Joe Biden is still leafing through the newspaper, Olaf Scholz slides back and forth in his chair, the coffee cups clatter at the table: while the heads of state and government are preparing for the round of talks on the second day of the G7 summit and are smiling briefly again for the cameras, Volodymyr Zelenskyj has already appeared on the screen – as always in a military outfit, his eyes are serious.
The Ukrainian President has accepted the invitation from summit host Olaf Scholz and has himself connected to Elmau via video. Zelenskyj demands the delivery of air defense systems and ammunition so that Ukraine can defend itself and asks for financial help to rebuild the country. At the same time, he makes it clear to the G7 that the war will last even longer. It could drag on into the winter, according to participants.
He also asks for the sanctions against Russia to be tightened. This is exactly what the group in Bavaria had already agreed on in advance. Olaf Scholz announced on Twitter that the pressure on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would continue to increase. “This war must end.” The G7 group is therefore ready to make “tough but necessary decisions” in support of Ukraine, he wrote before the talks.
Finally, the one with Zelenskyj is followed by a joint declaration: The G7 industrialized countries promise Ukraine financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic aid “for as long as necessary”.
However, the G7 have not yet been able to agree on an embargo on Russian gold. Great Britain, USA, Japan and Canada had announced before the beginning of the summit that they wanted to ban the import – gold is an essential export good with which Putin is financing his war.
