China Responds Negatively to Zelensky's Request to Attend Peace Conference

While Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has requested the Presidents of the United States and China to participate in a "peace summit," Reuters reported on Friday, June 1, citing "four informed sources," that Beijing will not attend due to its demand for the participation of both Russia and Ukraine in the meeting not being met. The two-day peace summit is scheduled to be held next month in Switzerland. Zelensky had asked Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the Presidents of the United States and China, to attend the summit this past Sunday. Ukraine hopes that many countries will participate in the peace summit. The aim of this meeting is to unite global public opinion on how to stop the war and to exert pressure on Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, who has not been invited. In a message in English recorded in a bombed-out print shop from a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv, Zelensky stated that over 80 countries would attend the summit. The Ukrainian President urged his American and Chinese counterparts to show their leadership "in advancing peace, real peace and not just a pause in attacks." According to him, the summit will demonstrate who in the world wants to end the war. Kyiv's peace plan calls for the complete withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of the country's internationally recognized borders. Moscow opposes this plan. Russian sources told Reuters last week that Putin is ready to end the war by establishing a ceasefire that would recognize the battlefield lines. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, in response to this news, reminded that Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities continue, stating that Putin fears the success of the leaders' peace summit in Switzerland and is therefore trying to derail it. Russia had previously stated that there was no reason to hold this peace conference. The President of the United States emphasized: We will not send troops to Ukraine. A Russian attack on a store in Kharkiv left at least two dead and 33 injured. The G7 will use frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine. Zelensky: "We have operational control" over northern Kharkiv. Reuters: Putin is ready to end the war with Ukraine. Amid intense fighting in Kharkiv, Volodymyr Zelensky visited the city.