Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that work on the final declaration text for Ukraine’s Global Peace Summit, ongoing in Switzerland, has been completed. Kuleba stated that the text is balanced and accounts for all of Ukraine’s principled positions that it had insisted on.
The declaration will be announced as approved by the presidents at the end of the summit. It will remain open for other countries to join even after the summit’s conclusion.
Kuleba revealed that several countries are currently undergoing an “internal committee analysis” process and plan to join the declaration, despite not being present at the summit itself.
The minister reiterated that the final text incorporates Ukraine’s key stances in a balanced manner, marking a significant outcome for Kyiv at the Peace Summit.
What’s in the declaration?
Ukrainian officials didn’t share drafts of the communiqué, yet Reuters leaked one of the document’s previous versions. In it, leaders agree on a framework addressing nuclear safety, food security, POW exchanges toward comprehensive peace in Ukraine based on international law.
Thus, the proposed declaration includes only three points from Ukraine’s
peace formula was first proposed by Zelenskyy in November 2022, a plan that comprises 10 key points:
- Radiological and nuclear safety
- Food security
- Energy security
- Release of all prisoners of war and deportees
- Restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity
- Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities
- Justice and accountability
- Preventing ecocide
- Preventing escalation of the conflict
- Confirmation of the war’s end.
Notably, the draft communiqué doesn’t urge Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
According to its text, the draft communiqué outlines a framework for achieving a comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine based on principles of international law, including the UN Charter.
The statement reaffirms commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, stressing the inadmissibility of any threat or use of nuclear weapons in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
The communiqué highlighted three key aspects: ensuring the safe and secure operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants under full Ukrainian control, uninterrupted manufacturing and supply of food products through free commercial navigation, and the complete exchange of all prisoners of war.
“Any use of nuclear energy and nuclear installations must be safe, secured, safe-guarded and environmentally sound. Ukrainian nuclear power plants and installations, including [the Russian-occupied] Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, must operate safely and securely under full sovereign control of Ukraine and in line with IAEA principles and under its supervision,” the draft statement read.
On food security, it states,
“Free, full and safe commercial navigation, as well as access to sea ports in the Black and Azov Seas, are critical. Attacks on merchant ships in ports and along the entire route, as well as against civilian ports and civilian port infrastructure, are unacceptable.”
The draft communiqué further calls for “all prisoners of war to be released by complete exchange” and for “all deported and unlawfully displaced Ukrainian children, and all other Ukrainian civilians who were unlawfully detained, to be returned to Ukraine.”
The summit brought together leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and the heads of the European Union, the UK, France, and Germany among others.
The statement noted the discussions were “built on the previous discussions that have taken place based on Ukraine’s Peace Formula and other peace proposals which are in line with international law, including the United Nations Charter.“
Related:
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- Polish FM: Restoring Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders is scenario for resolving war
- Ukraine Peace Summit set for June 15-16 in Switzerland; Russia out, Biden likely in
- WSJ: Document from 2022 reveals Putin’s punishing terms for Ukraine peace
