The Group of Seven holds a meeting to resolve dealing with the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations will hold an online meeting Thursday to discuss how to deal with Russia’s “protracted aggression” against Ukraine, the Japanese government announced.
Japanese Kyodo news agency reported that the G7 ministers’ talks come the day after US President Joe Biden met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington and announced new military assistance to the eastern European country, including the provision of the Patriot air defense system.
The foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as the European Union, are expected to exchange views on the situation in Ukraine, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said the ministers are also likely to confirm their cooperation in supporting Ukraine, against which Russia has been waging war since late February.
Last month, the G7 foreign ministers pledged in a joint statement issued after a two-day meeting in the western German city of Münster to “continue to impose economic costs” on Moscow, while committing to continuing support for Kyiv.
Japan is set to take over the G7 presidency from Germany next year.
In a related context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his speech to the US Congress in Washington, requested more heavy weapons from the United States to help his country repel the Russian invasion.
“I assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can operate American tanks and planes themselves,” Zelensky told a joint session of Congress “Your money isn’t charity, it’s an investment in global security and democracy that we deal with in the most responsible way”.
The Ukrainian president also warned that it was “only a matter of time” before Russia strikes other US allies “if we don’t stop it now”.
“The world is too interconnected to allow someone to stand aside, and at the same time feel safe, when such a fight continues,” he said, adding that next year will be “the turning point, when Ukrainian courage and American resolve must secure the future of our common freedom”.
Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday morning for his first trip abroad since Russia’s invasion of his country in February.
It is noteworthy that the United States is the largest financial and military supporter of Ukraine.
On the ground, Russian news agencies said that a former deputy prime minister and a pro-Moscow official were wounded when Ukrainian forces bombed the city of Donetsk on Wednesday.
Donetsk, which is controlled by pro-Moscow forces, is located in eastern Ukraine’s industrial Donbass region, the epicenter of recent fierce fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
One of the injured is Dmitry Rogozin, who previously held the position of Russian deputy prime minister and provides military advice to two occupied regions in Ukraine that Moscow claims belong to it, but his injury is not life-threatening, according to an aide to the local Russian Tass news agency.
Vitaly Khotsenko, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic government, was also wounded, his press secretary told Russian news agencies.
Aides to Russian agencies said the two men were wounded when a hotel in the Donetsk suburbs came under high-precision weapon fire.
A member of the Russian parliament who was also at the hotel indicated that the attackers acted on information that had been leaked to them.
Rogozin was the head of the Russian Space Agency but was replaced in July.
