Zelensky continues to collect pledges to attend peace summit

Kiev, May 23 (IANS/DPA) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is continuing to collect pledges for the planned peace summit in Switzerland in mid-June.”Today I spoke with the heads of state and Prime Ministers of Chile, Albania, Austria, and Mozambique,” Zelensky said in his regular video message on Wednesday evening. “Four more countries at the summit — I thank them.”It is already known that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be travelling to the meeting on behalf of Germany. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will also attend the meeting on June 15-16 near the Swiss city of Lucerne, the Chancellery confirmed in Vienna.Nehammer called the conference an important step towards making peace possible again. What was needed was a “broad alliance of allies for peace, also outside the echo chambers of the EU,” he said.The summit, organised by Switzerland at Ukraine’s request, is intended to mobilise more international support for the country currently under attack from Russia.Ukraine is hoping to convince neutral states or states in the Global South that are friendly with Russia of the correctness of its position. China in particular is being courted.The aim is to involve around 80 countries in the summit. This first step is not about negotiations with Russia; Moscow has not been invited and rejects participation.”Russian aggression has tried to turn the UN Charter into a museum piece,” Zelensky said in Kiev. “Our peace summit and the participation of leading politicians from all over the world can restore the UN Charter to full effectiveness and full protection for all nations.”Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for more than two years. In addition to the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014, Moscow has declared four other Ukrainian territories to be part of its territory.–IANS/DPAkhz