Zelenskyy rebuked Central Asian countries for non-participation in the Peace Summit

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an interview with Central Asian media that he considers the the non-participation of Central Asian countries in the Peace Summit a weakness and urges them to join, even with a dissenting opinion.

Zelenskyy urged journalists in Central Asian media to visualize the situation that one of their countries is in the situation of Ukraine and to present that country’s attitude towards those who do not support or “do not join.”

The interview with Zelenskyy was published Sunday by the president’s press service on YouTube.

“We are doing the Peace Summit, we are making some steps. They are like a small child’s – unsteady, but it is important that they are supported. These are the right steps, and they are definitely forward, definitely towards peace, definitely not towards war,” Zelenskyy said.

Furthermore, Zelenskyy said that ”we are inviting all the leaders who have not sat at the same table before, everyone has their own interests, some have imposed sanctions, some have not.”

”We have invited everyone, as well as the leaders of Central Asia. We invite everyone and want to see everyone at this summit. What’s so scary? There is only one thing that is scary – that Putin will not be here. That’s it. Can Putin tank one of the Central Asian countries because of this? Because of that – no, that’s not enough. Then what are those who don’t join afraid of? They are afraid of losing something, afraid of losing relations with today’s Kremlin,” the president of Ukraine said.

Zelenskyy called on the Central Asian countries to ”support the event itself. I don’t even mind if they say: ‘We have our own vision’. Well, okay, their own – but say it,” he urged.

Three-point action plan

President Zelenskyy expects that the participants of the upcoming peace summit in Switzerland will manage to draw up an action plan. According to Zelenskyy, the plan should relate to three specific areas.

These three areas include free navigation, relating to the protection of port infrastructure, food security for the entire world, and the economic development of Ukraine. Nuclear and energy security will also be discussed during the summit to stop strikes at critical infrastructure. And the third point is the exchange of captives and the return of illegally deported children.

Of the 160 countries and organizations invited to the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, fifty have so far confirmed their participation. Among those who have already confirmed their participation are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Global Peace Summit will be held June 15-16 in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.

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