Zelensky: ‘The Global Peace Summit begins’
World leaders are joining Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, in Switzerland for a summit on peace in his country. Writing on social media, Mr Zelensky said representatives from “Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, Africa, Europe, the Pacific, Australia, North America” are present.
“Together, we are making the first step toward just peace based on the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law,” Mr Zelensky said.
Today, the Global Peace Summit begins with the registered 100 states and international organizations coming from all continents and all parts of the world, representing different perspectives but united by respect to international law and one another.
Latin America, the Middle…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 15, 2024 11:32AM
US announces $1.5 billion aid for Ukraine
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, has announced more than $1.5 billion in aid in part for Ukraine’s energy sector and its humanitarian situation as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The announcement was made as Ms Harris attended a Ukraine peace summit in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she was to meet Volodymyr Zelensky and address the summit’s plenary session.
The $1.5 billion includes $500 million in new funding for energy assistance and the redirecting of $324 million in previously announced funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair and other needs in Ukraine, the vice-president’s office said.
![Kamala Harris arrives at Zurich airport](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381856118_17184474996530_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
“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,” Ms Harris’s office said.
She also announced more than $379 million in humanitarian assistance 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.
Three killed in Russian attack in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
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.
Sweden says Russian bomber violated its airspace
A Russian military aircraft violated Sweden’s airspace east of the Baltic island of Gotland on Friday, the Nordic country’s armed forces said.
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 in a statement.
“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.”
Friday’s incident took place as Sweden – Nato’s newest member – and several of its new allies take part in naval exercises in the Baltic Sea.
The Swedish military said similar airspace violations by Russian aircraft last occurred in 2022 when two SU-27 and two SU-24 planes also made incursions near Gotland.
Sweden’s neighbour Finland said separately on Friday it suspected that four Russian military planes had violated its airspace on June 10.
Scholz says Putin trying to ‘dictate’ peace
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday Russian leader Vladimir Putin was trying to dictate the conditions for peace in Ukraine by offering to halt Moscow’s offensive if Kyiv effectively surrenders.
“What we need is not a dictated peace but a just and equitable peace which takes into account Ukraine’s (territorial) integrity and sovereignty,” he told the public broadcaster ARD on the sidelines of a G7 summut in Italy.
Situation on Pokrovsk front remains tense
Fighting on the Pokrovsk front remains tense, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Three combat clashes are currently taking place in the areas of Novooleksandrivka, Yevhenivka and Novoselivka Persha.
“The most tense situation remains in the Pokrovsky direction,” wrote the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. “So many attacks have already been fought. Defence forces continue to make efforts to stabilize the situation, creating a complex fire effect.”
Harris to address Ukraine summit
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, will attend the international Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland this weekend, where she will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky and address world leaders.
She will stress that the outcome of the war in Ukraine affects the entire world, a US official said, and push for a maximum number of countries to back the notion that Russia’s invasion violates the UN Charter’s founding principles and that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.
Ms Harris, who will spend less than 24 hours at the gathering in Lucerne, will be standing in for president Joe Biden at the event. The president will be just ending his participation at the G7 summit in Italy and returning to the United States to attend a fundraiser for his re-election campaign in Los Angeles.
Watch: Russian soldiers surrender after failed raid
World leaders join Ukraine summit in test of Kyiv’s diplomatic clout
World leaders will gather in Switzerland today for a summit aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine, but the absence of powerful allies of Moscow such as China will blunt its potential impact.
Dozens of allies of Ukraine will take part in the summit, but China is staying away after Russia was frozen out of proceedings.
Without China, hopes of isolating Moscow have faded, while recent military reverses have put Kyiv on the back foot. The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has also diverted attention from Ukraine.
The talks are expected to focus on broader concerns triggered by the war, such as food and nuclear security and freedom of navigation, and a draft of the final declaration identifies Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, sources said.
“The summit risks showing the limits of Ukrainian diplomacy,” said Richard Gowan, UN director at the international crisis group. “Nonetheless, it is also a chance for Ukraine to remind the world that it is defending the principles of the UN Charter.”
Scholz: Putin’s peace proposals aren’t serious
G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin’s proposals for peace in Ukraine since everyone knew they were not serious, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
Speaking from Italy shortly before leaving for Switzerland, where a Ukraine conference opens on Saturday, Mr Scholz 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.
Ukrainian shelling ‘kills five in Russian border town’
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.
Since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in 2022, Belgorod has faced waves of attacks, which Kyiv say are retaliation for Moscow’s large-scale assault.
“Four bodies were recovered from the rubble” of a partially collapsed house in Shebekino, said governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, who added that another woman had died in hospital.
Russia’s emergency services published footage of a crane and rescuers sifting through the rubble of a destroyed five-storey building in the night.
Six civilians were wounded in the late evening shelling, the governor said.
Shebekino is a town of 40,000 people close to the border with Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region.