Kamala Harris Tells Zelenskyy US Wants 'Just And Lasting Peace' For Ukraine

The vice president appeared at a Swiss summit this weekend while President Biden worked to raise money in California.

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.”