Zelenskyj at the G7 Summit in Japan – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

Initially, President Volodymyr Zelensky had to speak to the G7 countries via video link.

He himself arrived on Saturday in Hiroshima, The Japanese city where the atomic bomb was used for the first time in the war.

– We are closer to peace today, the president wrote in a tweet describing it as an important meeting of friends and partners of Ukraine.

The visit is perhaps largely symbolic for a leader at war, who himself came under nuclear threats from invading power Russia.

Hiroshima is also the birthplace of the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, and this is the city from which he was elected. Therefore, it probably means a lot that Zelensky comes in person.

But perhaps the real reason for the visit is something else.

Zelensky recently attended several international conferences, such as the North Summit in Helsinki and the Arab Summits in Jeddah.

The countries he will now be talking to are not only among the world’s largest arms producers. Many of them are also the world’s largest contributors to the defense of Ukraine.

And Agence France-Presse wrote that the organization recently hit what they call the Russian “war machine” with additional sanctions.

F-16 fighter jet

During the first day of the G7 meeting, Joe Biden told the other heads of state that Washington would support the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

This is according to a spokesperson for Det kvite huset.

– Because this training will take place over the next few months, the coalition of countries involved in this effort will decide when they will actually contribute fighter jets, how much we will send them, and who will send them, the President has reportedly said.

“Very soon, Ukraine will have everything it needs to defend our airspace, our cities and our citizens,” Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrei Yermak, said in a televised broadcast on Friday.

The G7, as the name implies, includes 7 member states: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the United States.

Many of these are among the largest arms manufacturers in the world. Among them are the world’s largest contributors to the defense of Ukraine.

An important arms producer is South Korea, which is supplying today tanks to Poland and could become an important supplier of ammunition to Ukraine.

As for organized Japan, the pacifist constitution forbids the country to contribute to arms subsidies.

But Kishida would like to change this, so that Japan can play a bigger role in the insurance policy abroad in the future.

These are the ten most important weapons of Ukraine

Long term financial support

The fact that Zelenskyj comes to the meeting personally, Reinforces expectations that the G7 countries and the European Union may increase aid to Ukraine.

Meeting people face to face is always more powerful than when you meet through a video screen. His main job is to maintain support from Western countries, or the world, in his defense fight, says Carsten Friis, senior research fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Foreign Policy (Nupi).

– It’s about two things, I think: in the short term, getting a solution to the F16 donation, which is taking place but hasn’t arrived yet, and the other is long term, long term security guarantees, and of course financial guarantees in the future.

Friis adds that it is unusual to talk about the insurance policy in an economic forum such as the G7.

— but there is something about the need to take a somewhat strategic, long-term view of what we’re actually doing here.

War is devastating for all of us. Therefore, one must ensure that Ukraine wins, and that it is stable after that.

Because while the G7 cannot provide insurance guarantees, countries can, for example, promise long-term support to rebuild the country after the war ends.

This is something Friis believes Zelensky will try to achieve.

A united front against nuclear threats?

It is heavy symbolism that Zelensky will come to Hiroshima.

Several times since the war began, Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons, to strong reactions from both Ukraine and Western powers.

Leaders of the G7 nations declared to the world on Friday that they are “committed to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, with uncompromising security for all.”

She says they will achieve this through a “down-to-earth, pragmatic and responsible approach” to the challenge.

Sunday is the last day of the summit. According to Reuters, a longer version of that statement is expected later in the day, when the leaders have finished.

A request for support from the League of Arab States

Zelensky was also present at the Arab League summit on Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

There, he urged the heads of state present to support his government’s peace plan.

– Elsewhere, there are some in the world, as well as here among divers, who turn a blind eye to illegal annexations, according to Agence France-Presse.

Also among the talking points were “political prisoners in Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories” and “cooperation in the field of energy,” according to Zelensky himself.

The Gulf states cooperate with Russia on several levels and have so far remained neutral in the Ukraine war.

But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who practically rules Saudi Arabia, said on Friday that he was ready to mediate between the two countries.

Zelensky may also meet Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, who was welcomed to the Arab summit after 11 years in the cold.

Syria and Russia have always been close allies. Assad relied on Russia and Iran to put down the rebellion and stay in power.