Ukraine’s president to attend G7 summit in Hiroshima

Kathmandu: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the summit of G7 countries on Sunday, a Ukrainian official has confirmed.

Zelenskyy will join the G7 meeting in Hiroshima as G7 leaders are set to unveil new sanctions on Russia for its invasion.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, confirmed on national television that Zelenskyy would attend the summit.

‘We were sure that our president would be where Ukraine needed him, in any part of the world, to solve the issue of stability of our country,’ Danilov said, ‘There will be very important matters decided there, so physical presence is a crucial thing to defend our interests.’

He’s also expected to appear virtually at a meeting on Friday. Reports say Zelensky will first travel to the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, before going to Japan. The news agency says that he will fly on a French government plane to Japan after a stop-off in Jeddah.

Zelensky’s expected visit to Japan comes as Kyiv continues to look to its Western partners for military backing ahead of a highly anticipated counteroffensive.

G7 members Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are the largest backers of Ukraine.