This weekend, a secluded Swiss resort above Lake Lucerne will be transformed as dozens of world leaders and thousands of soldiers and police descend on Bürgenstock.

The Swiss hope that the Ukraine summit might produce the first tentative sketch marks for a peace process, some 28 months after Russia invaded its neighbor, reports BBC. It is the biggest gathering for Ukraine since the full-scale invasion.

But with key players like China staying away, and Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a new ultimatum - demanding Ukraine’s capitulation and calling that a peace proposal - expectations of significant progress are low. Russia has not been invited.

For Ukraine, the mere fact this meeting is taking place is positive. Politicians in Kyiv have been hailing every confirmed participant as a gesture of support. For them, the giant summit should demonstrate to Moscow that the world stands on the side of Ukraine - and of international law. There has been a new Russian offensive in the northeast, near Kharkiv, and missiles are slamming into homes and power plants across Ukraine with renewed intensity. So size matters when it comes to the summit. But so does the substance.

"It’s important to establish a political and legal framework for future peace. To show that peace can only be achieved in the framework of Zelensky’s 10 points," Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko sets out the case from Kyiv. "That includes the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty."

He is referring to a peace formula put forward in late 2022 by Ukraine's president that insists on compelling Russia to return all the occupied land.

EPA Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky steps toward a limousine after landing in Obbuergen near the Buergenstock Resort, ahead the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Stansstad near Lucerne, Switzerland,EPA. Mr Zelensky put forward his own 10-point plan for peace in late 2022. Ukraine now wants to rally as many countries as possible behind its formula, putting "psychological pressure" on Russia to accept such terms, should it come to that stage. Right now, that looks unlikely.

This summit was first mooted when the situation on the battlefield looked more promising for Kyiv: a prime time to try to shape the terms of any future peace deal. Since then the dynamic has shifted. Kharkiv, where this shopping centre is, has been affected by Russian air strikes in recent weeks.