Biden missing Ukraine peace summit next month would be like ‘applauding Putin,’ says Zelensky

United States President Joe Biden’s absence from the upcoming Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland would be like giving Russian leader Vladimir Putin a standing ovation, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Tuesday (May 28).

Will Biden attend the Ukraine peace summit?

“If he is not present, it will be just like applauding Putin: personally applauding and doing so standing,” said Zelensky in Brussels during a joint press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

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“I believe that the Peace Summit needs President Biden, and other leaders who are looking at the US response also need him,” he added. The Ukrainian president also noted that we know that Washington supports the summit, but “we don’t know at what level”.

Zelensky said that dozens of world leaders will attend the summit. Biden has yet to confirm whether or not he will attend the conference in the Swiss city of Lucerne on June 15 and 16.

“If you want peace, you will be there and you will speak, even if you don’t agree with something,” said the Ukrainian president.

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He added, “And if you want war, you will go to the mob that Russia wants to organise,” saying that countries who will skip the summit are “satisfied with war.”

On Sunday (May 26), Zelensky had urged Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Putin’s close ally, to join the upcoming peace summit.

Zelensky rules out Russia’s participation

The Ukrainian president reiterated that Russia will not participate in the summit and accused Putin of trying to derail the conference.

“Putin is very scared of the peace summit,” said Zelensky, adding that he has been “trying to thwart this summit and continues to do so.”

The Kremlin is also “doing everything” for “further expansion of the war,” said the Ukrainian president.

The summit comes as Kyiv struggles to stave off relentless attacks by Russia amid the ongoing war.

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In recent weeks, Moscow made steady gains on the battlefield and captured several villages in eastern Ukraine. Russia has also stepped up air strikes on Ukrainian cities and the war-torn country’s energy infrastructure.

Kremlin calls Ukraine peace summit ‘absurd’

The Kremlin, on Tuesday, slammed the upcoming summit and called it “absurd” because Russia has not been invited.

“The conference is, from our point of view, completely hopeless in terms of finding some ways to resolve the conflict around Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television channel RT, adding that “to seriously talk about these questions without the participation of our country is absurd.”

(With inputs from agencies)