Conflicts: G7: Selenskyj comes to Japan, USA wants to deliver F-16 jets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the summit of the seven leading democratic economic powers (G7) in Hiroshima this weekend. This was confirmed by the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, on Ukrainian television on Friday evening.

Earlier, a senior US official announced on the sidelines of the summit that the US would allow the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. First, pilots should be trained, then it will be decided when and how many aircraft will be delivered and who will make them available. With the promise, US President Joe Biden is fulfilling a wish that his Ukrainian colleague made months ago.

Several months of training in Europe

Biden informed G7 leaders at Friday’s deliberations that the United States “will support the training of Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16,” the government official said. The training will take place outside of Ukraine at locations in Europe and will last for months.

“We hope that we can start this training in the coming weeks,” said the US government official. In addition to the USA, numerous European countries also use the fighter jets built by the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his delight at the move. This is a “welcome announcement,” Sunak wrote on Twitter on Friday evening. The UK will work with the US, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to ensure Ukraine has the air defense capability it needs. Great Britain and the Netherlands had already announced an F-16 initiative for Ukraine on Tuesday.

Ukrainians have long been asking for Western-style fighter jets to defend their country against aggressor Russia. So far they have only received Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets from the West. The F-16 is considered a multi-talent that is available in large numbers.

The US government had so far rejected the claims. However, the United States plays a key role as a manufacturing country – not only because of its own large stocks. The US must also authorize any export of allied F-16s.

Cut into Russia’s diamond business revenues

The G7 countries want to further increase the pressure on Russia because of the war of aggression and have announced new economic sanctions. At the start of their summit on Friday, the group of major democratic economic powerhouses decided to significantly limit the trade in diamonds from Russia in order to reduce revenue to finance the war. In a joint statement, the G7 threatened states and companies that support Russia’s war with “significant costs”.

The United States also presented a package of sanctions intended to cut off US exports to around 70 companies and organizations from Russia and other countries. The UK announced an import ban on diamonds as well as one on copper, aluminum and nickel from Russia. Russia is the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds. In 2021, the state diamond promoter Alrosa had revenues of 332 billion rubles (around 4 billion euros). These are the latest figures published.

Memory of atomic bomb victims – no gesture by Biden

The top meeting started without Zelenskyj, but with a strong symbol with a view to the Russian war against Ukraine. The heads of state and government commemorated the victims of the world’s first use of nuclear weapons together. On August 6, 1945, the US plane “Enola Gay” dropped the bomb with the harmless-sounding name “Little Boy” over Hiroshima. The blast killed 70,000 people instantly, with more than 330,000 victims recorded to date.

A part of the destroyed inner city was converted into a peace park shortly after the war. The heads of state and government laid wreaths together at the memorial for the victims. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stood between US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron during the minute of silence.

Macron put his hand on Kishida’s shoulder, but Biden made no special gesture. To this day, the United States sees no reason to apologize for dropping the atomic bomb. Even Barack Obama, whose commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, did not apologize when a US President visited Hiroshima for the first time in 2016. Many Americans still consider the nuclear strike to be justified because they believe it led to Japan’s surrender and thus ended World War II.

Selenskyj first in the Arab League

Zelenskyi first attended the Arab League summit in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah on Friday. For the first ten months after the Russian invasion, he hadn’t left the country at all. In December he first visited US President Biden in Washington, followed by several trips within Europe.

Hiroshima is where his main allies are gathered in terms of arms supplies, financial support and reconstruction. But he might also want to talk to them about the planned accession to the European Union and NATO. It is also an opportunity for him to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in person for the first time since the outbreak of war. They are on site as partner countries at the G7 summit, but also maintain comparatively close contacts with Moscow.

Scholz: Russia must withdraw troops

In the Ukraine statement, the heads of state and government reaffirmed their readiness to continue providing military support to Ukraine in line with its needs. “We have assured once again that we will give Ukraine the necessary support for as long as it is necessary,” said Scholz after the first day of the summit. However, a fair peace is only possible if Russia realizes that it must end this war and withdraw its troops.