Ukraine peace talks rebuffs Putin’s truce offer

Leaders at the Ukraine peace summit rejected Putin's ceasefire terms, affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity. The summit produced a draft declaration supporting Ukraine, while G7 leaders agreed to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defense.

This weekend a two-day Summit on Peace in Ukraine was held in Switzerland, where the delegations of more than ninety countries discussed the principles of termination of war. However, the ceasefire terms stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin before the summit were categorically dismissed by major Western leaders.

The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, described the plan as propaganda that in essence is telling Ukraine to get out of Ukraine; the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was a dictatorial peace. The leaders emphasized that they are only willing to accept a solution that will be based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

“We have to try diplomacy now,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted. But, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak said to the BBC that there will be “No compromise on independence, sovereignty or territorial integrity. ”

Putin had stated that he would be open to a cease fire if Ukraine pulled out troops from four partially occupied regions that Russia had claimed to have annexed in the year 2022, in a so called referendum that was widely condemned by Ukraine and the western world. Ukraine said that the terms are “offensive to common sense”.

The summit delivered a draft declaration that included an endorsement of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and a statement against the use of nuclear threats. It also emphasized the issue of safe commercial navigation in the Black Sea and the Azov Sea for global food security.

The main focus was a unified global support for Ukraine, however, more concrete results are not expected because of no participation of Russia and its ally China. However, Ukraine proposed that the joint peace plan could be laid before Russia at one of the future summit level meetings. 

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Similarly, G7 countries pledged to allocate annual interest from $325 billion in the frozen Russian assets to provide up to $50 billion in credit to support Ukraine’s defense and economy. Ukraine stresses it still requires additional weapons, with a particular emphasis on air defense systems and F-16 aircraft to counter the ongoing Russian aggression.