Zelenskiy, from Kharkiv, Urges Biden, Xi to Join Peace Summit

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Zelenskiy, from Kharkiv, Urges Biden, Xi to Join Peace Summit

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during an interview with Reuters, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday to join an upcoming peace summit as his country struggles to stave off unrelenting attacks by Russia in its 27-month-old invasion.

Moscow's forces have in recent weeks advanced on the battlefield and stepped up air strikes on cities, and Kyiv hopes the June meeting in Switzerland will help pile international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In English-language video recorded inside the charred remains of a printing press destroyed on Thursday in a Russian air strike, Zelenskiy said the summit would "show who in the world really wants to end the war".

"I am appealing to the leaders of the world who are still aside from the global efforts of the Global Peace Summit – to President Biden, the leader of the United States, and to President Xi, the leader of China," he said.

"Please, show your leadership in advancing the peace – the real peace and not just a pause between the strikes.

Russia has said it sees no point in the conference to which Moscow is not currently invited.

Zelenskiy's comments came two days after Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognizes the current battlefield lines.

Zelenskiy and Ukraine's supporters say a ceasefire will only help Russia rearm and regroup.

Russia has in recent months made slow but steady gains along several parts of the sprawling eastern front and is attempting to push deeper into the northeastern Kharkiv region after a ground incursion launched earlier this month.

In an interview with Reuters last week, Zelenskiy said it was crucial to get as many countries around the table at the peace talks as possible. Putin has said he believes the talks may convert Ukrainian demands for a Russian withdrawal into an ultimatum for Russia.



Russia’s Putin to Visit North Korea on June 18-19

Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits Senezh Management Workshop before a meeting with participants of the "Time of Heroes" project established for Russian service members, who were involved in the country's military campaign in Ukraine and study to take up leadership positions in the state administration system, in the Moscow region's city of Solnechnogorsk, Russia June 14, 2024. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits Senezh Management Workshop before a meeting with participants of the "Time of Heroes" project established for Russian service members, who were involved in the country's military campaign in Ukraine and study to take up leadership positions in the state administration system, in the Moscow region's city of Solnechnogorsk, Russia June 14, 2024. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
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Russia’s Putin to Visit North Korea on June 18-19

Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits Senezh Management Workshop before a meeting with participants of the "Time of Heroes" project established for Russian service members, who were involved in the country's military campaign in Ukraine and study to take up leadership positions in the state administration system, in the Moscow region's city of Solnechnogorsk, Russia June 14, 2024. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin visits Senezh Management Workshop before a meeting with participants of the "Time of Heroes" project established for Russian service members, who were involved in the country's military campaign in Ukraine and study to take up leadership positions in the state administration system, in the Moscow region's city of Solnechnogorsk, Russia June 14, 2024. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kremlin said, an extremely rare trip that underscores Moscow's burgeoning partnership with the reclusive nuclear-armed state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invite to Putin during a visit to Russia's Far East last September. Putin has not visited Pyongyang since July 2000.

"At the invitation of the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on June 18-19," the Kremlin said.

After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20, the Kremlin said.

Russia has gone out of its way to publicize the renaissance of its relationship with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, which has triggered the biggest crisis for more than 60 years in Moscow's relationship with the West.

For Putin, who says Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies while securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.

The United States and its allies say North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia to help it fight in Ukraine, though North Korea has repeatedly denied the claims as fiction invented by Western propagandists.