Zelenskiy Joins G7 in Japan as Group Takes Aim at Russia and China

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy disembarks upon his arrival at Hiroshima Airport at Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture, on the second day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting on May 20, 2023. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy disembarks upon his arrival at Hiroshima Airport at Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture, on the second day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting on May 20, 2023. (AFP)
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Zelenskiy Joins G7 in Japan as Group Takes Aim at Russia and China

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy disembarks upon his arrival at Hiroshima Airport at Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture, on the second day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting on May 20, 2023. (AFP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy disembarks upon his arrival at Hiroshima Airport at Mihara, Hiroshima prefecture, on the second day of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting on May 20, 2023. (AFP)

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Japan on Saturday to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit, giving him a rare chance to both drum up support from the world's rich democracies and sound out "Global South" leaders with long ties to Russia.

The Ukrainian president's attendance at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, the first city to suffer a nuclear attack, also put in sharp relief western concerns over the nuclear threat posed by Moscow.

G7 members - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - are grappling with the immense challenges posed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and tensions with China, notably over Taiwan and economic security.

Worried by the outsized role China now plays in supply chains in everything from semiconductors to critical minerals, the G7 issued a communique that set out a common strategy towards future dealings with the world's second largest economy.

"We are not decoupling or turning inwards. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying," the communique said.

"A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest."

In a separate statement on economic security, G7 members warned that countries attempting to use trade as a weapon would face "consequences", sending a strong signal to Beijing over practices Washington has long said amount to economic bullying.

The communique was issued shortly after the French government aircraft that brought Zelenskiy to Hiroshima touched down.

Footage from Japanese broadcasters showed the Ukrainian president, wearing his customary olive green fatigues, stepping down to the tarmac moving quickly to a waiting car.

Moments later he tweeted: "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine."

French and European officials said it was crucial that Zelenskiy came in person first to the Arab League, which he addressed on Friday, and now to the G7, where members of the Global South are attending, in order to outline Ukraine's view as the victim of an attack by Russia and how he saw a peace settlement in the future.

"We have to use all the means to bind non-aligned states to the cause of the defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," a French presidential official told reporters.

Zelenskiy will hold bilateral meetings with G7 leaders, but significantly also the leaders of India and Brazil, two countries that have not distanced themselves from Moscow.

Both Brazil and India are members of the BRIC grouping that also includes Russia and China.

He is due to hold a session on Sunday with the G7 before a broader session with the Global South attendees.



France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
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France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo

French President Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear program, amid growing tensions between Tehran and US President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources said, Reuters reported.

Such a cabinet meeting dedicated to a specific subject is rare and highlights mounting concern among Washington's European allies that the United States and Israel could launch airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities unless there is a quick negotiated deal on its nuclear program.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reinforced US military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, amid a US bombing campaign against the Houthis who control much of Yemen and are supported by Iran.

A senior European official said European strategists were asking themselves whether the campaign could be a precursor to a US strike on Iran in the coming months.

Trump, who has urged Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to engage immediately in negotiations, threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if it did not come to an agreement over its nuclear program, which Western countries say amounts to weapons development.

The foreign minister of Iran's direct adversary Israel will be in Paris on Thursday. Diplomatic sources said ministers from France, Britain and Germany were hoping to discuss the Iran dossier with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio when they convene in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting this week.

Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to that required for nuclear warheads. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

France, Britain and Germany have sought in recent months to raise pressure on Iran in a bid to coax it back into discussions over its nuclear program.

They have held several rounds of talks with Iran including at technical level last week, to try to lay the groundwork for some form of agreement.

But the Trump administration has focused initially on a campaign of "maximum pressure", and the Europeans have found coordination complicated, diplomats say.

The European powers had hoped to convince Iran to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by August at the latest.

That would give enough time to set new limits for Iran's program and lift sanctions before the 2015 accord expires in October 2025.