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5. Switzerland to host Ukraine peace conference in June
Switzerland says it will go ahead with an international conference next month to develop a peace process for Ukraine. It says the meeting will build on a peace plan advocated by Ukraine and other proposals.
The Swiss government said on Thursday that it will hold the Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the Burgenstock resort on June 15 and 16. It said it had invited more than 160 delegations from around the world to the gathering.
Switzerland said Russia had not been invited at this stage as Moscow has repeatedly and publicly expressed no interest in participating in the summit.
Switzerland described a peace process without Russia as unthinkable and indicated Moscow would be encouraged to join it after the conference.
Ukraine has put forward a 10-point peace formula that includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the conference in an interview with a US foreign policy magazine. The video was released on Wednesday.
Kuleba said there were two ways to get Russia to come to the table and act in good faith. He said one was to achieve success on the battlefield and the other was to form a coalition of countries that share the same principles and approaches.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was absolutely impossible to expect anything serious to come from a conference that Russia does not participate in. He called the Swiss-announced meeting an initiative designed not to attain results.
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