More weapons and ammunition, in addition to the already promised F-16 fighters, and “unwavering” support from the G7 countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was the star of the Hiroshima summit, reiterating that “as long as the Russian invaders continue” in Ukraine, “no one will sit at the negotiating table with Russia,” leaving Japan with a major diplomatic victory. For Moscow, however, the meeting was little more than a “propaganda show”, with the Russian Foreign Ministry denouncing “an incubator of destructive initiatives that undermine global stability”.
In the city that was destroyed by an American atomic bomb in 1945, Zelensky compared the images of the destruction to those of his country at the time. “Hiroshima photos remind me of Bakhmut”, said, after a visit to the Japanese city museum. “Absolute total destruction. There is nothing. There are no people”, he added, promising that Ukraine, like Japan, will be able to rebuild the country. The Ukrainian President, along with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishido, paid tribute to the victims of Hiroshima.
Zelensky also denied that the Russians had occupied Bakhmut, as claimed the day before by the leader of the Wagner Group and the Kremlin itself. “Russian troops are in Bakhmut, but Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia,” he told reporters, without giving further details.
As the day before, he held several bilateral meetings with the leaders present in Japan – starting with US President Joe Biden. The latter promised to send Kiev more weapons, ammunition and armored vehicles worth $375 million. This after he gave the green light to the Allies on Friday to deliver US-made F-16 fighters to Ukraine. And have agreed to train Ukrainian pilots.
Zelensky also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, another G7 guest, to thank him for his humanitarian support and assistance, namely in the provision of demining vehicles and protective equipment. He also met with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, one of the representatives of the Global South present in Hiroshima.
However, it did not meet (allegedly due to conflicting agendas) with the Brazilian president. Lula da Silva, who has sparked controversy in the past by saying the US and European Union should stop “encouraging war”, condemned the “violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity” yesterday. And he criticized the permanent members of the UN Security Council for continuing “the long tradition of waging illicit wars”, whether for “territory expansion or regime change”.
Russia has not spared criticism. “G7 leaders invited the leader of the Kiev regime they control to their meeting and turned the event in Hiroshima into a propaganda spectacle,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. The main conclusion of the summit, he added, was “a series of announcements full of hateful anti-Russian and anti-Chinese messages”. And he concluded by saying that Moscow is confident that its “assessment of the G7 and its destructive actions is shared by the majority of the international community”.
Source: DN
