Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in Hiroshima (western Japan) this Saturday to attend the G7 summit. The day before, the US announced in a “historic” decision that it would authorize future deliveries of fighter jets to Kiev. In Japan, the head of state meets with his key allies, but also with leaders of nonaligned powers.
Zelenskyi arrived in Hiroshima around 3:30 p.m. local time aboard a plane from France. “Important meetings with Ukraine’s allies and partners. Strengthened security and cooperation for our victory. Peace will come closer today,” the Ukrainian president tweeted minutes after arriving in Japan, who is expected to attend meetings with Ukraine’s leaders The G7 and other countries hosted the summit on Sunday (21).
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Zelenskyy arrived from Saudi Arabia, where he represented Ukraine’s situation at Friday’s Arab League summit, and traveled to “certain” countries that he says are “turning a blind eye” to a Russian invasion of his country.
In the Japanese city, destroyed by an American atomic bomb in 1945, the Ukrainian leader will meet with his main allies, but also with major nonaligned emerging powers such as Brazil and especially India, which has close military ties with Russia, which refused to support the invasion of the to condemn Ukraine.
The “best spokesman” for Ukraine’s cause “is the Ukrainian president himself,” estimated a French diplomatic source. Paris provided a French plane to transport Zelensly to Saudi Arabia and then on to Japan.
“Historical” decision
Joe Biden “can’t wait” to “meet” the Ukrainian president “in person” on the sidelines of the summit, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday. They will discuss “the practical implementation” of the US decision on fighter jets.
Bilateral meetings between Zelenskyy and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and French President Emmanuel Macron are also planned.
The White House on Friday said Biden had overcome his reluctance and said he was ready to allow other countries to supply Kiev with whatever Americanmade F16 fighter jets he wanted. A “historic” decision, according to the Ukrainian President.
Jake Sullivan confirmed that Washington now supports a joint initiative by its allies to train Ukrainian pilots in F16s. During the long months of training, Westerners decide the schedule for delivery of the planes, their quantity, and the countries that will deliver them.
“The UK will work with the US, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to give Ukraine the air combat capabilities it needs,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is also in Japan. Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was ready to train Ukrainian pilots.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for the delivery of fighter jets to his allies in recent months, but so far the West, led by the United States, has resisted these demands, citing the risk of the conflict escalating and saying it was not a priority.
Sullivan claimed that American doctrine “hasn’t changed.” The delivery of arms “followed the requirements of the conflict,” he defended.
He believes that the F16s are part of the equipment that Kiev will need “in the future” to “deter and defend against any Russian aggression,” in addition to immediate needs related to counterterrorism.
The White House reiterated the US position that, through its military assistance, the United States “does not facilitate or support attacks on Russian soil.”
Earlier on Friday, Hiroshima summit leaders announced new sanctions to “deprive Russia of G7 technologies, industrial equipment and services that support its war enterprise.”
China
While Zelenskyy has become the dominant theme of the summit, G7 leaders are also expected to agree on a common position amid rising Chinese economic, diplomatic and military power amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
“We will work together to ensure that attempts to weaponize economic dependencies” are “doomed to fail” and have “consequences,” the G7 leaders said in a statement released Saturday, without including China by name to name.
The G7 countries (US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, UK, Canada) want to diversify their supply chains to be less dependent on China and better protect their technologies in the name of “national security”.