The US and other G7 countries vowed on Sunday to defend Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. 77th anniversary of the German defeat in World War II – as Russian despot Vladimir Putin boasted of wiping out Ukraine’s “Nazi trash”.
Leaders of the Group of Seven – USA, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, UK and Japan – made the promise in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Canadian President Justin Trudeau and First Lady Jill Biden Also showed their personal support for Ukraine on Sunday by making separate surprise visits to the embattled country.
Today, we, the G7, reassured President Zelenskyy of our continued willingness to make further commitments to help Ukraine secure its free and democratic future, so that Ukraine can now defend itself and deter future acts of aggression. seven countries in one ruling.
As part of promises made during Sunday’s appeal, the Biden administration will ban the sale of all American-made technology and equipment to Russian state television channels to try to curb “Putin’s propaganda machine,” a senior administration official said. The measure includes banning advertisers from buying time on Russian state television, the official said.
The White House, along with the EU, also endorses Russia’s ability to access even more chemical and mechanical components needed to supplement its military capabilities.
The US will add 2,600 additional visa restrictions in response to the war and also punish more Russian bank executives, the official said. Russian oligarchs and corporations are also prohibited from using US accounting, consulting and marketing services.
During the G7 call, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky he would further increase economic pressure on Russia, saying: “The world must move further and faster to support Ukraine,” his office said.
Meanwhile, Russia spent the 77th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat repeating its line of “cleansing” Ukraine of Nazism.
“Today our soldiers, like their ancestors, fight side by side to free their homeland from the Nazi garbage with the confidence that, as in 1945, the victory will be ours,” Putin said on Sunday.
Soviet flags and striped military ribbons have been hung across the country ahead of Monday’s Victory Day parade in Moscow, which is expected to be scarcer as much of the country’s soldiers and military equipment are currently deployed to Ukraine.
“I can’t remember the May 9 holiday being anticipated with such dread,” Russian historian Ivan Kurilla wrote on Facebook, according to The Associated Press.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he believes Putin could use the celebration to say: ‘Look, this is a war against Nazis now, and what I need is more people.’ †
In Ukraine, Trudeau was pictured on Sunday walking through the heavily shelled Kiev suburb of Irpin and announcing during a visit to the capital that he will send more weapons to Zelensky’s army. He also reopened the Canadian embassy in Kiev and hoisted his country’s flag there.
Meanwhile, Jill Biden secretly traveled to Uzhhorod, a small town in western Ukraine a few miles from Slovakia.
She met Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and the two sat across from each other in a small classroom and spoke to reporters in a private meeting.
Zelenska called Jill Biden “courageous” and said, “We understand what it takes for the US First Lady to come here during a war where military action takes place every day, where the air sirens sound every day — even today.”
The developments came as:
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “we” must approve the proposed $33 billion in additional cash for Ukraine by the end of the month.
- At least 60 people have been killed in the Russian bombing of a school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, according to the regional governor.
- Johnson said the G7 countries should do more to support Ukraine’s agricultural sector, and said the destruction of the war could damage food security around the world.
- Trudeau announced more sanctions against 40 individual Russians and five entities.
- U2s Bono and the edge gave a surprise concert Sunday in a metro station in Kiev at the request of Zelensky.
- The US and EU are still considering whether to punish Putin’s alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaev, the senior Biden administration official said Sunday.
With pole wires
