Jun 15, 2024 15 min read

Kremlin criticises western reaction to Russia’s peace plan

Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at the summit on peace in Ukraine, in Stansstad near Lucerne. Photograph: Urs Flüeler/Reuters

By Guardian - Yohannes Lowe/Jane Clinton - Sat 15 Jun 2024

Putin's peace plan 'not serious', Scholz says ahead of Ukraine summit in Switzerland. We are restarting our rolling coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Much of the focus will be around the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, the largest such event since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. We will bring you the latest updates throughout the day.

Russia-Ukraine war live:

G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin’s proposals for peace in Ukraine since everyone knew they were not serious, Olaf Scholz said shortly before leaving for Switzerland, where a Ukraine conference opens on Saturday.

The German chancellor said Putin’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.

“Everyone knows that this was proposal wasn’t meant seriously, but had something to do with the peace conference in Switzerland,” he told ZDF television in an interview.

As world leaders gather for the summit, which Russia was not invited to, US vice-president Kamala Harris will stress that the outcome of the war affects the entire world and that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected, a US official has said.

Harris will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and is standing in for US President Joe Biden at the event. The president is returning to the US after attending the G7 in Italy to attend a fundraiser for his re-election campaign in Los Angeles.

The summit comes as G7 leaders clinched a new deal for a €50bn loan for Ukraine, securitised through use of the windfall profits from the interest on Russian central bank assets frozen by the EU and other western nations after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Security forces secure the area during the arrival of Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Zurich airport. Photograph: Michael Buholzer/AP

Here’s a summary of the day’s other main events:

Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Switzerland on Friday ahead of the two-day Ukraine peace summit. Zelenskiy said talks would focus on nuclear safety, food security, the return of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children taken to Russian-controlled territory.
Kamala Harris, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the leaders of Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan are among those set to attend the Swiss summit in Lucerne. Despite months of Ukrainian and Swiss lobbying, some others will not be there, most notably China. The gathering comes after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would only enter peace talks after Ukraine pulls its troops out of the east and south of the country – a plan which Zelenskiy has dismissed.
On the ground in Ukraine, a Russian airstrike killed one person and injured at least four in the northern Sumy region on Friday, the military administration there said. The strike hit the town of Shostka, about 45km (28 miles) from the border with Russia, it said on Telegram, giving no details about damage. The strike came as Kyiv and Moscow staged dozens of drone and missile attacks overnight on Thursday and during Friday.
Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia’s Belgorod region killed six people on Friday, officials said. Four bodies were pulled from the rubble of a multi-floor apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino, Russia’s emergencies ministry said, adding after midnight that 50% of the rubble had been cleared. A Ukrainian drone struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver, said the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov. He said a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky, farther west.
Russia launched 17 missiles and nearly 500 drones on Friday, Ukraine’s general staff said. Drone attacks killed a 54-year-old man in the southern Kherson region and injured a 17-year-old girl in the eastern city of Dnipro, regional authorities said. Three people were injured in a drone attack in the eastern Sumy region and several homes damaged in the neighbouring Kharkiv region.
The EU has ramped up its production of projectiles and will match Russia’s production capacity next year, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, told French news outlet La Tribune.

Share9m ago14.30 BST

Ukraine-sceptic government ally Peter Pellegrini sworn in as Slovakia's new president

Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Ukraine-sceptic prime minister Robert Fico, was sworn in as Slovakia’s new president on Saturday.

Slovakia had been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies before Fico, a populist who is recovering from being shot at close range last month, came to power in October on a promise to stop supplies of Slovak Army military stocks to Kyiv.

Pellegrini, himself a former prime minister, was elected in April with 53% of the vote.

He defeated pro-west diplomat Ivan Korcok in a ballot dominated by divisions over the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Although the office is largely ceremonial, Slovakia’s president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ratifies international treaties and appoints top judges.

Peter Pellegrini reviews a military honor guard in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, after his swearing-in ceremony. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

Pellegrini becomes Slovakia’s sixth president since the country gained independence after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 and will succeed Zuzana Čaputová, the country’s first female head of state.

Čaputová, a staunch backer of neighbouring Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, announced she would not run for re-election last June after receiving death threats.

Share16m ago14.24 BST

EU states won’t be directly involved for now in a $50bn (£39.5bn) loan that G7 countries plan to raise for Ukraine based on income from frozen Russian assets, Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said.

Europe was already contributing by providing guarantee mechanisms for the loan, Meloni said, adding that the US, Canada, Britain and probably Japan would contribute.

The G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the US) had already reached an outline provisional deal to use the profits derived from frozen Russian sovereign assets to underwrite a $50bn loan to Ukraine designed to help fend off the impact of Russian aggression.

The agreement will see a special fund operating by the end of the year with the cash flowing through multiple external channels to fund the military budget and reconstruction needs.

Share45m ago13.55 BST

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tweeted a photo of him with Swiss president Viola Amherd at the Global Peace Summit.

In an accompanying message, he wrote:

The views, the ideas and the leadership of each nation are equally important to us, and whatever is agreed upon at the Summit today will be part of the peacemaking process and the restoration of the UN Charter’s full force that we all need. I believe we will see history being made here at the Summit.

