Zelensky begs G7 for help
Kyiv struck by Russian missiles as leaders gather for summit
MUNICH: President Volodymyr Zelensky will urge world powers to step up their support for Ukraine when he addresses the G7 summit, as Kyiv reels from the first Russian strikes on the capital in weeks.
US President Joe Biden and his counterparts from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are meeting at Elmau Castle in the Bavarian Alps in Germany, where they have stressed their unity in the face of Russia’s aggression.
Mr Zelensky is set to join the leaders of the US, Germany, Britain, France, Italy,
Japan and Canada via video.
In his daily address on Sunday, Mr Zelensky renewed his calls for more weapons and air defence systems to be delivered to Ukraine and for fresh sanctions to be imposed on Russia by G7 nations.
“We need a powerful air defence – modern, fully effective – which can ensure complete protection against these missiles. We talk about this every day with our partners. There are already some agreements.
And partners need to move faster if they are really partners, not observers,” he said.
“Delays in the transfer of weapons to our state, any restrictions, are actually an invitation for Russia to strike again and again.”
Mr Zelensky’s latest appeal for help came after Russia struck a residential building in Kyiv, killing one person and wounding four others, including a seven-year-old girl.
Mr Biden condemned strike, the first on the Ukrainian capital in almost three weeks, as “barbarism”.
German Chancellor and G7 host Olaf Scholz said the attack showed again “that it is right to stand together and support Ukrainians”.
Russia denied it had hit a civilian target, however, saying its forces had struck the Artyom weapons factory in the neighbourhood.
The G7 summit at the picturesque Elmau Castle runs until Tuesday. It is followed by a meeting of NATO countries in Spain, which Mr Zelensky is also expected to dial into.
G7 members kicked off their gathering by announcing a ban on imports of Russian gold, the latest in a series of sanctions aimed at crippling Vladimir Putin’s war effort.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned his fellow G7 leaders not to give in to “fatigue” and said Ukraine would need long-term help.