Resolute Talk, but No New Aid Pledges for Ukraine as G-7 Leaders Await Visit From Zelensky

Leaders of the world’s seven leading industrial democracies are presenting a tough unified view on Ukraine — without any new pledges of military aid — while awaiting the drama of a visit Sunday by President Zelensky to their annual parley at Hiroshima.In a sure sign that President Biden got just the affirmation of support that he wanted, the White House promptly released the entire text of the 2,700-word statement promising intensified sanctions and decrying Russian threats to use nuclear weapons. Missing, however, was any reference to how much military aid they were prepared to give Ukraine on top of the existing sanctions regime.The setting of the G-7 summit at Hiroshima, where on August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, provided the backdrop for what amounted to a full-scale rhetorical assault on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sitting down after their host, Prime Minister Kishida, had led them in solemn remembrance before the bombed-out skeleton of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the leaders of the seven formally agreed on the statement decrying “Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, undermining of arms control regimes, and stated intent to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.”“Threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in the context of its aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible,” said the statement, expressing “our gravest concern over Russia’s grossly irresponsible seizure and militarization of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine that Russian troops seized last year.”The statement was brimming with oft-stated denunciations of the Russian invasion along with support of “the earnest efforts” of Mr. Zelensky in pushing for a formula for peace calling for withdrawal of Russian troops. No sooner had the leaders released their statement than word spread of Mr. Zelensky’s plan to join them Sunday.Mr. Zelensky is due to arrive at Hiroshima after addressing a meeting of Arab League leaders in Saudi Arabia in his quest for broad international support. Specifically, he needs to make sure the G-7 nations will really live up to their bold words.“The physical presence of our president is absolutely important,” said the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, Oleksii Danilov, citing the need “to defend our interests, to explain, to provide clear proposals and clear arguments on the events that are taking place in our country.”Mr. Zelensky’s aim in going to Hiroshima undoubtedly is, in addition to gaining arms, to plead for more sophisticated weaponry, including warplanes. He reportedly is looking for F-16 fighter jets, long a mainstay of American defense that he believes Ukraine desperately needs to combat Russia’s superiority in the air.A flaw in the statement was the omission of just to what the G-7 members are willing to commit. They were ready to call on Russia to “unconditionally withdraw its troops and military equipment from the entire internationally recognized territory of Ukraine.” They failed, though, to say exactly how they would get Russia to do as told.There was no doubt, though, the rhetoric showed their unanimity of purpose. “Russia started this war and can end this war,” they said. “A just peace cannot be realized without the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops and military equipment” — words that echo Mr. Zelensky’s own demands.

Resolute Talk, but No New Aid Pledges for Ukraine as G-7 Leaders Await Visit From Zelensky

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