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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Bakhmut was "only in our hearts," hours after Russia's defense ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in eastern Ukraine. Speaking alongside U.S. President Joe Biden at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Zelenskyy said the Russians had destroyed "everything." "You have to understand that there is nothing," he said. "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts," he said. "There is nothing in this place." The Russian ministry statement on the Telegram channel came about eight hours after a similar announcement by Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin. Ukrainian authorities at that time said that fighting for Bakhmut was continuing. The eight-month battle for Bakhmut has been the longest and probably most bloody of the conflict in Ukraine. Also Read: Japanese atomic bomb survivors worry Zelenskyy's G7 visit overshadows nuke disarmament message Zelenskyy's comments came as Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery, and vehicles. "I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.)," Zelenskyy tweeted later. Analysts said that a Russian victory in Bakhmut was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is "not tactically or operationally significant," a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas "does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations," nor to "to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks." Using the city's Soviet-era name, the Russian ministry said, "In the Artyomovsk tactical direction, the assault teams of the Wagner private military company with the support of artillery and aviation of the southern battlegroup has completed the liberation of the city of Artyomovsk." Russian state news agencies cited the Kremlin's press service as saying President Vladimir Putin "congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk." In a video posted earlier on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about a half dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Fighting has raged in and around Bakhmut for more than eight months. Russian forces will still face the massive task of seizing the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Russian forces still face the enormous task of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. The provinces of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk make up the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland where a separatist uprising began in 2014 and which Moscow illegally annexed in September. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions — all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland — made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s last-minute participation Sunday in the Group of Seven summit has brought intense global attention to Russia's invasion of his nation. But it has also worried atomic bomb survivors who said the high-profile visit overshadowed a rare chance to push world leaders to focus on nuclear abolishment. Zelenskyy’s inclusion at the G7 gathering of rich-world democracies — and his pursuit of more weapons and other support for Ukraine, rather than a diplomatic pursuit to end the war — sends the wrong message, activists and victims said. “Zelenskyy’s visit is not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city,” said Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945. Many Hiroshima residents hope that understanding the city's tragic past will push leaders to "take up the abolition of nuclear weapons as an urgent political issue, not an ideal,” she said. “But support for nuclear deterrence has persisted, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine seems to have justified it further.” Yuta Takahashi, a Hiroshima-born activist, believes that Zelenskyy’s visit threatens to send a message "that justifies the need for nuclear deterrence in order to save Ukraine from becoming another Hiroshima,” he said. “It only makes us feel that Hiroshima was merely used by nuclear states to send a peace message.” The summit started with a leaders’ visit to a peace park and a museum dedicated to those who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bombing. Kishida also planned to escort leaders to the park and museum Sunday, and to hold talks with the Ukrainian leader. Earlier Sunday, Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prayed at a memorial dedicated to Korean victims of the atomic bombing. The neighbors are trying to improve ties that have been strained by disputes stemming from Japan’s brutal colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants to highlight the G7 commitment to nuclear disarmament and a condemnation of Russia’s threats to use atomic weapons. But he has been faulted by survivors for refusing to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, saying its lack of nuclear states makes it unworkable. Kishida has pledged to serve as a bridge between nuclear and non-nuclear states, but critics say his promise is hollow because Japan relies on its U.S. ally's nuclear umbrella for protection and has been rapidly expanding its military. Kunihiko Sakuma, who was exposed as a baby to radiation from the bombing, said that G7 leaders should focus more on diplomatic efforts to end the war. The G7 leaders issued a joint statement on nuclear disarmament that calls for the continued non-use of nuclear weapons, transparency and dialogue between nuclear and non-nuclear states, but it justifies nuclear weapons meant to “serve defensive purposes, deter aggression and prevent war and coercion.” Zelenskyy has consistently called for Western fighter jets to bolster his country’s defenses. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a coalition of non-governmental organizations that received a Nobel peace prize for working on the 2017 adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, said G7 leaders have failed to meaningfully acknowledge the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons or meet the demands of the bomb victims, called hibakusha, for concrete steps to eliminate nuclear weapons. “Instead of rising to meet the urgency and weight of this moment, the G7’s inaction is an insult to the hibakusha, and the memory of those who died in Hiroshima,” ICAN said.

