Geneva [Switzerland], January 15: Almost two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kiev government was meeting representatives from some 80 countries in the Swiss resort of Davos on Sunday to discuss the country's future.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry said representatives from around 80 countries had confirmed their participation, far more than at the three previous conferences last year in Denmark, Saudi Arabia and Malta.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's so-called "Peace Formula" takes centre stage at the event, held ahead of the start of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Monday.
Zelensky's 10-point plan, first presented in late 2022, foresees the withdrawal of all Russian forces from the occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, the prosecution of Russian war crimes, reparations and security guarantees. In addition Russian leaders would be made to account for their roles in the invasion.
Russia rejects the plan and was not invited to previous meetings. Ukraine is seeking broad recognition for the plan in order to take the wind out of the sails of countries that want to pressure it into making concessions to Russia.
The most recent of these meetings took place in Malta in October. "Our determination to protect our freedoms and to thwart [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's criminal attempt to build his new empire on our land remains resolute," Andrii Yermak, head of the Presidential Office in Kiev, wrote in a guest article in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Source: Qatar Tribune