The Nepal Weekly 
May 23, 2023
Ukrain President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers as the Group of Seven summit concluded in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country’s war effort even as Russia claimed victory in the war, which Ukraine had already denied.
The Ukrainian head of the state’s physical appearance in his trademark olive drab underscored the centrality of the war for the G7 bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing countries that the leaders focused on at the three-day meeting.
Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pointed out that the group was committed to “strong backing for Ukraine from every possible dimension.”
Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India and South Korea. He also spoke one-to-one with some other leaders.
Hanging over Sunday’s talks was the Russian claim that forces of the Wagner private army and Russian troops had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city – seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize – has been the longest and likely bloodiest of the war.
Zelensky had earlier in the day suggested in English that the Russians had finally taken the city. But he and other Ukrainian officials later cast doubt on the evaluation assessment, with Zelenskyy describing reporters in Ukrainian that “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.”
US President Joe Biden announced new military aid worth $375 million for Ukraine, saying the US would provide ammunition and armoured vehicles. That pledge came after the US agreed to allow training on US-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. We have Ukraine’s back and we’re not going anywhere,” Biden maintained.
Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures aimed at punishing Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year.
While Ukraine dominated the summit, the leaders of Japan, the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global concerns over climate change, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. And Biden tried to reassure world leaders that the US wouldnot default because of the det limit standoff tha has cast a large shadow over his trip.
Two US allies – South Korea and Japan – intensified efforts to improve ties coloured by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan’s brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave labourers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing.
Washington wants the two neighbours, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of US power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea.
Biden, Yoon and Kishida had a brief meeting as a group outside the summit venue in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting which they accepted, according to a US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
In a meeting with Zelenskyy, Yoon promised to provide South Korean demining equipment and ambulances to Ukraine. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face encounter since the war. He briefed Modi on Ukraine’s peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations.
India, the world’s largest democracy and a major buyer of Russian arms and oil, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia’s invasion.
“Zelenskyy’s presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more – or explain to him directly why they can’t,” said Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the summit saying that it aimed to isolate both China and Russia. The G7 has vowed to intensify the pressure, calling Russia’s assault on Ukraine “a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community.”
The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world’s No. 2 economy. The leaders said they did not want to harm China and were seeking “constructive and stable relations” with Beijing. They finally called Beijing to exert pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine and support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing in a program meant to offer countries an alternative to China’s investment dollars.
