SECURITY DEAL
But since mid-May, Russian progress has slowed and Zelenskyy hopes to swing the momentum further with the back-to-back G7 and peace summits.
Zelensky arrived at Burgenstock on Friday evening after the G7 summit agreed to offer a new US$50 billion loan for Ukraine, using profits from the interest on frozen Russian assets.
Leaders of the Group of Seven rich democracies said they would support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
Zelenskyy said the new loan would go towards “both defence and reconstruction”, while Putin branded the move as “theft”, warning it would “not go unpunished”.
Meanwhile, a landmark 10-year security deal signed by Zelenskyy and Biden on Thursday will see the United States provide Ukraine with military aid and training, with Zelenskyy calling it a bridge to joining the NATO defence alliance.
Also on Friday, the EU’s 27 member states agreed “in principle” on beginning accession negotiations with Ukraine.
NUCLEAR, FOOD, HUMANITARIAN FOCUS
The summit is being held at the ultra-exclusive Burgenstock hotel complex perched high above Lake Lucerne in classic picture-postcard Swiss scenery.
The summit aims to find paths towards a lasting peace for Ukraine, based on international law and the United Nations Charter; a possible framework to achieve this goal; and a roadmap as to how both parties could come together in a future peace process.
A plenary session involving all delegations will be held on Saturday.
On Sunday, three topics will be discussed in detail in working groups: nuclear safety, freedom of navigation and food security, and humanitarian aspects.
These will look at Black Sea shipping, prisoners of war, civilian detainees and deported children.
A second summit is envisaged. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Tuesday that Kyiv hoped Russia would attend and receive a “joint plan” presented by the other attendees.
Samuel Charap, a Russia expert at the RAND think tank, said of the Swiss summit: “Russia is clearly going out of its way to demonstrate its pique with it … That tells you something.
“Avoiding the expansion of the pro-Ukraine coalition – they’re concerned about this,” he told AFP.