President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. meets Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during a courtesy call at the Malacañan Palace on Monday, June 3, 2024. The two leaders attended the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue Defense Summit in Singapore, but their schedules did not align to meet on the sidelines of the forum held over the weekend. (KJ ROSALES/PPAPOOL)
MANILA, Philippines — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he took a short and sudden trip to the Philippines — despite the war being waged in his homeland — because it was important to inform President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. about the situation in Ukraine.
Zelensky explained in an interview with Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) on Monday, shortly after he met with Marcos, that he asked the President to participate in the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland this June 15, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be discussed.
According to Zelensky, the voices of Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, are very important.
“[I went here] directly, to invite him to participate [in] this summit, that there will be three very important issues on 15th of June in Switzerland. The first one will be food security. I think it’s also very important in our bilateral relation between us and the Philippines — nuclear security that’s important for all the world, I think too,” Zelensky said.
“It was very important directly to invite the President, directly to speak with him about the details [of] what’s going on on the battlefield, what Russia brought with this war to our land, of this crisis, what they think about, and of course, for us it’s very important not to give Russia possibility to influence in Asia, very important region, very important voice of Philippines,” he added.
Earlier, Zelensky said in a tweet that Marcos will participate in the Global Peace Summit. This came after the two leaders held a bilateral meeting at Malacañang.
READ: PH to join peace summit for Ukraine in Switzerland—Zelensky
Initially, there was no confirmation from the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) regarding Marcos’ participation, but PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the Philippines’ participation is still being finalized.
Zelensky, during the interview with RTVM, reiterated that Marcos vowed to attend the summit.
“Yes. He said that the Philippines will support the summit. I said for us it is important for us [for] him to come. He said he will come and he will participate in the summit. This (is a) great strong signal,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky also said that he informed Marcos about their efforts to bring back Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russia when it started its invasion.
“But the important reason is because we are preparing, in such a tough period, in the period of war in Ukraine, we are preparing our steps to peace, to just peace, just peace for Ukraine, Ukrainians, for our family, for our children, and of course, for us, it’s very important [to] have participation on the level of your leader, participation in this summit, in Switzerland,” he said.
“And the third one, the humanitarian one, where we count on your support at how to get back our Ukrainian stolen children, you know that Russia has stolen 20,000 of our children from occupied territories and we need to get them back, and we need to find the mechanism of getting back the children, different age, it’s a pity but we have to bring them home,” he added.
Earlier, Zelensky thanked Marcos for the Philippines’ support of Ukraine’s sovereign claims. In 2022, the Philippines voted in favor of a 2022 United Nations resolution expressing “explicit condemnation” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
READ: Ukraine to open embassy in Manila in 2024—Zelensky
Zelensky went to Manila for a short bilateral meeting with Marcos after failing to meet in Singapore over the weekend.
Both Marcos and Zelensky came from Singapore, where the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense summit, was held.
READ: Zelensky in PH to promote peace summit he says China, Russia trying to undermine
Marcos was the keynote speaker there; Zelensky, on the other hand, was urging countries in the Asean region to support the Swiss-organized summit.