World leaders stress need to comply with UN Charter amid war in Ukraine

By Nur Asena Erturk and Beyza Binnur Donmez

BURGENSTOCK, Switzerland (AA) - World leaders who gathered in Switzerland to discuss peace for Ukraine on Sunday stressed the importance of compliance with the UN Charter.

The meeting sent a “strong signal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the plenary session of the two-day peace summit in Switzerland's Burgenstock.

“Many around this table have said that Russia should have been here today. And I fully agree. You should have been here. We need Russia to participate,” he added.

Rutte stressed that peace “is only possible if Russia abides by the basic rules and values which apply to all of us. Let us not forget, this is why we together founded the United Nations in 1945.”

- Sovereignty must be ‘respected’

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed "the importance of compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

"This is an absolute priority not just in Ukraine, but in Gaza, in Sudan," Mitsotakis noted. "We must above all, prioritize the protection of civilian population.”

He added that protecting the Ukrainian infrastructure “is absolutely critical in maintaining the level of Ukrainian exports,” to maintain global food prices.

The meeting in Switzerland is a way to show commitment to a “rules-based international order, to confirm the primacy of the UN Charter, to send a very clear message that sovereignty must be respected.”

Mitsotakis emphasized that just and lasting peace should not equal “Ukrainian capitalization.”

- Defending ‘system of rules’

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that “defending Ukraine means defending that system of rules that holds the international community together, and protects every nation.”

She reiterated that peace does not mean surrendering, despite Putin’s latest peace proposal, and that “confusing peace with subjugation would set a dangerous precedent for everyone.”

Meloni, who has recently hosted the three-day G7 summit in her country, hailed the outcome and the agreement “to make approximately $50 billion of additional financial support available to give by the end of the year, leveraging the extraordinary revenues of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets.”