News

Switzerland prepares Ukraine peace summit

Switzerland plans to host a Ukraine peace summit this year, announced President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following a joint meeting in January. Amherd said all countries that respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine are eligible to attend the conference. Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be particularly happy to see countries from the Global South at the event: “It’s important for us to show that the whole world opposes the Russian aggression and that the whole world supports a just peace.” Moscow immediately questioned the rationale behind a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, saying that Switzerland is not the neutral intermediary it claims to be. Nonetheless, there was an initial meeting in New York shortly afterwards between Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. According to Cassis, they discussed “war and peace”. Cassis described the exchange as a first major step towards dialogue. (MUL)

Old Swiss trams bound for Ukraine

Berne and Zurich are renewing their tram fleets. Both cities will send their old but still fully roadworthy trams to Ukraine. The trams will be used in Lviv and Vinnytsia. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs will organise transport to the war-torn country and training for the staff of the Ukrainian transport companies. Switzerland has a tradition of exporting its old but well-maintained Swiss trams to partner countries. For example, trams from Berne have been running in Ia?i (Romania) and green Basel trams in Belgrade (Serbia) since 2003. (MUL)