G7 leaders to meet Ukraine's Zelensky ahead of Russia's Victory Day

Washington, May 8: In a show of unity, Group of Seven (G7) leaders including US President Joe Biden will hold a video call on Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russia set to celebrate its annual Victory Day, the White House said.

The meeting will focus on the latest developments in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and ways to demonstrate continued G7 unity in our collective response, including by imposing severe costs for Putin's war, a spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council said.

"The leaders will be joined by President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. They will discuss the latest developments in Russia's war against Ukraine, the global impact of Putin's war, showing support for Ukraine and Ukraine's future, and demonstrating continued G7 unity and our collective response, including building on our unprecedented sanctions to impose severe costs for Putin's war," she said.

On asking whether the US President has a particular message to the rest of the G7 that he plans to deliver that was different from the previous meetings, the spokesperson stated, "I think it should not be lost - the significance - or on anyone - the significance of when the timeline - when his - when this G7 meeting is happening, which is the day before Russia's Victory Day, which President Putin has certainly projected his desire to mark that day as a day where he is victorious over Ukraine. Of course, he's not. While he expected to be marching through the streets of Kyiv, that's obviously not what is going to happen."

The United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain comprise the Group of Seven club of rich nations.

She added that the Sunday meeting is an opportunity to not only show unity of the West in confronting the aggression and the invasion by President Putin, "but also to show that unity requires work; requires effort; requires blood, sweat, and tears sometimes. And the President is committed to continuing to engage to make sure people are unified - that these leaders are unified moving forward."