Key regional powers including Brazil, India, South Africa and Saudi Arabia have failed to sign up to a joint communique issued at the end of a Ukraine peace conference in which more than 80 countries and international organisations endorsed its territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Speaking at the end of the two-day summit in Switzerland, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, welcomed the “first steps toward peace” but acknowledged that not all attenders had come onboard.

Attenders were mostly from Europe, the US and other western allies, but included countries from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, however, took part in the summit, but did not sign the final communique.

Viola Amherd, the Swiss president, who hosted the event, said the fact that the “great majority” of participants agreed to the final document “shows what diplomacy can achieve”.

Speaking to reporters, Zelenskiy suggested the military situation had “stabilised” in Kharkiv, the north-eastern region subject to fierce bombardment from advancing Russian forces.

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