G7 summit updates: ‘We have Ukraine’s back,’ Biden says

United States President Joe Biden is speaking to reporters at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, and is expected to be followed by a briefing by his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Follow our live blog on Russia’s war on Ukraine for more updates.

According to Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, the G7 summit has given President Zelenskyy a chance to reaffirm and re-establish the commitment he has among the G7 countries and work on building new ones.

“He has reached out to some of the more neutral countries, like India, that have had long relationships with Russia as well as Brazil and Indonesia,” he reported.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has condemned Russia as he wraps up the summit at the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park, reports Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride.

“He [Kishida] has condemned Russia not only for its invasion [of Ukraine] but for its repeated threats of nuclear weapons which, particularly here in Japan, have been greeted with almost universal abhorrence being the only nation ever to have suffered an atomic attack,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride says the Ukrainian president has been “working the room” at the G7 summit after making an entry late last night.

“He has had back-to-back meetings with leaders, not only of G7 countries but also a wider outreach group of invited world leaders,” McBride said.

“President Zelenskyy has been meeting these leaders in various settings including bilateral meetings – some of which have been very significant – but also the full G7 group where they have committed their unwavering support to Ukraine.”

China represents the world’s greatest challenge to security and prosperity, but other leading economies should not seek to fully decouple from it, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says.

“China poses the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity. They are increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad,” Sunak told reporters after the G7 summit.

Sunak said Britain and other G7 countries would pursue a common approach to reduce the challenges posed by China.

“This is all about de-risking – not decoupling,” he said.

“With the G7, we are taking steps to prevent China from using economic coercion to interfere in the sovereign affairs of others,” he added.

President Joe Biden has announced a new $375m package of military aid to Ukraine and told President Zelenskyy that the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence.

Biden said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.

“Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I promise we’re not going anywhere,” Biden told Zelenskyy.

In the meeting, Biden stressed his country’s readiness to help build Ukraine’s long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression, the White House said.

To that end, Biden discussed US support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16, it said.

Zelenskyy thanked the US for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37bn to date, his office said.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says his country would start training Ukrainian pilots this summer.

Joined by the Ukrainian president at the summit, Sunak said no one wants peace more than Zelenskyy but that peace conditions should be based on Ukraine’s principles.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has urged the world to never resort to the use of nuclear weapons as he wrapped up the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

Speaking in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome, which serves as a permanent reminder of the effects of nuclear weapons, Kishida said today’s generations continue to talk about the “unspeakable devastation” that atomic bombs have wrought.

“We are all citizens of Hiroshima,” he declared.

“We the G7 leaders are gathered here in this place transcending time. We are hearing together the voice and prayers of Hiroshima. There should never be any threat of use of nuclear weapons, let alone use, to change the status quo by force,” he added.

US President Joe Biden has invited the leaders of Japan and South Korea to formal three-way talks in Washington, DC, according to a senior US administration official.

The leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 summit, to which host Japan invited South Korea as long-frosty ties between the neighbours thaw.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to wrap up the G7 summit following talks on Ukraine.

The Japanese leader will speak to the press at 2:30pm (05:30 GMT).

Kishida has taken by far the strongest stance in the region against Russia’s war in Ukraine, imposing sanctions on hundreds of Russian entities and providing about $7bn in aid to Ukraine.

He has repeatedly linked Ukraine’s plight to the fate of self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its territory and has threatened to retake by force if necessary.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has left the G7 summit a day earlier than scheduled to lead the response to flooding that hit the north of her country this week.

Torrential rains devastated eastern parts of the Emilia-Romagna region, killing 14 people, displacing 36,000 others and causing billions of euros worth of damage.

“I have decided to come back to Italy. Frankly, I can’t stay so far away from Italy at such a difficult time. After two days and more away, my conscience requires me to come back,” she told a press briefing on Saturday, adding that she had informed the other G7 leaders.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine — even in a prolonged conflict.

Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the planes, but Biden and senior US officials told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.

The issue of Ukraine acquiring and using the advanced fighter jets is a delicate challenge for the G7, which has gradually stepped up its support for Kyiv in the 15-month-old war but is wary of provoking Moscow too far.

“The training of the pilots is a longer project,” Scholz told reporters before leaving the G7 summit on Sunday.

“The US has not finally decided what stands at the end. The project has a message for Russia: Russia cannot count on winning if it bets on a long war.”

Zelenskyy and the leaders of the G7 are holding a working session on the war in Ukraine.

Here are some pictures from before the meeting began, with Zelenskyy right in the centre of the group of leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron has raised hope that the G7 summit may convince developing countries such as India and Brazil to take a stronger stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Macron earlier said the surprise attendance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Hiroshima could be a “game changer”. India and Brazil have been reluctant to join the pressure campaign against Moscow.

“This war isn’t just European,” Macron said. “It’s the opportunity to discuss, exchange and convince partners of this enlarged G7 … India, Brazil, Indonesia and several other countries from the south, who have sometimes not exchanged as much with Ukraine.”

He said Zelenskyy would explain the situation on the ground while the G7 would stress the fundamentals of the international order and the importance of keeping to the United Nations charter.

“This allows Zelenskyy to express himself to powers of the world who at times are exposed to just one discourse. And I say that just a few weeks before a BRICS summit,” Macron said, referring to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Ukraine’s president has met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima as part of a diplomatic blitz to drum up support for Kyiv amid Russia’s 15-month onslaught.

In a post on Twitter, Zelenskyy said he and Trudeau discussed “further cooperation in the security and defence spheres” as well as the situation on the front line in Ukraine.

Hiroshima. Started another day of the #G7 Summit with a meeting with Prime Minister of Canada @JustinTrudeau. We discussed further cooperation in the security and defense sphere, the situation on the frontline, training of Ukrainian officers within the UNIFIER Canadian training…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023

In his meeting with Widodo, Zelenskyy said he briefed the Indonesian president on Russia’s recent shelling of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and discussed the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

He also thanked Widodo for inviting him to the G20 summit in Bali last year and his efforts to support Ukraine.

Met with the President of Indonesia @jokowi.

Briefed him on the course of hostilities in Ukraine, in particular on 🇷🇺 shelling of 🇺🇦 civilian infrastructure. We discussed the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula. I called for support for 🇺🇦 efforts to return illegally…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 21, 2023

While Indonesia is not a member of the G7, Widodo is among eight leaders of middle-power and Global South countries that have been invited to the summit.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have paid tribute to the Korean victims who perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

Yoon and Kishida’s visit to the Korean memorial at the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park marked the first such visit by the two nations’ leaders.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency called it an “unprecedented move demonstrating their commitment to improving bilateral ties”.

Afterwards, the two leaders held bilateral talks.

During the meeting, Yoon told Kishida that his words resonated with many South Koreans when earlier this month the Japanese leader said that “his heart hurts” for those who suffered as wartime labourers under Japan’s colonial rule.

The bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit mark the third such meeting between the two leaders this year.

Although relations between the two countries had been icy for years, ties have improved since South Korea announced in early March a plan for its companies to compensate forced labour victims.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol will meet his Ukrainian counterpart for the first time on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The Yoon-Zelenskyy meeting was arranged at Ukraine’s request, the report said, citing Yoon’s office.

South Korea has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine but has so far rejected Kyiv’s requests for lethal weapons.