Volodymyr Zelensky warns G7 leaders that Russia is counting on the collapse of Western support for Kyiv. Joe Biden wants Congress to validate military and financial aid to Kyiv before the end of the year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 leaders on Wednesday that Russia had intensified its pressure on the front lines and that Moscow hoped Western support for Kyiv would ‘collapse’ next year.
“Putin plans to fake his re-election for another presidential term and calm growing Russian discontent with the results of the war. He has significantly increased pressure on the front” he said at the conference.
A point of view shared by Washington. The US president called on Congress to put aside partisan differences and quickly pass a multibillion-dollar aid package for Ukrainebecause, according to him, not doing so would allow Vladimir Putin to go on the offensive again.
“Republicans in Congress are ready to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership, not just in Ukraine, but beyond. If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there, the support that you see here for a long time, it will continue, any disruption to our ability to supply Ukraine clearly strengthens Putin’s position” said Joe Biden. The American President hopes that Congress will validate the new aid plan for Ukraine before the end of the year.
The Group of Seven (G7) also announced its decision to ban the import of Russian diamonds from January 1, 2024, then that of Russian diamonds from third countries from March 1. The European Union, which had already proposed this measure, as part of its sanctions against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, was waiting to coordinate with the G7 to implement it. In a press release, the G7 specifies that the ban on imports “indirect” will apply from March and will be supplemented from September by a mechanism of “robust verification and certification, based on traceability” for rough diamonds. This ban does not concern imports of diamonds for industrial use.