The leaders of G7 countries pledged support for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia after a virtual meeting Saturday on the second anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After the meeting, the G7 leaders didn’t make any public statement about further military aid, but urged “the approval of additional support to close Ukraine’s remaining budget gap for 2024”. They also demanded that Russia “fully clarify the circumstances” around the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed western leaders to Kyiv on the anniversary, declaring that Vladimir Putin “must lose absolutely everything”. Four western leaders, including the prime ministers of Italy, Canada, and Belgium, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to show solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of the war.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Belgium’s Alexander De Croo and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to the Ukrainian capital together overnight by train from neighbouring Poland, the Italian government said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had signed a bilateral security agreement with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv. Canada joins Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Denmark in concluding a 10-year security deal with Kyiv. The agreements are intended to shore up Ukraine’s security until it can reach its aim of becoming a member of the western military alliance, Nato.
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Saturday, said Germany was still discussing whether to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine. “Of course, everything (in regards to military support) we are delivering is too little,” she said at a press conference after paying an unannounced visit to the country.
The body of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed over to his mother, a spokesperson has confirmed. The spokesperson for the opposition politician, who died while in prison last week, said funeral arrangements are still to be determined. It is “unclear” whether the authorities will interfere, they added.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, had demanded that Russian authorities release his body for burial and accused a “demonic” Russian president Vladimir Putin of “torturing” his corpse. In a six minute video posted on YouTube, Navalnaya accused Putin of holding her husband’s body “hostage”, and questioned Putin’s often-professed Christian faith, Reuters reported.
A fire broke out and was extinguished at Russian steelmaker NLMK’s main plant, the regional governor said on Saturday. Preliminary data indicated the fire at the Novolipetsk Steel plant was caused by a drone, the Lipetsk regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said on Telegram, without mentioning Ukraine, Reuters reports. There were no casualties, Artamonov said.
Hundreds of people gathered at Marble Arch in central London to protest against Russia’s invasion. Demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags, with others wrapping them around their shoulders, PA Media reported. Other protesters bore signs urging Russia to “stop the war”, labelling Russian president Vladimir Putin a “terrorist” and urging international powers to offer more support.
Russia is unlikely to take part at the outset of a high-level Ukraine peace conference which neutral Switzerland plans to host in the coming months, Swiss president Viola Amherd was quoted as saying by a newspaper on Saturday. Amherd’s interview with the Neue Zuercher Zeitung daily was published a few hours after Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis told the United Nations that Berne aimed to hold the conference “by this summer” after the idea was floated in January.
UK foreign secretary David Cameron warned allies in the United Nations against “fatigue” and “compromise” over Russia’s war in Ukraine as he urged countries including the US to keep up support for Kyiv. The UK foreign secretary said the world must “recognise the cost of giving up” in a speech in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, PA Media reported.
The UK has pledged £8.5m in humanitarian funding allocations to the Red Cross Movement and the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. David Cameron said: “Ukrainians are bravely defending their land against Russia’s brutal invasion, but the past two years of war have had a tragic impact on millions of people across Ukraine. Families have been separated, towns and villages decimated, and vital civilian infrastructure destroyed.
Protesters said they dumped two tons of dung outside the home of the Russian ambassador to Poland on Saturday, as they marked the second anniversary of the invasion. Activists put a bloodied Russian flag with the letter “Z” on the pile of manure and stuck a sign into it that said “Russia = shit! We don’t want you in EU! Get out!”, pictures of the protest in Konstancin-Jeziorna, seen by Reuters, showed. The town near Warsaw is where the ambassador lives.
