In U-turn, Kyiv Calls for Another Summit on Ukraine—With Russian Participation

Moscow, meanwhile, demands guarantees that Ukraine will never join the Western NATO alliance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the closing press conference during the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 16, 2024. Sedat Suna/Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a second international summit—to be held with the possible participation of Russia—later this year.

“I think representatives of Russia should be at the second summit,” Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on July 15.

“I set a goal that, in November, we would have a fully ready plan.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying the first peace summit, held last month in Switzerland, “was not a peace summit at all.”

“So one must first understand what [Mr. Zelenskyy] has in mind,” Mr. Peskov said in broadcast remarks on July 16.

The first international summit, held on June 15 and June 16 in the Swiss town of Burgenstock, was intended to raise support for the Ukrainian war effort.

Although delegations from 92 countries attended the event, Russia—which invaded eastern Ukraine in February 2022—was not invited.

The summit also showcased Kyiv’s 10-point plan for ending the conflict.

Among other things, the Ukrainian plan calls for the full withdrawal of Russian forces from what Kyiv and its allies regard as Ukrainian territory.

This includes the Black Sea region of Crimea, which Russia effectively annexed in 2014.

Moscow, however, says talks must reflect current “realities” on the battlefield, where Russian forces have continued to register gains.

Since the conflict began, Russia has captured—and effectively annexed—broad swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, four regions of which it currently views as Russian Federation territory.

After last month’s summit in Switzerland concluded, Moscow’s diplomatic mission in Geneva derided it as a “failure.”

Kyiv and its Western sponsors, it said, had “no intention of seeking ways to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian crisis.”

“There is no reasonable alternative to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s peace plan,” the mission said in a social media post.

In mid-June, as the summit in Switzerland was underway, the Russian leader laid down his own terms for ending the conflict.

These included the withdrawal of all Ukrainian forces from the four regions claimed by Russia, along with guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO.

At the time, Mr. Putin’s peace terms were met with derision by Kyiv and most Western leaders.

“This proposal wasn’t meant [to be taken] seriously,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in televised remarks.

Last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a social media post that “no peace initiatives can be based on Russia’s narratives.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg takes a question from a reporter as he arrives at the 2024 NATO summit in Washington on July 10, 2024. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

All Roads Lead to NATO

Mr. Zelenskyy issued his call for a second international conference on Ukraine after attending a three-day NATO summit in Washington last week.

At the event, NATO members reiterated their support for Ukraine, pledging a further 40 billion euros (approx. $43.5 billion) in military aid over the coming year.

But despite the near-unanimous show of support, Ukraine failed to obtain a formal invitation to join the 32-member transatlantic alliance.

Nevertheless, in a joint declaration, allies vowed to continue backing Ukraine’s “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”

Speaking at the Washington summit, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “strong, robust, well-lit bridge to NATO membership for Ukraine.”

Speaking alongside NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Mr. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “very close” to achieving its goal of becoming a member of the Western alliance.

According to Mr. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, NATO’s readiness to accept Ukraine as a member—albeit at a later date—revealed its intention “to remain [Russia’s] enemy.”

“NATO has not shown any flexibility regarding our concerns about Ukraine joining the alliance,” he said in an interview earlier this week.

Russia and the West, he added, “are currently at the stage of deep confrontation with no prerequisites [for negotiations] in sight.”

Moscow says its invasion of Ukraine was a “natural response” to NATO’s slow but steady eastward expansion over the past three decades.

According to Russian officials, NATO has inched ever closer to Russia’s borders—despite earlier pledges not to do so—since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

Western officials have rejected this characterization, insisting that NATO is a purely defensive alliance and that all democratic nations are welcome to join.

In 2023, Finland—which shares an 810-mile border with Russia—joined the alliance, ending its longstanding policy of nonalignment.

Earlier this year, Sweden followed suit, becoming NATO’s 32nd member.

A section of the border fence between Finland and Russia in Pelkola, Finland, on April 14, 2023. Janis Laizans/Reuters

‘Defensive Alliance’

When asked about a possible second summit on Ukraine, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it was “for Ukraine to decide when and how ... to undertake diplomatic negotiations.”

“If they want to invite Russia to the [second] summit ... that is something we support,” Mr. Miller told reporters on July 15.

“We’ve always supported diplomacy when Ukraine is ready. But it has never been clear that the Kremlin is ready for actual diplomacy.”

Asked about the Kremlin’s testy response to last week’s NATO summit, a State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times: “NATO is a defensive alliance.

“The United States and NATO do not seek a military conflict with Russia.

“But any military action directed against a NATO ally would trigger an overwhelming response.

“It is the Kremlin that started this war. And Putin could end it today.”

Reuters contributed to this report.