G7 leaders, meeting urgently online on Tuesday to discuss the latest Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, said in a subsequent joint statement: “We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms and recall that indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians constitute a war crime. Therefore, they warned, “we will hold Putin and those responsible accountable.” The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, also spoke at the meeting from Kyiv.
The rulers of the seven most industrialized democracies held a virtual meeting – convened by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, since Germany now holds the annual rotating presidency of the club – they promised to provide help to Ukraine for as long as necessary.
“We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support and stand firm with Ukraine for as long as necessary,” the leaders of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom said in the joint statement. , plus the representatives of the European Union.
President Zelensky alerted the G-7 that “the Russian leader, who is at the end of his reign, still has the means for an escalation, which is a threat to all of us,” according to the English text of his speech published by the Presidency of Ukraine. Zelenski asked those gathered for more air defense, after waves of missiles have fallen on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, which have caused dozens of deaths among the civilian population.
He also proposed to the G-7 to send an international observer mission to the border between Ukraine and Belarus. Zelensky argued that Moscow is trying to implicate Minsk in the war under the guise of an alleged provocation by Kyiv, which is not actually planning any kind of military action against Belarus. To “eliminate these narratives” and even the suspicion “of any alleged threat on our part”, the solution would be to send international observers to monitor the situation on this border.
The G-7 also referred to this matter in its final declaration. The announced creation of a joint military force between Moscow and Minsk constitutes “the latest example of the complicity” of Belarus with Russia in the war against Ukraine, they wrote. “We reiterate our call on the Belarusian authorities to stop allowing the Russian armed forces to use their territory” to prop up the war effort against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president called for more sanctions against Moscow in response to the destruction of Ukrainian energy infrastructure. “A strict price cap is needed for Russia’s oil and gas exports: zero profit for the terrorist state,” he said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app after the meeting, in which he again ruled out entering into talks with Russia. Vladimir Putin.
