Ukraine seeks show of support at giant Swiss summit

This weekend, a secluded Swiss resort above Lake Lucerne will be transformed as dozens of world leaders and thousands of soldiers and police descend on Bürgenstock. The Swiss hope that the Ukraine summit might produce the first tentative sketch marks for a peace process, some 28 months after Russia invaded its neighbor. It is the biggest gathering for Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. But with key players like China staying away, and Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a new ultimatum - demanding Ukraine's capitulation and calling that a peace proposal - expectations of significant progress are low.

Russia has not been invited. For Ukraine, the mere fact that this meeting is taking place is positive. Politicians in Kyiv have been hailing every confirmed participant as a gesture of support. For them, the giant summit should demonstrate to Moscow that the world stands on the side of Ukraine - and of international law. It comes at a tough time. There has been a new Russian offensive in the northeast, near Kharkiv, and missiles are slamming into homes and power plants across Ukraine with renewed intensity.

So size matters when it comes to the summit. But so does the substance. "It's important to establish a political and legal framework for future peace. To show that peace can only be achieved in the framework of Zelensky's 10 points," Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko sets out the case from Kyiv. "That includes the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty." He is referring to a peace formula put forward in late 2022 by Ukraine's president that insists on compelling Russia to return all the occupied land.