UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will not attend the global summit on Ukraine's peace formula in Switzerland next week, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a press briefing on June 7, The Kyiv Independent reports.
The peace summit will be held in Burgenstock on June 15-16. Ukraine hopes the event will address several key areas, such as energy security, the exchange of captives, the return of kidnapped children, and global food security.
When asked about a list of Guterres's trips scheduled for the next week, Dujarric said that the UN Secretary General will not go to the summit.
"I think we have said that the UN will be represented at the appropriate level and all the parties organizing the summit have been informed," the UN spokesperson said.
While some 107 states and international organizations have confirmed their participation in Ukraine's global peace summit, there have been some notable snubs.
Saudi Arabia does not plan to be present due to the fact that Russia has not been invited, German news agency DPA reported on June 2.
On June 3, the White House said U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend, confirming that President Joe Biden would miss the event as it clashes with a campaign fundraiser he is set to attend.
Russia was not invited to the talks, but the Swiss hosts have said that Moscow's representatives will have to take part in the process "sooner or later."
China will not attend Ukraine's summit in June as the terms it required to attend were not met. In the wake of the news of China's absence, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Beijing of "working hard" to prevent countries from attending Ukraine's global peace summit.
