Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the Group of Seven (G7) Hiroshima summit in person on Sunday, in part to express his embattled nation’s gratitude for a shift in US policy allowing the transfer of F-16 warplanes.
Japan’s foreign ministry says Zelenskiy will take part in a session regarding peace and security alongside the G7 leaders and invited outreach countries, according to the foreign ministry.
The Ukrainian president is set to arrive in Hiroshima on Saturday, and is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other attendees of the G7 summit.
Meanwhile White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that it was a “safe bet” US President Joe Biden would meet with the Ukrainian leader.
Sullivan told reporters that Biden on Friday endorsed training the Ukrainian military to fly F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft, adding that weapons assistance to Ukraine was changing as the conflict changed.
“As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many,” he said.
Sullivan also added that G7 members were looking to “de-risk, not decouple” from China.
He said the G7 leaders planned to outline steps to protect sensitive technology, including outbound investment measures, in their joint statement or communique.
“The communique will note that each country has its own independent relationship and approach, but we are united and aligned around a set of common elements,” Sullivan said on Saturday, referring to G7 plans to co-operate with China while addressing significant concern in a range of areas.
United against Putin
G7 leaders are expected to announce tightened sanctions on Russia and debate strategy on a more than year-long conflict that shows no signs of easing.
The seven countries that have dominated the post-World War II era ushered in after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also hit with a US nuclear bomb, are increasingly challenged by an ascendant China and unpredictable Russia.
Britain will announce a ban on Russian diamonds and imports of metals from Russia including copper, aluminium and nickel in support of Ukraine, it said in a statement.
Britain will also target an additional 86 people and companies from Putin’s military-industrial complex, in addition to those involved in the energy, metals and shipping industries, it said.
-AAP
