G7 reaffirms support for Ukraine as war milestone approaches

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major democracies on Saturday repeated a pledge to keep "imposing severe costs on Russia" for its invasion of Ukraine.

In a statement marking 1,000 days since the Kremlin launched its assault on its neighbor, they said they would maintain sanctions, export controls and other "effective measures" targeting Moscow.

What else did the statement say?

The leaders said they stood together in helping Ukraine "fight for sovereignty, freedom, independence, territorial integrity and its reconstruction."

The statement said they also recognized that Russia's actions had an impact "on vulnerable people across the world."

The Russian invasion has negatively affected exports of grain from Ukraine and Russia itself, causing a major disruption to food security for millions of people around the world.

The leaders also noted "the immense suffering endured by the people of Ukraine" while saying Ukrainians had shown "unmatched resilience and determination in defending their land, culture and people."

"Russia remains the sole obstacle to just and lasting peace," they said, concluding the statement by adding, "We stand united with Ukraine."

 The G7 includes the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Britain, with Italy currently holding the group's rotating presidency.

Zelenskyy wants to end war in 2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who on Friday said he expected the conflict to end sooner with Donald Trump as president in the US than it would have otherwise, meanwhile said in a radio interview on Saturday that everything should be done "to ensure that this war ends next year."

He said the conflict had to be resolved "by diplomatic means."

The US president-elect has repeatedly promised to end the war in Ukraine swiftly but has so far failed to give details of the method he would use to do so.

Diplomacy between Kyiv and Moscow has at any rate been at a standstill, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying he will accept talks with Ukraine only if Kyiv surrenders Ukrainian territory that Moscow occupies, something Zelenskyy has rejected outright.

The Kremlin said Putin repeated that demand in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday. 

tj/lo (Reuters, AFP)