Ukraine war latest: Peace summit kicks off - but key politicians absent; US pledges $1.5bn in aid (2024)

Demonstrators have travelled hundreds of miles to plead their case as world leaders arrive in Switzerland.

Some 250 people, many of them relatives of Ukrainian soldiers, waved banners and shouted slogans in Lucerne to draw attention to the fate of troops taken prisoner by Russia.

Many do not know if their loved ones have been killed or taken.

"I must do everything in my power to get my husband back," said Svitlana Bilous, 34, from Kharkiv.

"I'm clinging to the idea that my husband is still alive... that's what keeps me going. If I could send him a message, it would be simply that I love him."

Anatoliy went missing in April last year and Svitlana has only heard he is alive but has had no direct contact with him.

"We want specific actions regarding the return of prisoners
of war, admission of the International Committee of the Red
Cross to all places of detention," she said.

The families want the world powers in attendance at Volodymyr Zelenskyy's peace summit to find ways to press Moscow to hand over information, improve the conditions of any captives and send them home.

Approximately 8,000 people - civilians and soldiers - are in Russian hands, Ukrainian officials said in February.

"All of us have the same dream," said one women at the demonstration.

"We want our relatives to be found and returned from captivity."

World leaders are arriving at the peace summit in Switzerland.

Rishi Sunak, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau,Saudi Arabian foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud and Japanese prime ministerFumio Kishida were among those photographed in Buergenstock Resort, near Lucerne.

"Ukraine never wanted this war. It's a criminal andabsolutely unprovoked aggression by Russia," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, alongsideSwiss president Viola Amherd.

She added the conflict had brought"unimaginable suffering" and violated international law.

The G7 unanimously backed a French proposal to request a global truce during the Olympic Games, the Italian prime minister says.

Paris will host the Games from 26 July to 11 August, followed by the Paralympics from 28 August to 8 September, and French president Emmanuel Macron is pushing for temporary pauses in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan.

The G7 leaders urged "all countries to observe the Olympic Truce individually and collectively," their statement said.

The Group of Seven includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"It was a French request, a good request, it was unanimously included," said Italy's Giorgia Meloni.

Seeking to suspend armed conflicts under an Olympic truce is a longstanding tradition and the final G7 communique made reference to a United Nations General Assembly resolution on the topic adopted in November.

In a show of unity aimed at President Putin, G7 leaders meeting in Italy this week finally agreed to a deal to use profits from frozen Russian assets to provide around $50bn (£40bn) worth of support to Ukraine.

And in another significant announcement, Joe Biden signed a 10-year bilateral security deal between the US and Ukraine which Kyiv is calling "historic".

On this episode of Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson explores the impact these deals will have for Ukraine in its war against Russia with international editor Dominic Waghorn.

While the peace summit begins in Switzerland, Russian shelling continues in Ukraine.

Another three people have been killed in an attack on the village of Ulakly in the eastern Donetsk region, its local governor has said.

Vadym Filashkin accused Russia of using cluster munitions, adding five people have been wounded.

Mr Filashkin said administrative buildings,a home, a shop and eight cars were damaged.

Sky News cannot independently verify these battlefield reports.

While Kyiv may have been disappointed by the US president's absence at today's peace summit, vice president Kamala Harris' announcement may smooth over any misgivings.

She has announced more than $1.5bn in aid, including Ukraine's energy sector and humanitarian crises resulting from Russia's invasion.

The funding includes:

• $500m forenergy assistance
• $324m for emergency energyinfrastructure repair
• $379m for refugees and other people impacted by the war, such as food, health services, water and sanitation.

"These efforts will help Ukraine respond to Russia's latestattacks on Ukraine energy infrastructure by supporting repairand recovery, improving Ukraine's resilience to energy supplydisruptions, and laying the groundwork to repair and expandUkraine's energy system," Ms Harris' office said.

By Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor

It has been another bad week for Vladimir Putin.

He started his war in Ukraine to limit Western expansion, he says.

It is accelerating apace entirely because of his aggression.

In direct response to his unprovoked invasion, Ukraine has been able to sign a ten year security pact with America this week, a bridge to its eventual membership of NATO, even if that is still a very very long way away.

And Putin has been powerless to stop the West taking $300bn-worth of frozen Russian assets and use the interest to wire $50bn-worth of aid to Ukraine.

