Jacques Serais, with AFP // photo credit: Alastair Grant / POOL / AFP
This is unexpected news announced by the entourage of Volodymyr Zelensky. The President of Ukraine will be present at the international G7 summit, which as its name suggests, brings together the seven major Western economies, this year in Hiroshima, Japan. They will therefore be eight with the presence of the Ukrainian president, who was initially to intervene during a meeting of this summit on Sunday remotely, by videoconference.
“Very important things must be decided at the G7. The physical presence of our president is absolutely essential to defend our interests”, justifies the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council Oleksiï Danilov. His trip is “very important”, commented a French diplomatic source. And just before heading there, Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to attend the Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this Saturday. The Ukrainian president is therefore increasing diplomatic contacts with this tenacious ambition to widen the circle of his supporters.
“It’s an opportunity”
In Hiroshima, he will have the opportunity to put his gift of persuasion to use with several countries which have not formally condemned the Russian invasion or which do not sanction Moscow. Among them are present on the sidelines of this summit, India, Brazil or Indonesia. His main mission will be to convince them to take a stand to put Russia under pressure.
“We can assume that they will see each other”, “it is an opportunity” to “express themselves with as many leaders as possible”, estimated this diplomatic source, affirming that the “best spokesperson” for the cause of Ukraine, “it’s the Ukrainian president himself”.
“Underlining the importance of the conflict”
His presence in Hiroshima will be an ambivalent symbol, however, believes Ian Lesser, vice-president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an American think tank, interviewed by AFP: “It will underline the importance of the conflict” Russian- Ukrainian to defend “peace in the world, but also the risk of escalation” between nuclear powers.
Volodymyr Zelensky should ask the G7 for new military means to better oppose Russian troops, before the announced counter-offensive from Kiev: more artillery shells, more sophisticated anti-aircraft defense systems, and probably a new demand to obtain American-made F-16s, combat aircraft which the Europeans also have “in large quantities”, recalled Ian Lesser.
One thing is certain, the G7 countries have enacted new sanctions aimed at depriving Russia of the technologies and industrial equipment that support its war enterprise. The objective is always the same, to try to stop the Russian war machine.