[ad_1]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with heads of state and lawmakers in Singapore late Saturday and early Sunday (June 2) to seek security assistance and support for a peace summit following his surprise arrival in the city-state for the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Zelenskiy and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for more than an hour on the sidelines of the meeting on Sunday.
Austin briefed Zelenskiy on Washington’s military assistance to Kyiv and “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to maintaining strong support” during the meeting, a Pentagon official said after the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“The two leaders committed to further strengthening the strategic defense partnership between the United States and Ukraine,” a Pentagon official said.
Zelensky said on social media platform X that he also met with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, a U.S. congressional delegation and East Timorese President José Ramos-Horta.
“It is very important for us to start the process of establishing a just peace. Russia does not want to end the war. Therefore, we must work together with the whole world to bring peace closer,” Zelensky said.
He said Ramos-Horta had agreed to attend a peace summit scheduled for mid-June in Switzerland. At last year’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Prabowo presented an Indonesian plan to end the war in Ukraine.
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun told delegates at the conference on Sunday that China has been cautious in neither supporting Russia nor Ukraine.
He said: “On the Ukrainian crisis, China has always advocated peace and promoted talks in a responsible manner.”
“We have never supplied weapons to either side of the conflict. We have exercised strict control over the export of dual-use items and have never done anything to fan the flames. We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”
Zelensky is also scheduled to deliver a speech on Sunday at the security summit’s final discussion session titled “Reimagining Solutions for Global Peace and Regional Stability.”
Ukraine is facing a renewed offensive by Russian forces, particularly around the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The United States recently eased restrictions on the use of American-supplied weapons to strike Russian targets, which experts say will help Ukraine curb the attacks before they gain momentum.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, closed on Sunday.
Russia has not attended the Singapore Security Summit since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Read more by Euractiv
[ad_2]
Source link
