This weekend, hundreds of police and troops, along with dozens of international dignitaries, are expected to converge on Bürgenstock, a remote Swiss resort situated above Lake Lucerne.
After Russia invaded its neighbor, the Swiss hoped that the meeting in Ukraine would result in the first rough drafts of a peace process, some 28 months later. Since the full-scale invasion, this is Ukraine's largest assembly to yet. However, there are little prospects for major progress since important powers like China are remaining neutral and Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a fresh ultimatum asking for Ukraine's surrender and referring to it as a peace plan. Russia is not among those invited.
The very fact that this summit is happening is good for Ukraine. Every confirmed participation has been hailed by politicians in Kiev as a show of solidarity. They believe that the massive conference will show Moscow that the international community supports both international law and Ukraine.
It arrives at a difficult moment.
A fresh Russian onslaught has begun in the northeast, close to Kharkiv, and missiles are striking houses and power installations across Ukraine with increased ferocity.
Therefore, when it comes to the pinnacle, size counts. However, the content does as well.
"Building a political and legal foundation is essential to maintaining peace in the future. Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian MP, lays out the case from Kyiv to demonstrate that peace can only be reached within the parameters of Zelensky's 10 principles. "That includes the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty."
He is alluding to a peace plan that the president of Ukraine proposed in late 2022 and that demands that Russia give back all of the territory it has taken over.
In late 2022, Mr. Zelensky presented his own 10-point peace proposal.
Now, should it get to that point, Ukraine hopes to unite as many nations as possible behind its formula, applying "psychological pressure" on Russia to agree to those demands.
At this point, it seems doubtful.
When the military situation became more favorable for Kyiv, this conference was originally suggested as a great opportunity to attempt to influence the conditions of any future peace agreement.
The dynamic has changed since then.
This commercial center is located in Kharkiv, which has been impacted by Russian airstrikes in recent weeks.
"There is a growing constituency, in my opinion, that believes Ukraine may not be able to win this war," says Sam Greene of the CEPA, or Center for European Policy Analysis.
He cites the "significant chunk" of the US foreign policy elite that thinks Ukraine should "cut its losses" and the growing popularity of right-wing parties in Europe that are increasingly pro-Moscow in Europe.
"I think one thing this event is meant to do, is to galvanise participation behind Ukraine’s concept of an acceptable outcome," says Professor Greene.
However, the outcome is not as encouraging as Switzerland and Ukraine had anticipated.
Mr. Zelensky was offended by Joe Biden's choice to not visit in person. Additionally, efforts to get significant nations from the "Global South"—who are not always Ukraine's allies—to join up were only partly successful.
China, Brazil, and India are all either sending low-level delegates or are not there at all.
Officials from Russia have been lined up to downplay the incident as unimportant. Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, called it "worthless" and a "dead end". Nevertheless, Moscow has been pressuring its partners to abstain from the conference.
"That is a drawback," acknowledges Oleksandr Merezhko. "It seems China decided to support its strategic competitor without limits, Russia, not the peace technique: the aggressor, not the peace."
Vladimir Putin attempted to throw another wrench in the works on the eve of the event by laying out his own requirements for a purported peace: the guy who unprovokedly invaded Ukraine now wants Kyiv to submit.
Mr. Putin asks that Ukraine turn over all four of the territories that it says it has seized, including those that are still under Kyiv's authority.
That was immediately rejected by Kiev as "ludicrous".
Three of President Zelensky's least controversial points—nuclear security, supplying food to international markets, and repatriating Ukrainian inmates and children—will be the focus of the summit on Lake Lucerne.
Going beyond that won't likely provide positive results.
Not at this moment, not with Russia and Ukraine prepared to end the conflict.
"I think from the Ukrainian perspective, looking at what’s going happening on the front line, what they actually require is not a commitment to peace, certainly not at any cost," Sam Greene says of the friends of Kyiv.
"They must be dedicated to winning the war."
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