At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured when stampeding soccer fans pushed through one of the access gates at a quarterfinal match in the Salvadoran league Saturday (May 20, 2023). The National Civil Police said in a preliminary report via Twitter that nine dead were confirmed at the match between clubs Alianza and FAS at Monumental stadium in Cuscatlan, which is about 25 miles (41 kilometers) northeast of the capital. At least two of the injured transported to hospitals were in critical condition, police said. Carlos Fuentes, spokesman for the first aid group Rescue Commandos, also confirmed the deaths. Read more: Man City wins English Premier League after Arsenal loses at Nottingham Forest “We can confirm nine dead — seven men and two women — and we attended to more than 500 people, and more than 100 were transported to hospitals, some of them were serious,” Fuentes said. Play was suspended about 16 minutes into the match, when fans in the stands waving frantically began getting the attention of those on the field and carrying the injured out of a tunnel and down to the pitch. Local television transmitted live images of the aftermath of the stampede by Alianza fans. Dozens made it onto the field where they received medical treatment. Fans who escaped the crush stood on the field furiously waving shirts attempting to review people lying on the grass barely moving. Pedro Hernández, president of El Salvador soccer's first division, said the preliminary information he had was that the stampede occurred because fans managed to push through a gate into the stadium. Read more: BPL Football:Police FC advance to 3rd place crushing Azampur 7-0 “It was an avalanche of fans who overran the gate. Some were still under the metal in the tunnel. Others managed to make it to the stands and then to the field and were smothered,” an unidentified volunteer with the Rescue Commandos first aid group told journalists. National Civil Police Commissioner Mauricio Arriza Chicas, at the scene of the tragedy, said there would be a criminal investigation in conjunction with the Attorney General’s Office. “We are going to investigate from the ticket sales, the entries into the stadium, but especially the southern zone,” where, he said, the gate was pushed open. The Salvadoran Soccer Federation said in a statement that it regretted what had happened and voiced support for the victims' families. Read more: BPL Football: Holders Bashundhara Kings, Dhaka Abahani Ltd return to winning run.

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies have joined their counterparts from other countries during their summit in Japan to try to expand the G7’s sway and to include voices from the so-called Global South. From South America to South Asia, Ukraine to the South Pacific, the guests represent a carefully considered choice of countries including big emerging economies like Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and India and smaller ones like the Comoros and Cook Islands. Critics accuse the G7 of being an “elite club” of countries whose relevance as global leaders is being eclipsed by up-and-coming powers. By including leaders of big but less wealthy democracies like India and Brazil, Japan and the other G7 countries aim to amplify their consensus on vital issues like the war in Ukraine, China's growing assertiveness, debt and development issues and climate change. It's something of an odd assortment, but there's a method to the mixture. South Korea is a key ally of the U.S. and Japan, with a huge stake in regional security and stability. The Comoros, an archipelago off the coast of East Africa, is currently chairing the African Union — a vital connection to a continent that increasingly is the focus of rivalry between Western democracies in China. The Cook Islands is heading the Pacific Islands Forum — another link to a strategically important region. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said another aim is to highlight the importance of the Global South developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. As the only Asian G7 member, Japan has a special role to play in that regard, said Yuichi Hosoya, a professor of international politics at Tokyo's Keio University. In a joint statement issued Saturday, the G7 leaders underscored their commitment to helping countries cope with debts that have mounted to perilous levels during the pandemic and war in Ukraine. They also reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for projects to develop infrastructure such as railways, clean energy and telecommunications in developing nations. Kishida convened a session of G7 leaders and guests that included executives from Citigroup and other private partners to discuss how to get more done — and offer an alternative to financing from China with investments in a “transparent and fair manner.” “We're just getting started. Together we have a lot to do to close the infrastructure gap,” President Joe Biden told the gathering, pointing to a railway project in West Africa that he said would improve food security and supply chains. “Let's commit to showing that democracies can deliver,” Biden said. “We have to deliver.” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the effort might raise the amount of investment from “billions to trillions.” “We want to put a better offer on the table,” she said. A key aim of including a broader set of countries in the annual G7 summit is to help build agreement ahead of the annual summit of the broader Group of 20 major economies in India later this year. “Important global issues cannot be solved” without the other countries, Hosoya said. “Without the support coming from the countries in the Global South, the G7 cannot, unlike before, effectively respond to the most pressing issues in the world.” Indonesia was host of the G20 last year and Brazil will host the meetings in 2024. All have complicated relations with China and Russia and the G7 is seeking support for its efforts to push Russia to end the war. India has abstained several times from voting on U.N. resolutions against Moscow and has increased its imports of Russian oil, while calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Brazil and India belong to the so-called BRICS group of developing nations, that also includes China, Russia and South Africa. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently visited China to strengthen ties with its biggest trade market. Vietnam is an increasingly important trading partner for the U.S., Japan and other G7 nations and one of the region's fastest growing economies. Like Japan, it has territorial disputes with China. “At a time when the world is heading toward divisions, one of the most important issues is to figure out how to steer the world in one direction and regain cooperation and Japan is expected to play an important role as a bridge between G7 and the so-called Global South countries including the G20,” said Akio Takahara, a professor at University of Tokyo.

