SHLOS ELMAU, GERMANY – Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky addressed G-7 leaders in practice at their meeting in Germany as they discussed the threat to global stability posed by Russia’s invasion of his country.
The leaders met in a bright and beautiful meeting room in Schloss Elmau, Germany, a real castle on top of a mountain, surrounded by flowering meadows and stunning views.
Zelensky appeared on a small monitor, looking down at the group, stone-faced, in front of a gray background.
The conflict was a leading topic during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meetings with world leaders in Schloss Elmau, Germany, as well as last week’s meeting of the heads of government of the British Commonwealth in Rwanda.
Trudeau spoke with Zelenski on the first day of the G7 summit to ask what he needed from the leaders. According to Zelenski’s Twitter account, the two talked about increasing support for the warring party’s defense.
The leaders of the world’s most developed economies dedicated their first session to the day of discussing the war and hearing Zelenski’s pleas for more help.
Prior to the meeting, Trudeau and the host of the meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, spoke during a walk from the manor house, or palace, in German, to one of the meadows nestled between the building and the mountain view.
“We are cautious about helping Ukraine as much as possible, but we are also avoiding a major conflict between Russia and NATO,” Scholz told the media during a photo shoot with Trudeau.
The previous evening in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv weeks of general calm were shattered by Russian missile strikes. The rockets hit a kindergarten and a residential building, killing one man and injuring a woman and a child, the mayor said.
While G7 leaders were united in condemning Russia, they are also expected to meet with Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister who was invited to the summit but has also strained economic and diplomatic ties with Russia in recent months.
Trudeau will meet Modi one on one and in a private meeting.
On Sunday, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against Russia, which will ban imports of Russian gold, the country’s largest non-energy export.
The UK government says the same will apply to Canada, the United States and Japan, which will work together to exclude Russia from official markets. The idea is to “increase pressure on the Russian military machine” by pushing the country out of funding for the conflict.
Russia was ready to default on its foreign debt for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution on Sunday, 1917, which further alienated the country from the world financial system.
Russia calls any default artificial because it has the money to pay its debts, but says sanctions have frozen its foreign exchange reserves.
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