Europe

Russia rejects peace summit and warns West not to send instructors to Ukraine

Germany dismisses threat of escalation over Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil

US vice-president Kamala Harris: she will attend a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland this month. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Daniel McLaughlin in Kyiv
Tue Jun 4 2024 - 17:04

The White House said it would send senior officials to a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland this month as the Kremlin dismissed the event as “absurd” and warned that any western military instructors in Ukraine could be targeted by Russian forces.

US vice-president Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan will attend the June 15th-16th event at which Ukraine hopes to forge a global consensus around its plan to end the war with Russia and then present it to Moscow at a follow-up summit.

Russia is not invited to this month’s event, and China says it will not take part because it believes both warring states should be there. Ukraine says more than 100 nations and international organisations have confirmed their attendance, but accuses Beijing of helping Moscow to dissuade countries from signing up for the meeting.

“Countries do not want to take part in an event that is meaningless,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. “To discuss Ukraine without Russia’s participation is absolutely absurd. The event is not geared to achieving any result,” he added, claiming that “very many countries do not want to waste time” on what he called “an absolutely absurd activity and an idle pastime”.

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Russia say it is willing to discuss how to end the war but only if Ukraine and the world accept what it describes as the “new realities” on the ground – namely its invasion force’s occupation of all or part of five regions of its neighbour’s territory.

Mr Peskov also warned western states not to send military instructors to Ukraine, amid indications that France may be preparing to dispatch trainers to the country, either on its own or in co-operation with other European states.

“The thing is that any instructors who are involved in training the military of the Ukrainian regime do not have any immunity. And it doesn’t matter whether they are French or not,” he said.

“We are continuing the ‘special military operation’ in accordance with the goals and objectives formulated by the supreme commander-in-chief,” he added, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin and using his country’s officially approved term for the full-scale invasion it launched in February 2022.

Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last week that he had “signed documents” to allow French military instructors to work in Ukraine. However, Kyiv’s defence ministry quickly issued a “clarification” stating that it was “still in discussions with France and other countries on this”.

Moscow has also threatened to attack western states for providing Kyiv with long-range weapons and allowing it to use them to hit military targets on Russian soil.

“I would like to caution American officials against miscalculations which may have fatal consequences. For some unknown reason they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,” Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday.

Germany has now followed the US and other states in allowing Kyiv to use arms supplied by his country to hit targets in Russia near the Ukrainian border city of Kharkiv.

“We are certain that it will not contribute to an escalation, because … it is only about being able to defend a major city like Kharkiv, for example,” German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday. “And I think it makes sense to everyone that this must be possible.”

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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