Washington, June 5: Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Switzerland next week to participate in a summit aimed at helping chart a path toward peace in Ukraine, the White House said.Vice President Harris will be accompanied by US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan to the Summit on Peace in Ukraine set for June 15-16 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
US President Joe Biden will skip the two-day summit as he is due to be at a star-studded fundraising event for his 2024 reelection campaign in Los Angeles. Biden, who Ukraine President Vladamir Zelenskyy invited will be participating, according to the Hollywood Reporter at the fundraiser event in which host Jimmy Kimmel will moderate a conversation between Biden and former President Barack Obama. It will feature special guests George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
Vice President Harris and Sullivan at the Switzerland summit will highlight the importance of countries continuing to support Ukraine’s effort to secure a just and lasting peace the National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters at a press gaggle at the White House on Monday.
At the peace conference, they will underscore the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s effort to secure a just and lasting peace based on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principles of the UN Charter, Kirby said.
The spokesperson said that the war could end tomorrow “if Russian President Vladamir. Putin would simply withdraw his forces from Ukraine. “In the meantime, we will continue, and our allies and partners will continue, to support the people of Ukraine as they fight every day to defend themselves against this aggression,” Kirby said.
At a press conference in Brussels last week, Zelenskky had said that US President Biden’s absence “would only be met by an applause by Putin – a personal, standing applause,” In response to reporters’ queries at the White House gaggle on Monday, Kirby said Biden has been a staunch supporter of the peace deal.
“The United States has actively participated in every single one of the previous Ukraine peace summits. Every single one. And as I said earlier, we have been the strongest, most staunch supporter of this peace deal that President Zelenskyy put forward.”
The Kremlin has maintained that any talks around securing peace in Ukraine should involve Russia, which has not been invited to the summit.