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies united in urging China to pressure its strategic partner Russia to end its war on Ukraine and resolve territorial disputes peacefully, and China lashed back. In a joint statement, the G7 leaders emphasized they did not want to harm China and were seeking “constructive and stable relations” with Beijing, “recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China.” “We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine,” said the statement Saturday. “We encourage China to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on territorial integrity and the principles and purposes of the U.N. Charter,” including in direct talks with Ukraine. Cooperation with China is needed given its global role and economic size, the group said, in appealing for working together on challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, debts and financing needs of of vulnerable countries, global health concerns and economic stability. But the leaders expressed “serious concern” about the situation in the East and South China seas, where Beijing has been expanding its military presence and threatening to use force to exert its control over self-governed Taiwan. They called for a “peaceful resolution” of China's claim to Taiwan, which has remained unresolved since the communists gained power on the Chinese mainland in 1949. The statement said there was “no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and we oppose China’s militarization activities in the region." “A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest,” the statement said, alluding to charges that Beijing is undermining the “rules-based international order.” The G7 also united in voicing concerns about human rights in China, including in Tibet, in Hong Kong and in the far western region of Xinjiang, where the issue of forced labor is a perennial issue. But the statement also sought to counter accusations that the G7 is seeking to prevent China's rise as a global power. “Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development,” it said. The statement highlighted a consensus that efforts to diversify manufacturing supply chains and ensure stable access to strategically vital minerals and other resources is not aimed at unraveling trade ties with the world's second-largest economy. “We are not decoupling or turning inwards," the statement said. “At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying. We will take steps, individually and collectively, to invest in our own economic vibrancy. We will reduce excessive dependencies in our critical supply chains.” At the same time, the G7 members vowed to take a stand against various types of “economic coercion,” saying they “will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure,” while also avoiding “unduly limiting trade and investment.” Chinese officials have reacted to various G7 statements about economic coercion and other issues with outrage. In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the G7 “used issues concerning China to smear and attack China and brazenly interfere in China’s internal affairs. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made serious démarches to the summit’s host Japan and other parties concerned.” “The G7 needs to stop pointing fingers at China on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet and take a hard look at their own history and human rights record,” it said. Taiwan, meanwhile, thanked the G7 for its support. “Taiwan will stand alongside with democracies and communities of the world to cooperate in defusing the risks,” its president, Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday. “Nowadays, the consensus around the world is very clear, which is the fact that cross-strait issues have to be solved in a peaceful manner. War is not an option," she said at a news conference. Apart from Japan, this year's host of the leader's annual summit, the G7 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy and the European Union. The G7 statement was released on the second day of a three-day summit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in meetings planned for Sunday.

