G-7 summit: Destruction of Bakhmut has echoes of Hiroshima bombing, says Ukraine’s Zelensky
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, on May 21.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HIROSHIMA, Japan - Leaders of the world’s richest democracies said on Sunday that they will not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Kyiv denied.
The Group of Seven (G-7) summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima the arrival of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,
Mr Zelensky, who laid flowers at a cenotaph to victims of the world’s first atomic bombing of a city, said photographs of Hiroshima’s destruction during World War II reminded him of Bakhmut and other destroyed Ukrainian cities.
He also told a media conference that there were still soldiers in Bakhmut and the city had not been captured by Russia.
Earlier, he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit that the battered city, the focus of fighting in recent months, was destroyed.
“It is tragedy,” he said. “There is nothing on this place” and what remained was “a lot of dead Russians”.
There was confusion over whether he had said the city was still in Kyiv’s hands or Russian forces had taken Bakhmut, but a Ukrainian presidential spokesman said the comments were a denial that the city had fallen.
“Reporter’s question: Russians said they have taken Bakhmut. President’s reply: I think no,” Mr Sergii Nykyforov wrote on Facebook, adding in Ukrainian: “In this way, the President denied the capture of Bakhmut.”
Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged city along the flanks and still control a part of it, said Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar on Sunday.
Mr Zelensky said Japan’s rebuilding of Hiroshima inspired him to rebuild Ukrainian cities destroyed in the invasion.
“Now, Hiroshima is rebuilt,” he said. “We dream of rebuilding all our cities that are now in ruins and every village where not a single house is left after Russian strikes.”
During the final day of the three-day G-7 summit, United States President Joe Biden announced a US$375 million (S$504 million) package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine.
He told Mr Zelensky that the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
“Together with the entire G-7, we have Ukraine’s back, and I promise we are not going anywhere,” Mr Biden said.
In a statement on the Kremlin’s website, Mr Putin hailed what he said was a victory for his forces in the “liberation” of Bakhmut.
The Russian President said the battle had ended in a Russian victory, and that all those who had excelled in it on Moscow’s side would be given state awards.
The assault on the city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city.
No ‘frozen conflict’
Other leaders of the G-7 – Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada – echoed Mr Biden’s sentiments.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his country would support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary.
Mr Biden told G-7 leaders that Washington supports joint allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes, although Kyiv has not won commitments for delivery of the fighter jets.
The potential for such training on US-made F-16s was a message to Russia that it should not expect to succeed in its invasion by prolonging conflict, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said training would start this summer,
It was significant that the G-7 nations showed solidarity in their intention to uphold international law and order during a summit attended by Mr Zelensky as a guest, said host nation Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Mr Scholz said that while the immediate priority was supporting Ukraine’s defence, security guarantees for Ukraine needed to be established once the war was over.
Both Mr Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to stand with Ukraine in opposing any notion of the war becoming a “frozen conflict”, or any proposal for peace talks without Russian troops withdrawing.
As Moscow’s 15-month-old invasion has dragged on, several analysts and diplomats have floated the idea that it could become frozen like the conflict on the Korean peninsula. North and South Korea remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended with a ceasefire.
Mr Macron said: “Peace should not make Ukraine a frozen conflict because that would lead to a war in the future. It needs to resolve the problem.”
The Hiroshima summit also gave Mr Zelensky a chance to lobby for support from other attendees, such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have remained uncommitted.
‘De-risk’ from China
While determination to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion was a key message from the G-7 summit, the other was distrust of China as a trading partner.
Mr Biden met the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday
A day earlier, the G-7 leaders outlined a shared approach towards China, looking to “de-risk, not decouple” economic engagement with a country regarded as the factory of the world.
In a statement, the G-7 also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where Chinese military exercises have raised concerns over the security of Taiwan, the self-governed island that China regards as part of its territory.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a complaint to Japan expressing firm opposition to the G-7 statement, saying it disregarded China’s concerns and interfered in its internal affairs, including Taiwan. REUTERS
