WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Group of Seven (G-7) leaders including US President Joe Biden will hold a video call on Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of unity the day before Russia marks its Victory Day holiday, the White House said.
Talks will focus on the latest developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, efforts to bolster the country and ways to demonstrate "continued G-7 unity in our collective response, including by imposing severe costs for Putin's war," a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council said .
The leaders of the G-7 countries, which include the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy, will hold their virtual meeting with Zelensky on Sunday (May 8) in the US morning, the spokesman added.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Ohio for the day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the timing of the session was significant because it will take place a day before Putin participates in Victory Day.
The holiday on Monday marks the end of World War II and includes military parades across Russia.
"While he expected to be marching through the streets of Kyiv, that certainly is not going to happen," she said.
Psaki also said US officials are discussing imposing more sanctions on Russian oligarchs and companies as well as taking steps to avoid Russians previously sanctioned from evading them.
The United States and its allies have previously united on a host of sweeping sanctions targeting Russian banks, officials and other entities aimed at punishing Moscow for its actions, including alleged war crimes. Russia characterises its invasion as a special operation to demilitarises and "denazify" Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Biden said he planned to discuss potential additional measures against Moscow for its continuing and intensifying war in neighbouring Ukraine, adding that the United States was always open to more sanctions.
"I'll be speaking with the members of the G-7 this week about what we're going to do or not do," he told reporters this week, after the European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia, including a phased oil embargo.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will participate in the call, is also scheduled to give a televised address to the German people on Sunday.
Victory Day takes on special meaning this year given that Ukraine and Russia - both victims of Nazi Germany - are now at war, a German government spokesman said.
