Written by John Revell and Emma Farge
LUCERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – World leaders will gather in Switzerland on Saturday for a summit aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine, but Moscow's absence of powerful allies such as China will limit its potential influence.
Dozens of Ukraine's allies are participating in the summit, but China is staying away from the summit after Russia's participation in the summit was frozen on the grounds that it dismissed the event as a waste of time and was not interested in attending.
Without China, hopes of isolating Moscow have faded, while recent military defeats have put Kiev on the defensive. The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas also diverted attention from Ukraine.
The sources said the talks are expected to focus on broader concerns raised by the war, such as food and nuclear security and freedom of navigation, and that the draft final declaration identifies Russia as the aggressor in the conflict.
“The summit risks showing the limits of Ukrainian diplomacy,” said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group. “However, it is also an opportunity for Ukraine to remind the world that it stands for the principles of the UN Charter.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would not end the war in Ukraine unless Kiev agreed to abandon its ambitions in NATO and hand over all four regions claimed by Moscow, demands that Kiev was quick to reject as tantamount to surrender.
Putin's terms clearly reflect Moscow's growing confidence that its forces have the upper hand in the war.
Moscow portrays what it calls its own military operation in Ukraine as part of a broader conflict with the West, which it says wants to bring Russia to its knees. Kiev and the West reject this and accuse Russia of waging an illegal war of invasion.
Switzerland, which held the summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wants to pave the way for a future peace process that includes Russia.
But geopolitical divisions over the deadliest European conflict since World War II hampered the event, and Zelensky even accused Beijing of helping Moscow undermine the gathering, an accusation denied by China's Foreign Ministry.
China had said that it would consider participating, but in the end it refused because Russia would not attend.
“It is clear that at the moment, geopolitically, for China, the special relationship with Russia takes precedence over any other consideration,” said Bernardino Regazzoni, a former Swiss ambassador to China.
About 90 countries and organizations have committed to the two-day gathering, which is scheduled to be held in the mountaintop resort of Burgenstock in central Switzerland. The summit also had to deal with an alternative plan put forward by China.
Participants in the conference include US Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan. India, Turkey and Hungary, which maintain friendlier relations with Russia, are also expected to join.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, described the idea of holding a summit without it as “useless.”
Ukraine's supporters are celebrating the Swiss talks with a series of events in the nearby city of Lucerne to draw attention to the humanitarian costs of the war, where a demonstration is scheduled to demand the return of prisoners and children who were taken to Russia.
European officials privately acknowledge that without support from Moscow's key allies, the impact of the summit will be limited.
“What can he (Zelensky) hope for from this?” he asked. said Daniel Walker, former Swiss ambassador. “Another small step forward in international solidarity with Ukraine as a victim of Russian aggression.”