Share1h ago13.31 BST

Kremlin criticises western reaction to Russia's peace plan

The Kremlin said the West has reacted unconstructively to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposals for a new security architecture and peace talks with Ukraine.

On Saturday Russian news agencies reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying:

There is a lot of it, a huge amount of it - official reaction, official statements. Of an unconstructive nature.

ShareUpdated at 13.37 BST2h ago12.42 BST

Russian attacks over the last 24 hours have damaged an energy facility in the Chernihiv region and a high-voltage substation in an unspecified location in Ukraine’s eastern region, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.

The Kyiv Independent reports:

The attacks caused almost 1,800 households to lose power in Chernihiv oblast, as well as an unknown number of households to lose power in Ukraine’s east.

A powerline was also disconnected for “technical reasons” in Kirovohrad oblast, causing some households to lose electricity, the energy ministry said.

The attacks caused a deficit in the country’s power supply, requiring additional electricity to be diverted from Poland.

In recent months, Russia has intensified its attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in a renewed assault against the country’s energy grid.

Share3h ago12.08 BST

Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, has reacted to the news that Swedish fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft after it briefly violated Sweden’s airspace on Friday (see post at 09.57).

He called the airspace violation “unacceptable” and said officials from the Russian embassy in Stockholm would be summoned to his ministry over the incident.

“We are in close contact with allies and partners about the events in our immediate area,” Billstrom told Reuters.

Share3h ago11.53 BST

Here is the rough schedule for the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland over the weekend, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP):

A plenary session involving all delegations will be held on Saturday.
On Sunday, three topics will be discussed in detail in working groups: 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.

A second summit is envisaged. Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Tuesday that Kyiv hoped Russia would attend and receive a “joint plan” presented by the other attendees.

Share3h ago11.33 BST

Three people were killed and five others injured by Russian shelling in Ulakly village in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, local governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

He said the village was hit by cluster munitions, adding that administrative buildings, a private house, a shop and eight cars were damaged.

Share3h ago11.21 BST

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, will meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and address the summit’s plenary session. The US president, Joe Biden, met with Zelenskiy both at the G7 summit, where they signed a US-Ukraine bilateral security agreement, and in France for events surrounding the 80th anniversary of the second world war D-day invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, arrives at the summit in Stansstad, Switzerland. Photograph: Urs Flüeler/Reuters

Share3h ago11.16 BST

Harris announces $1.5bn for aid for Ukraine at peace summit in Switzerland

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, has announced more than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in aid for Ukraine.

The announcement was made as Harris attended the Ukraine peace summit in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she is due to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and address the summit’s plenary session.

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.

In a statement, Harris’ office said:

These efforts will help Ukraine respond to Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine energy infrastructure by supporting repair and recovery, improving Ukraine’s resilience to energy supply disruptions, and laying the groundwork to repair and expand Ukraine’s energy system.

She also announced more than $379m (£300m) in humanitarian assistance from the state department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to help refugees and other people affected by the war.

The money is to cover food assistance, health services, shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene services for millions of Ukrainians.

Harris, who will spend less than 24 hours at the gathering in Lucerne, Switzerland, will be standing in for President Joe Biden at the event.

Kamala Harris arrives at Zurich airport, Zurich, for the Ukraine Peace Summit. Photograph: Ennio Leanza/AP

ShareUpdated at 11.17 BST4h ago10.46 BST

We have a bit more information on the news from Sweden’s armed forces that Swedish airspace was briefly violated by a Russian military jet on Friday.

Two Gripen jets were sent up to meet the Russian plane, an SU-24, after it failed to respond to a radio warning by Sweden’s military air traffic control, the Swedish armed forces said.

Share4h ago10.21 BST

World leaders have been commenting on the goals of the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland (see opening summary at 08.28 for more details).

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the event an important step towards progress. He told German news channel Welt TV:

Many questions of peace and security will be discussed, but not the very biggest. That was always the plan.

This is a small plant that needs to be watered, but of course also with the perspective that more can then come out of it.

Poland’s president Andrzej Duda, meanwhile, said the summit aimed to bring home to more geographically distant countries the scale of the threat to the world posed by Moscow.

US vice-president Kamala Harris and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan are among those due to attend. India, Turkey and Hungary, which maintain friendlier relations with Russia, are also expected to join.

Police officers stand guard at the Buergenstock Resort during the Summit on Peace in Ukraine in Stansstad, near Lucerne in Switzerland. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

ShareUpdated at 10.23 BST5h ago09.57 BST

Russian plane violated Swedish airspace on Friday, military says

A Russian aircraft violated Swedish airspace east of the Baltic island of Gotland on Friday and was met by two Swedish fighter jets, a spokesperson for Sweden’s armed forces has said. Gotland is located fewer than 350 kilometres (217 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The Swedish armed forces said the Russian military aircraft, a SU-24, had been hailed with a warning but failed to respond after which two Swedish Gripen fighters were sent up to meet it.

“The Russian actions are not acceptable and show a lack of respect for our territorial integrity,” Swedish air force chief Jonas Wikman said. “We followed the entire chain of events and were in place to intervene.”

