Closing summary
World leaders gathered at a Swiss mountain resort above Lake Lucerne on Saturday to try to build support for Ukraine’s peace proposals on the first of the two-day international summit. More than 90 countries will take part in the event, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy predicted the world would see “history being made”. But expectations of significant progress are low with key players, notably China, absent. Russia was not invited. On Sunday, three topics will be discussed in detail in working groups at the summit: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects. These will look at Black Sea shipping, prisoners of war, civilian detainees and deported children.
Shortly before leaving for the summit, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz said that G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin’s proposals for peace in Ukraine since everyone knew they were not serious. Scholz said the Russian president’s proposals – for Ukraine to abandon four provinces Russia claims, stop fighting and drop its ambition of Nato membership – were aimed only at distracting from the conference. The Kremlin said on Saturday that the west had reacted unconstructively to Putin’s proposals for a new security architecture and peace talks with Ukraine.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, who attended the summit in place of the US president, Joe Biden, announced more than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in aid for Ukraine. The $1.5bn includes $500m (£395m) in new funding for energy assistance and the redirecting of $324m (£256m) in previously announced funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair and other needs in Ukraine, the vice-president’s office said. She also announced more than $379m (£300m) in humanitarian assistance from the state department and the US agency for international development to help refugees and other people affected by the war.
Swedish fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft after it briefly violated Sweden’s airspace on Friday east of the Baltic island of Gotland, the Nordic country’s armed forces said. Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, called the airspace violation “unacceptable” and said officials from the Russian embassy in Stockholm would be summoned to his ministry over the incident.
Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Ukraine-sceptic prime minister Robert Fico, was sworn in as Slovakia’s new president.
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Updated
We reported earlier that the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, announced more than $1.5bn in aid for Ukraine’s energy sector and its humanitarian situation.
Speaking during a bilateral meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Harris said:
This war remains an utter failure for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. It is in our interest to uphold international norms.
Harris is expected to address the summit’s plenary session later today.
