Hiroshima, Japan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, where leaders of major Western powers announced new sanctions against Russia’s “war machine”.
“Very important things are being decided and that is why the presence of our president is absolutely necessary to protect our interests,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council.
Zelensky, who has recently engaged in intense diplomatic activity in search of military support to launch retaliation against Russia, was to speak by videoconference at the Hiroshima summit scheduled for Friday to Sunday.
In the end he will appear in person.
The president has already left Ukraine and stayed in Saudi Arabia this Friday to attend an Arab League summit and meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who maintains close ties with both Russia and China.
In Japan, it will be able to renew its order for fighters to re-conquer territories taken by Russia following the February 2022 invasion of the former Soviet republic.
Several European countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, announced over the weekend that they would work to get F-16 aircraft to Ukraine, although the final delivery of these US aircraft must be authorized by Washington.
In Hiroshima, the city that was the first atomic bombing in history, in 1945, the leaders of the G7 (USA, Canada, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy) announced a tightening of their sanctions against Russia and China. Expressed concern over the increase in nuclear weapons.
“The acceleration of China’s nuclear arsenal build-up without transparency or meaningful dialogue raises concerns for global and regional stability,” the G7 said in a statement.
The G7 announced measures to “deny Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services” on Ukrainian soil.
The package includes a ban on the export of goods “critical to Russia on the battlefield” as well as a crackdown on entities accused of surfacing the material for Moscow’s benefit.
Hours earlier, the United States announced it would restrict Russia’s access to “products essential to its combat capabilities” by banning exports to 70 Russian and other entities.
Embargo on russian diamonds
The United Kingdom and the European Union announced sanctions against the Russian diamond industry, which is worth $4,000 to $5,000 million a year and is a significant source of income for the Kremlin.
In its statement, the G7 also pledged to “prohibit the trade and use of diamonds mined, treated or produced in Russia” using tracking technologies.
The United Arab Emirates, India and Belgium, a member of the European Union, are among the main importers of Russian diamonds.
G7 leaders will be able to make their pleas for the move directly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country has close military ties with Russia and has refused to condemn Ukraine’s invasion.
India, along with Brazil and Indonesia, is among the eight non-member countries of the forum that were invited to Hiroshima.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held the first bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Japanese city.
“We talked about expanding Brazil-Australia ties, the Women’s Soccer World Cup [previsto en Australia y Nueva Zelanda en julio y agosto]And I got an invitation to go to Australia,” Lula said on her Twitter account.
Tribute to the victims of Hiroshima
Beyond Russia and Ukraine, the agenda will be dominated by China and the issue of diversifying G7 countries’ supply chains to defend against the risk of “economic pressure” from Beijing.
The head of the German government, Olaf Scholz, called for supply chains to be thought of in a way that limits “the risks caused by dependence on certain countries”, although France qualified that it would do so “with cooperation and respect”. The G7 of demand would be “for China”.
Before starting the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, a native of Hiroshima, received the other six G7 leaders one by one at the Peace Memorial Park.
Together they paid tribute to the approximately 140,000 victims of the American atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