In March, Sweden officially became the 32nd member of Nato, in a landmark moment for the historically neutral country. Members of the military alliance agree that if one of them is attacked, the other countries should help it defend itself.

Last week, Finland’s defence ministry said an investigation had been launched after a Russian military plane was suspected of violating Finnish airspace, flying about 2.5 km (1.6 miles) inside the Nordic country’s border.

The violation in the eastern Gulf of Finland lasted for about two minutes, the ministry said, with the country’s defence minister, Antti Hakkanen, warning that Finland, which joined Nato in April 2023, takes “the suspected territorial violation seriously”.

ShareUpdated at 10.58 BST5h ago09.27 BST

Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, has said a third support centre has been opened to support residents of the Kherson region who were forced to leave their homes due to the war.

“The humanitarian office of the Kherson region has become operational in Kyiv. Every day, its employees serve more than 100 displaced people who have found temporary shelter in the capital and the region. And according to official data alone, there are more than 50,000 such people,” he wrote on Telegram.

Grocery kits, free legal support and psychological support are provided in the centre.

Kherson is among the regional settlements west of the Dnipro River which have reported being frequently targeted by Russian strikes since Ukraine recaptured the area in November 2022.

ShareUpdated at 09.36 BST6h ago09.01 BST

Geng Shuang, China’s deputy representative to the UN, has called on Ukraine and Russia to start peace talks as soon as possible at the UN security council meeting.

“Weapons may end a war, but they cannot bring lasting peace. China calls on the parties to the conflict to demonstrate political will, come together, and start peace talks as soon as possible to achieve a ceasefire and halt military actions,” Shuang was quoted by the Kyiv Independent on Sunday as telling the meeting.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said that Russia would enter peace talks if Ukraine dropped its Nato ambitions and withdrew its forces from four Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia). Kyiv has repeatedly said its territorial integrity is non-negotiable.

ShareUpdated at 09.03 BST6h ago08.49 BST

How significant is China’s absence at the Ukraine summit?

Organisers of the peace summit played down China’s decision not to attend, a move that prompted Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to accuse Beijing of helping Moscow undermine the meeting, which China’s foreign ministry denied.

Kyiv had been pushing hard for a Chinese delegation to attend the summit to give the conference further legitimacy and drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing, writes the Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll (you can read more here).

Without China, hopes of isolating Moscow have faded, while recent military reverses have put Kyiv on the back foot.

China had said it would consider taking part in the event in Switzerland, but ultimately declined because Russia would not be there.

“It’s clear that at the moment, in geopolitical terms, for China the special relationship with Russia takes precedence over any other consideration,” Bernardino Regazzoni, a former Swiss ambassador to China, said.

China and Russia proclaimed a “no limits” partnership just days before Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Beijing says it is neutral in the conflict and has not supplied Moscow with weapons or ammunition.

About 90 states and organisations have registered to take part in the Ukraine peace summit on Saturday and Sunday in the alpine resort of Lucerne, which will seek to build support for Zelenskiy’s peace proposals, including the full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

ShareUpdated at 10.47 BST6h ago08.28 BST

Putin's peace plan 'not serious', Scholz says ahead of Ukraine summit in Switzerland

We are restarting our rolling coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Much of the focus will be around the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, the largest such event since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. We will bring you the latest updates throughout the day.

“Everyone knows that this was proposal wasn’t meant seriously, but had something to do with the peace conference in Switzerland,” he told ZDF television in an interview.

Here’s a summary of the day’s other main events:

Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Switzerland on Friday ahead of the two-day Ukraine peace summit. Zelenskiy said talks would focus on nuclear safety, food security, the return of prisoners of war and Ukrainian children taken to Russian-controlled territory.
Kamala Harris, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the leaders of Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan are among those set to attend the Swiss summit in Lucerne. Despite months of Ukrainian and Swiss lobbying, some others will not be there, most notably China. The gathering comes after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow would only enter peace talks after Ukraine pulls its troops out of the east and south of the country – a plan which Zelenskiy has dismissed.
On the ground in Ukraine, a Russian airstrike killed one person and injured at least four in the northern Sumy region on Friday, the military administration there said. The strike hit the town of Shostka, about 45km (28 miles) from the border with Russia, it said on Telegram, giving no details about damage. The strike came as Kyiv and Moscow staged dozens of drone and missile attacks overnight on Thursday and during Friday.
Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia’s Belgorod region killed six people on Friday, officials said. Four bodies were pulled from the rubble of a multi-floor apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino, Russia’s emergencies ministry said, adding after midnight that 50% of the rubble had been cleared. A Ukrainian drone struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver, said the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov. He said a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky, farther west.
Russia launched 17 missiles and nearly 500 drones on Friday, Ukraine’s general staff said. Drone attacks killed a 54-year-old man in the southern Kherson region and injured a 17-year-old girl in the eastern city of Dnipro, regional authorities said. Three people were injured in a drone attack in the eastern Sumy region and several homes damaged in the neighbouring Kharkiv region.
The EU has ramped up its production of projectiles and will match Russia’s production capacity next year, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, told French news outlet La Tribune.