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Zelenskyy set to attend G7 leaders meeting in fresh push for aid

Annmarie Hordern and Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on

Published in News & Features

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend June’s meeting of Group of 7 leaders, people familiar with the matter said, as he pushes countries for longer-range weapons that will allow his forces to attack Russia inside its borders.

Zelenskyy will join President Joe Biden and the other members of the G-7 when they gather in southern Italy on June 13, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Zelenskyy’s office declined to comment Thursday and he hasn’t finalized his schedule.

Zelenskyy’s appearance will be the second year in a row that he’s joined the annual gathering of leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., U.S. and the European Union. His participation in the 2023 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, brought him face to face with leaders from Brazil and India who had refused to take sides in the war.

The stakes are even higher this year. After months of delays, the U.S. Congress approved $61 billion in fresh aid for Ukraine, but there are grave doubts about whether it will do so again once the latest tranche runs out. Ukrainian troops have managed to blunt a fresh offensive in the east that authorities say is intended to sap Kyiv’s military strength across the front line.

Zelenskyy is urging the West to send long-range weapons that would allow his forces to strike targets inside Russian territory. Western officials have been wary of allowing such a move for fear it would further antagonize Russia and lead to attacks on NATO countries. Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure despite unease from the U.S. and other allies.

“They would like Ukraine to win in a way that Russia does not lose,” Zelenskyy told reporters last week. “Because that would be a loss with unpredictable consequences and unpredictable geopolitics.”

 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Biden to allow Ukraine use U.S. weapons and munitions to target Russian missile and artillery launch sites just over the border.

That view has gained more backers outside the government as well. On May 19, former U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said such targets ought to be “fair game.”

“I think it’s time for that because Russia has obviously escalated this war,” Nuland told ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “It is time to give the Ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia.”

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