Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
Hiroshima, Japan – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will hold a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his attendance at the Group of Seven summit, Japan’s foreign ministry has announced.
Zelenskyy will also join a peace and security meeting with G7 leaders and other country representatives during the summit in Hiroshima, Japan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to arrive in Hiroshima on Saturday after wrapping up a surprise visit to an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, where he called on Middle Eastern leaders to “help protect our people, including [the] Ukrainian Muslim Community”.
Earlier in the week, Zelenskyy made a stopover trip to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, where political leaders pledged to help replenish depleted supplies of missiles, tanks and drones. ‘Ukraine.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, on Friday confirmed reports that Zelensky would attend the G7 summit in person after early indications that the Ukrainian leader would only attend the meeting online.
Zelensky’s trip to Japan will be his first visit to Asia since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kishida, the G7 host, has taken by far the strongest stance against Russia’s war in Ukraine among Asian leaders, imposing sanctions on hundreds of Russian entities and pledging billions of dollars in aid to Kiev.
Kishida is implementing Japan’s largest military buildup since World War II and has repeatedly linked the situation in Ukraine to the fate of Taiwan, which China has threatened to “reunify” with mainland China by force if necessary.
In March, Kishida visited Ukraine, where Zelensky described the Japanese leader as a “powerful defender of international order” and “a longtime friend of Ukraine.”
Nick Bisley, a professor of international relations at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, told Al Jazeera that Zelenskyy’s attendance would be a “huge boost” for the summit and help “mobilize a ticket of unity in Russia”.
In Hiroshima, Zelenskyy is expected to rally the G7 member nations (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) to increase pressure on Moscow to end the war and increase its support for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is also expected to hold bilateral talks with G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden.
On Friday, G7 leaders pledged to further tighten sanctions on Russia to degrade its ability to continue its “illegal aggression” against Ukraine. The club of rich economies is expected to unveil a series of coordinated measures aimed at the Russian economy, although there are divisions among members over how far the punitive measures should go.
The United States and Britain announced new unilateral sanctions on Friday, including London’s ban on Russian diamond imports.
