President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan in person on Sunday, a trip that will mark one of the farthest distances he has traveled from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy’s expected appearance at the annual meeting of leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies was confirmed by Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
“We were sure that our president would be where Ukraine needed him, in any part of the world, to solve the issue of stability of our country,” Danilov said Friday on Ukrainian national television. “There will be very important matters decided there, so physical presence is a crucial thing to defend our interests.”
Japan is about 5,000 miles from Ukraine. Zelenskyy traveled a similar distance to Washington, D.C. in December last year. The war in Ukraine is one of top items on the agenda in Hiroshima. His attendance will come as G-7 countries − the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan − unveiled fresh sanctions on Russia over its invasion. Zelenskyy is expected to appear virtually at the summit on Friday.
