Results of Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland — Groundbreaking or a Waste of Time?

As I mentioned, in a previous post, the Russian proposal for a peace settlement is a set of demands for surrender that completely ignore international law and impose the law that might equals right. It’s useless for real progress in Ukraine.

The summit in Switzerland, held over the weekend from 15–16 June 2024, on the other hand, was a step forward for peace in Ukraine. The high turnout itself indicates some progress for wanting this conflict to end in terms that Ukraine finds palpable.

The summit in the mountain resort of Bürgenstock, near Lucerne, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked to convene, is primarily intended to lay the groundwork for further negotiations to end the war that Russia started more than two years ago. Delegations from around 100 countries and organisations, including 57 heads of state and government, met there.

The international pressure on Russia, as well as hope that in future negotiations important actors like Russia and China will convene, is a step in the right direction.

Let me explain.

“Russia is currently not ready for a just peace. Their most recent statements were meant to scare the world. But they demonstrated that Russia in fact had no intention to end the war, but instead wanted to…