G7 Foreign Ministers Meet to Discuss Ukraine and Middle East
The foreign ministers of the G7 group of leading democracies are meeting in Italy for talks on the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine. This is the last such event under US President Joe Biden, Deutsche Welle reports.
The two-day meeting, which began on 25 November, is discussing ways to continue supporting Kyiv, particularly after the ‘experimental’ ballistic missile strike on the Dnipro River.
The summit comes amid another escalation in Russia's war against Ukraine after Russia fired a new missile on 21 November, which Russian President Vladimir Putin said was in response to Kyiv's permission to use US and British-French missiles to strike deep into Russian territory.
The foreign ministers of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, who will be joined by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Tuesday, will discuss prospects for peace and initiatives for the future reconstruction of Ukraine.
This is the last meeting of the Group of Seven in this format during the administration of current US President Joe Biden.
Before Monday's meeting, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that, in London's view, Vladimir Putin shows ‘no signs of wanting to negotiate’ to end the war with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also emphasises this, pointing to the Kremlin's new aggressive actions.
At the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will seek to ‘increase military support and strengthen sanctions pressure on Russia,’ the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reports.
According to the US State Department, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will also attend the G7 foreign ministers' meeting. His goal is to ‘discuss with partners a range of issues, including conflicts in the Middle East, Russia's war against Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security, and the ongoing crises in both Haiti and Sudan.’
According to the State Department, on Wednesday, after the summit, before returning to Washington, the Secretary of State will meet with Pope Francis and several of his top aides ‘to discuss pressing international issues, including the Middle East and Russia's aggression against Ukraine’.
The media emphasise that Blinken's meetings are taking place against the backdrop of the end of the Biden administration and fears that President-elect Donald Trump's team could significantly change US foreign policy.
Earlier, leading Western military analysts noted that the demonstrative ballistic missile strike against Ukraine on 21 November and the Kremlin's announcement of a new experimental missile were elements of a Russian campaign to convince Western partners to stop supporting Kyiv and force Ukraine to surrender.