OBBÜRGEN, Switzerland (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday pledged America’s full support in backing Ukraine and global efforts to achieve “a just and lasting peace” in the face of Russia’s invasion, representing the United States at an international gathering on the war and meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss his country’s vision for ending it.
As she arrived at the meeting venue overlooking Lake Lucerne, Harris announced $1.5 billion in U.S. assistance through the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. That includes money for energy assistance, repairing damaged energy infrastructure, helping refugees and strengthening civilian security in the wake of the aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s aggression is more than just an attack “on the lives and the freedom of the people of Ukraine,” Harris told leaders from 100 nations and global organizations participating in the summit. “It is not only an attack on global food security and energy supplies. Russia’s aggression is also an attack on international rules and norms and the principles embodied in the U.N. Charter,” Harris said. She said the U.S. was committed to continuing ”to impose costs on Russia and we will continue to work toward a just and lasting peace,” reaffirming words she used at the start of her private meeting with Zelenskyy.
For Zelenskyy, the gathering was a beginning toward finding a “real peace.”
“The world majority definitely wants to live without bloody crises, deportations, and ecocides,” Zelenskyy said. “And so every nation that is not represented now and that shares the same values of the U.N. Charter in deed and word, will be able to join our work at the next stages.”
President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles after three days at the Group of Seven summit in Italy, where he held talks with Zelenskyy. Biden flew from Europe to California for a Saturday night fundraiser with Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
That decision to skip the summit on Ukraine spotlights the competing election-year demands facing Biden as he tries to balance a complicated domestic and foreign policy agenda while running against former President Donald Trump. It also reflects the growing profile Harris has found making the case for a second Biden term as the 2024 campaign heats up.
“Being vice president means you take a lot of hits for the team,” said Matt Bennett, who served as an aide to former Vice President Al Gore. “In the past, these moments on the global stage have been good for her. She looks presidential and very capable among world leaders.”
From left: Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd; Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky; Ukraine’s presidential office head Andriy Yermak; and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris are shown at the luxury Burgenstock resort near Lucerne.
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Zelenskyy, for months, publicly lobbied Biden and other world leaders to take part in the meeting,