That has got to sting.

EU accession talks for Ukraine will also begin before the end of the month.

For all their mounting domestic challenges, Putin's enemies are keeping up the pressure, moving from the Adriatic coast to the Swiss mountains this weekend to continue diplomatic efforts against his aggression.

Ukraine has called a "peace summit" in Lucerne. It may be disappointed at the turnout.

Only 90 of the 160 nations invited are expected, most of them European nations.

Many nations from the so-called global south are either not coming or sending lower level delegations than Kyiv had hoped.

They are maintaining neutrality, some persuaded by Russia's false narrative, but many just view the far-away conflict as a way of making money, seduced by cheap Russian hydrocarbons or diplomatic bribes being handed out by Moscow.

China says it "hardly able to take part in the meeting" unless Russia was included on an equal footing.

Beijing is also benefiting handsomely from this conflict reaping a bonanza in cut-price Russia oil and exploiting the unequal relationship with relish.

But the support has arguably exposed forever as a sham one of the fundamental tenets of Chinese foreign policy - that interference in the sovereign affairs of another country, let alone unprovoked invasions, should never be tolerated.

For the West, the prelude to this peace summit has been mixed.

The diplomacy at the G7 in Bari packed a punch and creatively overcame differences particularly over the deal to leverage frozen Russia assets.

But the allies seemed distracted and fractious. Far-right forces no doubt helped by Russian online meddling are coming for them back home.

There is mounting concern about both the increasingly likely return of Trump and Macron's decision to bet the house in a bold if not reckless bid to save the French Republic.

Putin's recent military gains in Ukraine appear to have been slowed. He has the numbers when it comes to shells and men. But in terms of quality, the West has an unbeatable edge, if it has the unity and the will to exploit it.

That remains an open question two and a half years into this war and the current political outlook for each of its leaders is hardly encouraging.

More than 90 countries are taking part in today's peace summit, but the US will not be represented by Joe Biden, who is holding an election fundraiser in Los Angeles.

Instead, vice president Kamala Harris is in attendance - riling Kyiv - with Saudi Arabia and India dispatched lower level delegations.

China is staying away after Russia was frozen out of proceedings.

Nonetheless, Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes to make a series of agreements that could form part of a peace-making process.

The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada and Japan are among those due to attend.

Broader concerns such as food and nuclear security are expected to be part of the talks.

European officials privately concede that without support from Moscow's main allies, the summit's impact will be limited.

"What can [Mr Zelenskyy] hope for out of it?" said Daniel Woker, a former Swiss ambassador.

"Another small step forward in international solidarity with Ukraine."

German chancellor Olaf Scholz told Welt TV: "Many questions of peace and security will be discussed, but not the very biggest. That was always the plan.

"This is a small plant that needs to be watered, but of course also with the perspective that more can then come out of iit."

Neutral Switzerland, which took on the summit at Mr Zelenskyy's behest, wants to pave the way for a future peace process that includes Russia.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

World leaders are gathering in Switzerland today for the Ukraine peace summit,which Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes will lay the groundwork for a peace process in his country.

World leaders including Rishi Sunak, French president Emmanuel Macron and US vice president Kamala Harris are among those taking part.

Russia is not invited and has said the event is meaningless without its inclusion, while some countries, including China, chose not to accept their invitations.

The Ukrainian president said the summit would involve "two days of active work with countries fromall parts of the world, with different nations that arenonetheless united by a common goal".

Before we kick off our live updates, here's a reminder of the main news from the past day:

• On the eve of the Ukraine peace summit, Vladimir Putin pledged to end the war in Ukraine if Kyivagreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety offour regions Moscow claims to have annexed;
• In the same briefing, the Russian president said the "selfishness and hypocrisy of Western countries" has led to a "dangerous turn of events", with Moscow "close to a point of no return";
• Mr Zelenskyy responded to Mr Putin's peace proposal by drawing parallels to Adolf Hitler in the lead up to the Second World War and saying the Russian leader's words couldn't be trusted;
  
• Meanwhile, prosecutors at theInternational Criminal Court said they were probing allegedRussian cyberattacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure aspossible war crimes.
  

That brings an end to our coverage of the Ukraine war for this evening.

Scroll through the blog below to catch up on the day's developments.