Zelenskyy attends security meeting, seeks support for Ukraine peace summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, arrives at the Shangri-La Hotel, the venue of the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit, in Singapore on June 1, 2024. [AP Photo]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is attending the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference on Saturday in Singapore, where he will try to raise support from Asia-Pacific countries for the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland later this month.

That summit will focus on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 borders.

"Global security is impossible when the world's largest country disregards recognized borders, international law, and the U.N. Charter,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media platform X, referring to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov are set to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "to discuss the current battlefield situation in Ukraine and to underscore the U.S. commitment to ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression," according to a U.S. official.

Zelenskyy also is to participate in a discussion forum Sunday on global peace and regional stability, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which organizes the event.

This is Zelenskyy's second trip to Asia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has not attended the Shangri-La Dialogue since the invasion.

Use of Western weapons

The Singapore visit was announced shortly after a U.S. decision to partially lift restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-provided weapons to strike inside Russia, which Zelenskyy hailed as a "step forward."

Germany also agreed Friday to allow Ukraine to fire German-delivered weapons at targets within Russia.

Support is growing among NATO allies for allowing Ukraine to use Western-donated weapons to strike inside Russian territory — but Italy opposes the move.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned against "rash" moves.

"It is a very delicate moment, we must not make false steps" and must avoid "rash steps and declarations," he told a meeting in Rapallo, Italy, according to the AGI and ANSA news agencies.

Tajani added that Italy would send another package of aid to Ukraine within "weeks," but he repeated that "we will not send even one Italian soldier to fight in Ukraine because we are not at war with Russia," AGI reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of "serious consequences" if Western countries gave such approval to Ukraine.

Russian attacks

Meanwhile, Russia targeted Ukraine’s power grid overnight with 100 missiles and drones, injuring at least 19 people across the country, local officials said.

The Ukrainian military reported it had downed 35 out of the 53 missiles launched at targets across the country overnight on June 1, as well as 46 out of 47 attack drones.

Twelve people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering in the Kharkiv region, said Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

This was the sixth attack on Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, in 2½ months. DTEK said two of its power plants have been seriously damaged.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said in a statement on social media that the energy infrastructure in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Ivano-Frankivsk regions also had been targeted.

The attacks have caused Kyiv to institute nationwide rolling blackouts and prompted Zelenskyy’s appeal to allies for additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine from a spate of Russian assaults.

“Our partners know exactly what is needed for this. Additional Patriot and other modern air defense systems for Ukraine. Accelerating and expanding the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine. Providing our warriors with all the necessary capabilities,” he said in a post Saturday on X, formerly Twitter, and added, “Civilians, infrastructure and energy facilities. This is what Russia is constantly at war with.”

Ukrainian offensive

In the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, five civilians died amid Ukrainian shelling and three more were injured, according to the area’s Moscow-installed leader, Denis Pushilin.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down two Ukrainian drones Saturday morning over Russia’s Belgorod region. No casualties were reported.