Exclusive-Ukraine’s Zelenskiy expected to attend Singapore security summit, sources say
2024.05.31 04:34
By Xinghui Kok, Fanny Potkin and Idrees Ali
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore this weekend, six sources said, as Ukraine faces a renewed assault two years after Russian forces invaded.
Security assistance for Ukraine is expected to be one of the key issues discussed at this year’s dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, are among those attending.
Two of the sources said Zelenskiy would address delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday. All of the sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Ukrainian embassy in Singapore did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Zelenskiy’s office in Kyiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There has been no Russian delegation at the Singapore security meetings since 2022.
Zelenskiy, who is currently in Sweden, said on Wednesday that Russia was still trying to disrupt a separate world “peace summit” next month devoted to the invasion and that it was putting pressure on countries to stay away from the gathering.
Zelenskiy wants the peace summit, scheduled for June 15-16 in Switzerland, to produce a front to support the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 borders.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, held annually in Singapore by the International Institute of Strategic Studies for the last 21 years, ends on June 2.
