TOKYO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join a video summit later Wednesday with the leaders of the G7, chair Japan said, hours after pulling out of a virtual meeting with US senators.

Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio “will host the G7 TV summit. In the meeting, in addition to the G7 leaders, Ukraine’s President Zelensky will join the first part,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

He added that Kishida and the other leaders from the grouping of advanced economies including the United States will “discuss important issues for the international community such as the Ukraine situation, the Middle East situation and AI (artificial intelligence)”.

Zelensky unexpectedly cancelled a planned video link appearance with US senators on Tuesday in which he was to have appealed for continued funding.

He had been expected to press for them to support a procedural vote expected Wednesday on an emergency aid package that includes more than $60 billion for Kyiv.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Zelensky had been prevented from taking part by a “last minute” hiccup, but he pressed ahead with the briefing anyway — only for the proceedings to turn into a war of words.

The US Congress is more divided over backing for Ukraine than it has been at any time during the nearly two-year conflict, with the country fast exhausting the military aid provided by the United States so far.
Senate Republicans are making their support for additional Ukraine funding contingent on President Joe Biden’s

Democrats accepting reforms to the asylum system and tightened border security — measures the Democrats have already rejected.

Continued support for Ukraine’s war effort and its possible accession to the European Union are also set to be major topics at a summit next week of the bloc’s leaders.

AFP