploying more of its nuclear weapons in the face of threats from Russia, China and North Korea, the defense alliance’s leader said.

It is important that NATO “communicate the direct message that we, of course, are a nuclear alliance” by taking more of its warheads out of storage, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with the Telegraph published on Sunday.

“I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re doing,” he added.

With bond payments set to resume this summer, Ukraine is asking debt holders to accept bigger losses that would allow it to finance its defense efforts against Russian aggression and prepare financial resources for economic reconstruction once the war ends.

“As we approach the deadline, we must urge our bondholders to continue productive and good-faith negotiations, with more substantial debt relief to be reflected in their proposals in line with the IMF parameters and Ukraine’s current macro-financial situation,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said in a statement on Monday.

The talks between Ukraine and a group of bondholders began two weeks ago with private creditors signing non-disclosure agreements to allow for the sharing of sensitive non-public information. Bondholders haven’t received any payments from Ukraine since 2022, when they agreed to a two-year moratorium after Russia invaded. The standstill expires on Aug. 1.

In a separate statement, the ad-hoc creditors’ group said they’re committed to finding a deal, although they considered the haircut proposed by the government to be “significantly in excess of market expectation, which is consistent with a 20% haircut.”

Kyiv said that it will continue discussions “with a view to making further progress and reaching an agreement in principle at the earliest opportunity.”

Ukraine’s dollar debt was among the worst performers across emerging markets Monday. The nation’s bonds weakened across the curve, with the notes due in 2035 dropping the most since April, to trade at 25.78 cents on the dollar by 9:45 a.m. in London.

In the talks, Ukraine proposed exchanging its outstanding bonds for a series of new bonds with maturities up to 2040 and interest payments starting at 1% for the first 18 months, then progressively increasing to 6%.

The government also offered investors a so-called state contingency instrument that could begin payments only after 2027. Payments on that instrument would be related to Ukraine’s tax revenue targets set by the International Monetary Fund.

“Both options have been designed to deliver holders cash flows during the IMF program period and provide for a nominal haircut ranging between 25 and 60% depending on the country’s recovery over the IMF program period,” the statement added.

This latest conscription drive has opened up uncomfortable divisions in society, not only between those serving and those avoiding the draft, but also between female friends, some of whom have partners on the front line, and others who are hiding their boyfriends at home.

The topic of mobilisation creeps into almost every conversation, which then often turn heated. Last month someone threw an explosive into the garden of an enlistment officer’s home.

There is a striking distrust among the men choosing not to enlist. They do not trust the officers, after some were found to be taking bribes to help men escape the country. Nor do they trust they would be adequately trained.

Dr McGlynn has studied Russian propaganda techniques and written a book on how Vladimir Putin has moulded and manipulated the Russian world view.

However, she believes it's wrong to talk about the conflict as "one man's war".

While it was President Putin's decision to go to war, she argues it would not be continuing without the involvement of the vast majority of Russian society.