BRUSSELS — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated on Tuesday that he wants U.S. President Joe Biden to attend a peace summit organized by Kyiv in Switzerland next month.
Ukraine aims to gather as many countries as possible to unify international opinion on ending the war and to increase pressure on Russia, which currently occupies nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory. While Washington has expressed support, it has not confirmed Biden’s attendance.
“I know that America supports the summit, but we don’t know at what level,” Zelensky said during a joint press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
Zelensky also urged Western countries, which currently restrict Ukraine from using their weapons against targets on Russian territory, to “give us the opportunity to retaliate against their military.”
On Sunday, Zelensky called on both Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to attend the summit. Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has dismissed the conference as pointless.
