WEISSENHAUS, Germany: Foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich nations agreed on Friday to provide further aid and arms to Ukraine in what Germany called a “powerful sign of unity” to further isolate Russia for invading its neighbour.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy leader, announced an additional 500 million euros in military help, which EU members are expected to ratify next week, and voiced confidence that the bloc will agree on an oil embargo against Russia.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss proposed further penalties against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s financial network and inner circle, including his ex-wife and cousins, as well as a request to increase arms supply to Ukraine.
The annual gathering, which runs till Saturday, welcomes top officials from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the European Union to a 400-year-old castle estate in the Baltic Sea resort of Weissenhaus.
It comes after G7 leaders promised last weekend to restrict or phase out importing Russian oil.
The event, which was attended by the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Moldova, also highlighted food security problems and fears that Ukraine’s war could spill over into its smaller neighbour Moldova.
In an interview with Reuters, Moldova’s foreign minister said that some groups in the separatist territory of Transdniestria were set on causing instability, but that his administration hoped to resolve the situation through diplomacy.
The G7 summit will resist Russian attempts to divide the globe over Ukraine, according to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“Never since the Cold War’s conclusion have our G7 allies been more gravely tested.” “We have never been more unified,” she remarked on Twitter.
Putin had no intention of ending the war, according to Borrell, who added that the fresh EU military funding will be for heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery, bringing the bloc’s total aid to almost 2 billion euros.
“(It will be) more pressure on Russia with economic sanctions and continuing the international isolation of Russia and countering misinformation,” he said.
On the margins of the conference, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba dared the EU to implement the oil embargo, suggesting Putin would rejoice if the proposal failed. Hungary, Ukraine’s neighbour, has spoken out against the measure, which must be approved unanimously.
“We do not interfere in their discussion, but it’s a critical moment when we will see whether EU unity will continue to exist or whether it will be broken,” he said.
Kuleba urged allies to take Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, a demand echoed by Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner in an interview published on Friday in the German weekly Der Spiegel.
Germany will host NATO ministers separately this weekend, as Sweden and Finland prepare to apply for membership in the transatlantic alliance, prompting warnings of retaliation from Moscow and opposition from NATO member Turkey.
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