US president set to skip Ukraine Peace Summit for Hollywood fundraiser

US President Joe Biden will likely miss a Ukraine summit next month because it conflicts with a campaign fundraiser in California he’s set to attend alongside George Clooney, Julia Roberts and other stars.

Switzerland scheduled the conference for June 15-16, after a meeting of the Group of Seven in Italy, according to Bloomberg.

Several G-7 leaders plan to join but neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to be there, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations. Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t invited and leaders from other nations are also planning to skip.

Biden is scheduled to fly from the G-7 meeting in southern Italy to Los Angeles for the June 15 fundraiser. Along with Clooney and Roberts, former President Barack Obama and late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel are set to join him.

It reflects a broader pessimism about the conference, which Switzerland agreed to organise when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the country in January. Still, about 70 countries will take part in the summit at some level, including leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida is likely to be there too.