June 3 (UPI) — Later this month, Vice President Kamala Harris will go to Switzerland to take part in the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, according to the White House.
At the June 15 international peace summit at Burgenstock Resort in Lucerne, Switzerland, Harris is expected to highlight the U.S. commitment to “supporting Ukraine’s effort to secure a just and lasting peace,” which the White House says is “based on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principles of the U.N. Charter.”
The U.S. delegation at the summit will include the vice president and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. That same day, President Joe Biden is slated to be at a pricey Los Angeles fundraiser with former President Barack Obama and actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
The summit, one in a series of comprehensives discussions, will immediately follow the 50th G7 summit that is set to take place in Borgo Egnazia in Italy’s southern Puglia region between June 13 and 15.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously urged President Joe Biden, himself, to visit Switzerland as Zelensky made an appeal for Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping to “please, show your leadership in advancing the peace.”
But in Switzerland, Harris will “reaffirm support for the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against ongoing Russian aggression,” the White House said.
“I believe that the peace summit needs President Biden, and other leaders need President Biden because they will look at the U.S.’s reaction,” Zelensky said May 18.
National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby defended Biden’s reason not to attend the June 15 summit, saying how amid a Republican stalemate in Congress to provide military aid to Ukraine, Biden has been strong in his support for the Ukrainian people.
The White House’ announcement Monday comes as Biden is set to be in France in a few days time for the first time as president to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where he will greet veterans and family members of those who landed on June 6, 1944, during the Allied invasion at Normandy’s Omaha and Utah beaches to liberate France and Europe from Nazi Germany.
“There hasn’t been a single leader around the world who has supported Ukraine more and more stridently than Joe Biden,” Kirby said, adding that America’s first woman vice president and Sullivan were going to Lucerne “because of our desire to be represented around that table.”
On Monday, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said on X it was “pleased with the participation of” Harris for the upcoming summit.
“No matter who represents the United States at this summit,” Kirby said Monday, “It can’t be said that the United States has in any way walked away from supporting Ukraine.”