What’s the worth of peace talks that aren’t truly talks between the warring sides?

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was because of open a peace convention in Switzerland on Saturday that’s meant to shore up assist for his nation’s negotiating positions with backing from as many countries as attainable. But even because the two-day gathering has emerged as probably the most extensively embraced diplomatic effort thus far to finish the conflict, for now, the hassle excludes Russia.

The convention, at an Alpine resort close to Lucerne, Switzerland, is as a substitute a present of assist for among the factors that Ukraine has specified by its proposal and that it has asserted are essential to convey an enduring peace. The plan has drawn criticism from some international locations, like China and Brazil, that say Russia and Ukraine want to barter instantly for any likelihood to finish the preventing.

“You don’t negotiate with your mates,” Celso Amorim, a chief international coverage adviser for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, mentioned in an interview. “You negotiate along with your adversaries.”

Mr. Zelensky has mentioned that Ukraine’s intention is to barter with Russia collectively — after constructing consensus amongst Kyiv’s allies and as many impartial nations as attainable. Mr. Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan entails Russia’s withdrawing in full from Ukrainian territory, paying reparations and going through justice over any conflict crimes.

On Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia offered his own cease-fire plan, calling for Ukraine to cede territory and for Western nations to raise their financial sanctions. Ukraine denounced Mr. Putin’s suggestion as meant to undermine the weekend’s talks.

As Ukraine labored to construct momentum for the Swiss convention this 12 months, it promoted a gathering that would endorse all 10 of its negotiating positions. But it surely then dialed them again to 3 — nuclear security, meals safety, and humanitarian points like exchanging prisoners of conflict and returning Ukrainian kids unlawfully taken to Russia — to attract in international locations that had been reluctant to endorse the factors deemed much less possible.

“We now have moved away from troublesome issues that may divide international locations, and we’ve got taken solely three factors for the primary summit,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned in an interview with Central Asian information media final month.

Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky has mentioned, is hoping for consensus on the three factors, and the convention is predicted to provide at the least a draft on these issues. As soon as the factors are agreed on by the international locations attending the gathering, he says, they are going to be handed to Russia, probably with the United Nations as an middleman.

“Then we’ll see if Russia desires to finish the conflict,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned of the diplomatic technique in an interview with The New York Times in Kyiv final month.

The query of how Russia and Ukraine may have interaction in future talks is predicted to be one of many topics of debate, folks concerned in getting ready for the convention mentioned. Mr. Zelensky’s chief of workers, Andriy Yermak, mentioned on Tuesday that he hoped the convention would lay groundwork for future talks with Russia.

Each Russia and Ukraine at the moment are maneuvering to realize assist from different nations for his or her most well-liked codecs for eventual talks, if they arrive.

China and Brazil are backing a separate negotiating proposal, and neither of these international locations was anticipated to ship a high-level delegation for Ukraine’s convention this weekend. Switzerland mentioned that delegations from 100 international locations and organizations, together with 57 heads of state and authorities, had been anticipated to attend.

There have been setbacks. President Biden, who has already traveled to Europe twice in current weeks for a D-Day memorial and a Group of seven summit, is skipping the gathering. Vice President Kamala Harris is attending as a substitute.

The absence of China, the nation with probably the most financial and diplomatic leverage over Russia, has additionally solid into doubt the relevance of the convention.

And Brazil has prevented any high-level presence, although Mr. Amorim, the presidential adviser, was in any case close by in Geneva for a United Nations commerce convention. Mr. Amorim mentioned within the interview that peace talks not involving Russia had been futile.

“I’m not defending one facet or the opposite, however I, for one, am very clear that nothing will come from this assembly in Switzerland,” he mentioned. “I respect the intentions, but it surely’s apparent that nothing will occur.”

China has mentioned that 45 international locations “responded positively” to the Brazilian and Chinese language proposal for talks, with out naming the international locations. Mr. Amorim mentioned that he had no exact details about what number of or which international locations supported the circumstances, however he famous that the participation of China, because the nation with probably the most affect over Russia, was key.

Ukraine has rejected such talks.

Turkey, one other nation that has sought to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, shall be represented by International Minister Hakan Fidan, who met with Mr. Putin on the Kremlin on Tuesday.

A Turkish diplomat, talking on the situation of anonymity underneath the nation’s diplomatic protocol, mentioned that Turkey thought-about the Swiss talks vital however {that a} convention with Russia’s participation would have a better likelihood of success.

Oleksii Polegkyi, educational director of the Heart for Public Diplomacy in Ukraine, instructed Ukrainian tv information on Thursday that Kyiv’s technique for the summit may find yourself being a diplomatic misstep.

The gathering may finish, he mentioned, with no assertion affirming Ukraine’s internationally acknowledged borders, an absence that would enable traction on territorial concessions in an eventual settlement earlier than extracting something from Russia in return.

In any case, he mentioned, “our expectations from this summit could also be considerably overstated, as a result of peace is not going to be achieved by means of summits.”

However Maria Zolkina, director of battle research on the Democratic Initiatives Basis, a nongovernmental group, mentioned the worth to Ukraine of the diplomacy across the gathering was broader than simply the formal effort to shore up assist for the three factors in Kyiv’s peace plan.

The trouble helps promote Ukraine’s imaginative and prescient of a postwar order in Japanese Europe that will forestall future Russian expansionism, she mentioned, including that Ukraine needed to muster assist for talks on its phrases, “to not begin from Chinese language, Russian or another person’s proposals.”

Maria Varenikova contributed reporting from Kyiv, and Safak Timur from Istanbul. Anastasia Kuznietsova additionally contributed reporting.