Zelensky accuses China of “preventing” other countries from participating in the peace summit in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused China, on Sunday (2), of working to “prevent” other countries from participating in the peace summit on Ukraine, which Beijing criticized because Russia was not invited.

“Today China is making efforts to prevent countries from participating in the peace summit,” Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a forum held in Singapore that brings together defense officials.

The Ukrainian peace summit is scheduled to be held in the Swiss city of Lucerne on June 15-16. Zelensky claims that more than 100 countries and organizations will participate, and asked Asia-Pacific countries to participate in the meeting.

China said on Friday that it believes the peace summit “should enjoy recognition by Russia and Ukraine, and equal participation by all parties.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said: “Otherwise, it will be difficult for the conference to play a substantive role in restoring peace.”

China said that President Xi Jinping will not participate in the summit. United States President Joe Biden, who is campaigning for re-election, has not confirmed his attendance.

“We are disappointed that some world leaders have not yet confirmed their participation,” Zelensky said.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian president met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Singapore, as part of his campaign to collect more aid for his country in the face of advances in the Russian attack.

In response to journalists’ questions about the meeting, the Ukrainian president replied that it was “very good.”

This meeting was held after the United States announced this week that it had partially lifted restrictions on the use of weapons supplied by Washington to Ukraine to attack Russian territory, stressing that they could be used “for the purposes of a counterattack in the Kharkiv region.”

Ukraine is suffering a painful blow as a result of an attack launched by Moscow early last May on the Kharkiv region in the northeast of the country, at a time when its forces are suffering from exhaustion more than two years after the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.