Nearly 15 months since Russian forces launched their attack on Ukraine, and with few signs of a cease-fire on the horizon, Group of Seven leaders agreed Friday in Hiroshima on a fresh set of measures to rein in Moscow’s “war machine” to “increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort.”
Sending a strong message of solidarity with Kyiv ahead of an anticipated visit to Hiroshima by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — his first trip to Asia since the war began — the G7 pledged to tighten the screws on Moscow by building on previous onerous measures, the leaders said in a joint statement focusing on Ukraine.
The bloc said these measures would include further restrictions on Russia’s access to G7 economies, the beefing up of export bans “across all our jurisdictions” on “all items critical to Russia’s aggression” and the further targeting of those operating in key sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, transportation and business services.
“We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine,” the leaders said in the statement, adding that the bloc would continue to shield agricultural, medical and humanitarian products from the measures “and make every effort to avoid potential spillover impacts on third countries.”
The statement also included measures intended to close off loopholes involving third countries that have allowed Russia — whose economy has proven surprisingly resilient — to at least partially evade an earlier raft of sanctions imposed by the G7 and its partners, while reiterating the group’s commitment to hit the assets of individuals connected to Moscow’s aggression.
“We reiterate our call on third parties to immediately cease providing material support to Russia’s aggression, or face severe costs,” the G7 leaders said, adding that the bloc was engaging with third countries to strengthen their understanding of the measures.
The new measures came just hours after it was revealed that Zelenskyy would travel to Hiroshima for the G7 summit.
"There will be very important matters decided there, so physical presence is a crucial thing to defend our interests," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told state television.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to arrive in Japan on Saturday, media reports said, and attend the G7 summit the following day. It is understood that Zelenskyy will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who in March became the final G7 leader to visit Kyiv for a meeting with the wartime president.
Zelenskyy could also tour the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, something the G7 leaders did on Friday. There they spoke with a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing and were guided by Kishida through vivid exhibits displaying the horrors of nuclear weapons.
Zelenskyy’s presence will add gravitas to calls for unity and support for Ukraine’s war effort, while also spotlighting Kishida’s push to link a robust response to Moscow’s aggression with deterrence efforts in Asia — namely against what Tokyo sees as a growing threat from China.
“Ukraine is not just a problem for Ukraine or Europe but also a threat to the security and prosperity of people everywhere,” Kishida wrote in an essay published Thursday in Foreign Affairs magazine.
But despite the new developments, the actual effectiveness of the latest G7 measures — as well as the symbolic value of Zelenskyy’s decision to attend the summit — remains an open question.
Moscow has been able to circumvent several of the restrictions imposed by G7 members since the war began, including a price cap on oil exports, and win over alternative markets for its energy commodity sector.
The European Union, meanwhile, has been reluctant to enforce binding export restrictions on Russian energy, despite the efforts of some of its largest economies to move away from Moscow for their gas and oil supplies.
On top of that, a majority of the “Global South” developing nations — a key focus of the Hiroshima summit — have been reluctant to cut ties with Moscow, avoiding condemnation of its aggression in Ukraine.
The Global South, many countries of which are in the Southern Hemisphere, includes longtime Russian partner and current Group of 20 chair India, as well as Brazil, Indonesia and other nations that have remained neutral over the conflict.
U.S. officials have advocated for even stronger measures, including a total ban on exports to Russia, but have faced difficulties in getting their Japanese and European allies on board.
In an apparent bid to add more weight to the G7 measures, the U.S. announced ahead of the summit session on Ukraine that it would cut off roughly 70 entities from Russia and third countries from receiving U.S. exports by adding them to a Commerce Department blacklist, a senior U.S. official told reporters. It will also slap around 300 new sanctions on individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft for circumventing measures already in place or financially facilitating the conflict, including designations “across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”
Emphasizing the need to hold Moscow accountable for alleged war crimes, G7 leaders will also continue to support an International Criminal Court investigation, the statement said.
“There must be no impunity for war crimes and other atrocities, such as Russia’s attacks against civilians and critical civil infrastructure,” the leaders said.
Food security — an issue of critical importance, as the ongoing conflict has disrupted supply chains and sent prices of commodities soaring around the globe — was also discussed. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest exporters of agricultural produce and fertilizers, and the unceasing fighting has severely affected global supplies of critical grains, dealing a heavy blow to import-dependent economies in the Global South.
G7 countries vowed to boost their support to Ukraine as well as other nations affected by the food crisis, and are expected to issue a separate statement on the issue in the coming days after talks with Global South leaders that have been invited to the summit.
Faced with the need to address Ukraine’s recovery needs, G7 leaders also agreed to offer further support to rebuilding its physical and energy infrastructure critically damaged in the war, take measures to facilitate private investment in the rebuilding process, and set rules for the re-establishment of democratic institutions.
In June, the United Kingdom is slated to host the Ukraine Recovery Conference, a multilateral symposium intended to outline Ukraine’s future path.
While the G7 reiterated its longstanding demand that Russia “completely and unconditionally
withdraw its troops and military equipment” from Ukraine, the bloc said it remained committed to a viable postwar peace settlement.
Zelenskyy has been cool to the idea of peace negotiations with Moscow while Russian troops occupy Ukrainian territory, especially ahead of a long-anticipated counteroffensive. The Ukrainian leader is believed to be looking to solidify territorial gains in order to use that as leverage in any talks with the Russian side.
In their statement, G7 leaders agreed that the ball was in Moscow’s court.
“Russia started this war and can end this war,” they said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.