US President Joe Biden and the leaders of the other G7 industrialized countries will convene for an emergency summit today to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s position
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada.
In light of this week’s missile and drone strikes, Zelensky is anticipated to make the case for greater military support, with Ukraine explicitly requesting stronger air defence systems.
Digging deeper
In the run-up to the conference, France has stated that the G7 leaders will most likely issue a statement about Russia’s ally Belarus, warning President Alexander Lukashenko to remain out of the conflict.
We’re expecting them to tell us what they talked about thereafter.
Russia’s response
Russia has low hopes for the G7 virtual summit, which is currently underway, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“The mood of this summit is already obvious and predictable – the confrontation will continue,” Peskov told reporters.
Peskov also criticised the US promises to supply modern air defence systems to Ukraine, saying that this would just prolong the conflict and cause more misery for Ukraine.
War crimes
The United Nations has said that Russia’s missile attacks yesterday may have violated international law.
According to a spokeswoman, the government is “gravely worried” that some strikes “appear to have targeted key civilian infrastructure.” She went on to say that purposefully hitting such targets “amounts to a war crime.”