After Bürgenstock: what the peace summit left behind

What did the Bürgenstock summit actually settle? Looking back at 18 June 2024, two days after the Global Peace Summit ended at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland on 16 June, the answer was a diplomatic platform rather than a deal.

A meeting without Russia

The summit, formally called the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, ran on 15–16 June 2024 and was hosted by the Swiss president, Viola Amherd. It was dedicated to discussing Ukraine's Peace Formula, an initiative Ukraine proposed to the world community to achieve a just conclusion to the war. Representatives from 92 nations and 8 international organisations attended. Russia did not take part.

That absence shaped what the gathering could be. With one party to the war not in the room, the event worked as a forum for Ukraine's framework and for the countries backing it, not as a negotiation between the two sides. The conference followed four earlier international meetings on the same subject.

The war continued alongside

The diplomacy did not pause the fighting. On 16 June, the day the summit closed, Russia claimed it had captured the village of Zahirne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The claim was a reminder that military events were moving on a separate track from the talks in Switzerland.

Practical support

Also on 16 June, Norway announced 1.1 billion kroner (about US$103 million) to help Ukraine repair its energy infrastructure and secure its electricity supply before winter. The pledge was a concrete example of the humanitarian and practical assistance that ran in parallel with the political debate over peace terms.

Life in Kyiv

The same day, hundreds of LGBTQ+ members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their supporters marched in central Kyiv. They demanded legal reforms for greater same-sex partnership rights. The march took place despite opposition from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and from counter-protesters. It showed that public debate over rights and legal change continued in the capital during wartime.

Reading the moment

Taken together, the reports from 16 June describe a country pursuing several things at once: building international backing for a peace framework, absorbing foreign help for its power grid, facing continued Russian territorial claims, and carrying on a domestic argument about legal reform. The summit's significance, as of 18 June 2024, lay in the breadth of participation by 92 nations and 8 organisations and in the fact that Ukraine's Peace Formula was the subject of discussion, while Russia's non-participation meant that the central question of how the war would end stayed open.