HIROSHIMA: At the G7 summit, leaders of the richest nations in the world expressed their strong and ongoing support for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky refuted Russian claims that it had finally conquered the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Zelensky told reporters the ravaged eastern city, the centre of conflict in recent months, was destroyed before a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on the fringes of a Group of Seven (G7) conference in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
It’s tragic, Zelensky said, adding: “There is nothing on this place”; all that was left were “a lot of dead Russians.”
The question of whether the city was still in Kyiv’s control or if Russian forces had captured Bakhmut remained unclear, but a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian president claimed that his remarks were quoted out of context that the city had fallen.
In a statement posted on the Kremlin website, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised what he said was a triumph for his forces and referred to it as the “liberation” of Bakhmut.
Wagner Group mercenaries led the assault on the largely levelled city, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city.
During the final day of the three-day G7 summit on Sunday, Biden announced a $375 million package of military aid for Ukraine, including artillery and armoured vehicles.
Biden told Zelensky that the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Moscow and assured the Ukrainian leader that the US was not going anywhere and would continue to back Ukraine.
No frozen conflict
Other leaders of the G7, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Italy echoed Biden’s sentiments.
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, said that his nation will aid Ukraine as much and as long as was required.
Even though Kyiv has not secured pledges for the delivery of the fighter jets, Biden informed the G7 leaders that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aeroplanes.
According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the possibility of such training on American-built F-16s sends a message to Russia that it cannot expect to succeed in its invasion by escalating the fight.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of Britain, announced that training would begin this summer and that Ukraine would have the air force it required going forward.
According to the prime minister of the host country Japan, Fumio Kishida, it was “significant” that the G7 countries shown unity in their resolve to defend international law and order during a meeting that Zelensky attended as a guest.
While aiding Ukraine’s defence was the first priority right now, according to Scholz, security assurances for Ukraine had to be developed after the battle.
Both Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to support Ukraine in rejecting any concept that the conflict would become “frozen” or any call for peace negotiations without a withdrawal of Russian forces.
Many scholars and officials have said that Moscow’s 15-month invasion may become locked like the Korean Peninsula conflict as time goes on. Since the 1950–1953 Korean War concluded with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, North and South Korea are still formally at war.
“Peace should prevent the crisis in Ukraine from being frozen, since that might result in war down the road. It must find a solution to the issue, added Macron.
Zelensky had the opportunity to sway other participants at the Hiroshima summit, including the uncommitted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘DE-RISK’ from China
One important message from the G7 conference was the willingness to assist Ukraine in fending off Russia’s invasion, but another was mistrust of China as a business partner.
According to a US official, Biden met with the presidents of Japan and South Korea on Sunday to talk about military cooperation and the economic pressure China is putting on both nations.
A day earlier, the G7 leaders described a common strategy for dealing with China, aiming to “de-risk, not decouple,” economic interaction with a nation known as the world’s factory.
The G7 reiterated in a statement the significance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese military drills have sparked worries about Taiwan’s security as the democratic, autonomous island that China views as part of its territory.
China’s foreign ministry complained to Japan over the G7 statement, stating that it strongly opposed the declaration which ignored China’s concerns, and insulted China and meddled in its domestic affairs particularly Taiwan.
