“A new arms package for Ukraine”. This was announced at the end of the G7 meeting which ended today in Hiroshima by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, according to various international media reports. Biden, during a face-to-face meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky specified that the package will include “ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles”. The announcement comes a few days after Biden himself, also in Hiroshima, gave the Western allies the go-ahead to send F-16s to Ukraine, effectively endorsing the strategy of a ‘jet coalition’.
The new package will consist precisely of 375 million dollars of military aid to Ukraine, “to build Ukraine’s long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression”. This is learned from a White House statement which adds that, in the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden reaffirmed “the United States’ commitment to support the Ukrainian people in defending their sovereignty and democracy against the invasion Russian”.
Zelensky and G7
During the last day of the meeting, the leaders of the G7 spoke about Ukraine with Zelensky. The countries of the Group “will continue their firm commitment to provide diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and military assistance to Kiev”, they ensure in a statement. Zelensky in his speech underlined: “The more we work together, the less likely it will be that others in the world will follow Russia’s crazy path”. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, commented on social networks: “President Zelensky in Hiroshima, the city of peace, sends a powerful message”.
Thanks to the leaders
Zelensky thanked all heads of state and government for their support. “Thank you, Giorgia Meloni, for the strength of your character which gives strength to all of us. I thank the Italian Government, the Parliament and all the Italians who support the protection of our people”, is the message addressed to the premier. Furthermore, you said thanks to the American president, Joe Biden, “for giving meaning to the global safety seal for democracy. Thank you for your leadership, weapons and decision to train our pilots. I believe that the wings of our common freedom will undoubtedly be the strongest in the world.” Words of thanks were also expressed for the other leaders of the summit, from the German chancellor Olaf Scholz to the British premier Rishi Sunak, for the French president Emmanuel Macron, the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, the premier of the host country, the Japanese Fumio Kishida, the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Council Charles Michel.
Macron’s proposal
France will propose a “new international financial pact” to fight poverty and climate change at a summit to be held in Paris on 22 and 23 June. This was announced by President Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the G7 meeting. Paris, he explained, “proposes a new commitment” to “mobilize and free up resources”. The ‘financial pact’ also includes a “reform agenda for the IMF and the World Bank to offer financing to countries that need it”. The goal is also “to mobilize private funding” to ensure that we don’t have to “choose between the fight against poverty and the fight for the climate and biodiversity”.