Putin 'made mistake' not attending peace summit -Netherlands PM
STORY: :: Dutch prime minister says Russian President Putin
"made a mistake" not attending the Ukraine peace summit
:: June 15, 2024
:: Mark Rutte, Prime Minister, Netherlands
"First, he (Putin) should accept the invitation. I think he made a mistake not being here. This whole process started a year ago with 14-15 national security advisers and here we are today with half of the U.N. and to leaders level in many cases from many countries."
:: Buergenstock, Switzerland
:: Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister, Denmark
"Well, you can only find a peaceful solution if you have two partners who seek the peace and who want the peace and, unfortunately, Russia and Putin, does not want the peace. Ukraine wants peace. And now we are almost 100 countries supporting a peaceful solution to this conflict. I think it's an important event. It's important for Ukraine. It's important for the entire world, because we need peace in Ukraine and at the same time we need Russia to respect, to accept democracy and Russia is not stronger than the European democracies."
World leaders gathered at a Swiss mountain resort to try to build support for Ukraine's peace proposals at the conference skipped by U.S. President Joe Biden, shunned by China and dismissed as a waste of time by Moscow.
More than 90 countries are taking part, but China's absence in particular has dimmed hopes the summit would show Russia as globally isolated, while recent military reverses have put Kyiv on the back foot. The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has also diverted the world's attention from Ukraine.
The talks focus on broader concerns triggered by the war, such as food and nuclear security.