President Joe Biden tried to reassure world leaders on Saturday that the United States would not default as he consulted with the heads of Australia, Japan and India in a meeting of the so-called Quad partnership that had been hastily rescheduled because of the debt limit standoff back in Washington. Hoping to avert an outcome that would rattle the global economy and prove to be a boon to Beijing, Biden opened his third day in Japan at the annual Group of Seven meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies with a briefing from his staff on the latest fits and starts in talks over how to raise the federal debt limit. The president also squeezed in meetings aimed at challenging China’s buildout across the Indo-Pacific. The Quad members originally had planned to meet in Sydney next week, but got together instead on the sidelines of the G7 so Biden could return to Washington earlier on Sunday in hopes of finalizing a deal to increase the U.S. borrowing limit before the government runs out of cash to pay its bills. Biden said he felt there was headway in the talks with GOP lawmakers. “The first meetings weren’t all that progressive, the second ones were, the third one was,” he said before a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “And then, what happens is the carriers go back to the principals and say, ‘This is what we’re thinking about.’ And then people put down new claims. I still believe we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done.” In a sign of a renewed bargaining session in Washington, food was brought to the negotiating room at the U.S. Capitol on Saturday morning, only to be carted away hours later. No meeting was likely Saturday, according to a person familiar with the state of the talks who was not authorized to publicly discuss the situation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The shortened trip has reinforced a fundamental tension shaping Biden’s presidency: As he has worked to signal to the world that the U.S. is reclaiming the mantle of global leadership, at key moments, domestic dramas keep getting in the way. Until Saturday, Biden had largely stayed out of the public eye at the summit, forgoing big public statements and leaving Friday’s leader dinner early. He has been spending time instead by a video monitor in a room next to his hotel suite, where aides in Washington have been keeping him apprised of the back-and-forth of debt limit talks. National security adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged that world leaders have pressed Biden about the standoff in Washington. But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that, while there was intense interest in how the president would resolve a domestic showdown that has geopolitical ramifications, there was no panic — at least not yet. “It’s not a hair-on-fire type of situation,” she said. On the margins of the summit, Biden held talks with Albanese in lieu of the now-scrapped visit to Australia. U.S. officials said the trip would be rescheduled, and Biden has invited Albanese to Washington for a state visit. Biden apologized for skipping Australia. Albanese said he understood the circumstances. “I would have done exactly the same thing,” he told Biden, adding, “I'm very much looking forward to the state visit.” The leaders signed a compact pledging to deepen their partnership on developing the raw materials used in clean energy technologies — as they each seek to move supply away from reliance on China. They also issued a joint statement outlining new areas of cooperation in space, trade and defense. G7 leaders also sat down to discuss their investments in infrastructure in less advanced economies, a key counterbalance to the loans and construction that China has been providing. Biden said the U.S. has mobilized more than $30 billion in investments to date “and we’re just getting started.” During a full meeting in the evening with all of the Quad leaders, Biden repeated his apologies about needing to move their gathering to Japan. The president is sending U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to fill his spot at a summit of Pacific Island nations in Papua New Guinea on Monday. That presidential stop, too, was scrapped in order to get Biden back to Washington more quickly. Biden’s visit would have been the first by an American president to the country. Those countries are being aggressively courted by the U.S. and China as the two powers compete for influence in parts of the world where shipping lanes are vital. In Hiroshima, Biden and other world leaders agreed on a shared framework for improving their own economic resilience — a recognition that high levels of trade with China have become more of a risk than an opportunity for mature economies. Sullivan said G7 leaders were acknowledging that “we do seek to cooperate with China on matters of mutual interest. And also that we will work to address our significant concerns that we have with China in a range of areas.” He repeated a phrase often used by G7 leaders that the group is looking to “de-risk, not decouple from China." Biden and first lady Jill Biden attended a dinner Saturday for G7 leaders and other officials who participated in the summit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Saturday in Japan for talks with the leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies, a personal appearance meant to galvanize global attention as the nations ratcheted up pressure on Moscow for its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy's in-person visit to the G7 summit comes just hours after the United States agreed to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Host nation Japan said Zelenskyy's inclusion stems from his “strong wish” to participate in talks with the bloc and other countries that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia. “Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today,” Zelenskyy tweeted upon his arrival on a plane provided by France. A European Union official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. One session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. Another will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on “peace and stability.” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. “It is necessary to improve (Ukraine’s) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots,” Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. Russia's deputy defense minister, Alexander Grushko, accused Western countries of “continuing along the path of escalation," following the announcements that raised the possibility of sending F-16s to Kyiv. The G7 vowed to intensify the pressure in its joint statement Saturday. “Russia’s brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” the group said. G7 leaders have faced a balancing act as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine. China, the world’s No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 on Saturday said they did not want to harm China and were seeking “constructive and stable relations” with Beijing, “recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China.” They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and “support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.” North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, “including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders’ statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. “We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward,” Sullivan said. Biden’s decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held one-on-one talks with leaders, including Modi, who is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year. India, the world’s largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russia’s invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7’s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China’s investment dollars. Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, is also meeting with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed Saturday in Hiroshima for diplomatic talks with the leaders of the world's most powerful democracies who have tightened sanctions meant to punish Moscow and change the course of its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Japan says Zelenskyy's decision to visit Hiroshima stems from his "strong wish" to participate in talks that will influence his nation's defense against Russia. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on "peace and stability." U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine's Air Force. World leaders have faced a balancing act at the G7 in Hiroshima as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine. China, the world's No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns. There is increasing anxiety in Asia that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China's "accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability." "We do seek to cooperate with China on matters of mutual interest," Sullivan said of the statement. "We will work to address our significant concerns that we have with China in a range of areas." North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace in an attempt to perfect a nuclear program meant to target the mainland United States, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, the leaders' statement said, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under" international nuclear treaties. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. "We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward," Sullivan said. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. "Our support for Ukraine will not waver," the G7 leaders said in a statement released after closed-door meetings. They vowed "to stand together against Russia's illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine." "Russia started this war and can end this war," they said. Zelenskyy has consistently called for Western fighter jets to bolster his country's defenses. As Ukraine has improved its air defenses with a host of Western-supplied anti-aircraft systems and prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russia, officials believe the jets could become essential to the country's long-term security. Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida separately held talks Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, which is hosting the gathering of G20 world leaders later this year. During their meeting, Kishida emphasized that attempts to change by force shouldn't be tolerated anywhere in the world — a possible reference to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a warning to China over Taiwan. India, the world's largest democracy, has been measured in its comments on the war in Ukraine, and has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. In addition, new reporting requirements were issued for people and firms that have any interest in Russian Central Bank assets. The purpose is to "fully map holdings of Russia's sovereign assets that will remain immobilized in G7 jurisdictions until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine," the U.S. Treasury Department said. The G7 nations said that they would work to keep Russia from using the international financial system to prosecute its war, and they urged other nations to stop providing Russia with support and weapons "or face severe costs." The leaders began the summit with a visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, arranged to meet Saturday on the G-7 sidelines with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the United States. The G7 leaders are also to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A U.S. official said the leaders on Saturday would issue a joint communique outlining new projects in the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

The Group of Seven advanced economies are expected to announce a new set of sanctions against Russia to try to further hinder its war effort in Ukraine during their summit in Hiroshima, Japan. In traveling to Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will help to drive home the need to better enforce measures meant to stifle Moscow's war machine. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about their effectiveness. EU Council President Charles Michel said the plan was to close loopholes and ensure the sanctions are painful for Russia, not for the countries enforcing them. Here's a look at what may be next, the sanctions so far, and the impact they have had on Russia's economy and military effort. WHAT THE G7 MIGHT DO Michel said the 27-nation EU was focused on "shutting the door on loopholes and continuing to cut Russia off from critical supplies." It is working on a plan to restrict trade in Russian diamonds and trace the trade to prevent Russia from skirting the restrictions. Russia exports about $4 billion worth of rough diamonds a year, nearly a third of the world's total, and the lion's share are cut and polished in India. The new sanctions follow an online summit in February where G7 leaders pledged to intensify enforcement through their sanctions watchdog Enforcement Coordination Mechanism to improve information sharing and enforcement. It has pledged to impose "severe costs" on other countries that evade or undermine them. "We will starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine," Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said. CHINA ON THE LIST? Some Chinese companies that are thought to be supplying components to Russia that can be used for military equipment are on the list of entities that might be sanctioned, an EU official said Saturday. China has so far not joined other countries in announcing any restrictions on trade with Russia, but it also has refrained from providing weapons or other materiel. WHAT THE G7 AND OTHER WESTERN NATIONS HAVE DONE SO FAR The list is long and growing longer. On Friday, the United Kingdom announced new sanctions targeting Russian seizures of Ukrainian grain, advanced military technology and Moscow's remaining revenue sources. It froze assets of 86 more individuals and entities including companies connected to Rosatom that support President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russian sovereign assets will stay frozen until "Russia agrees to pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine," the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement. The U.S. began by targeting members of Putin's inner circle and their families and banks considered crucial to the Kremlin and Russia's military. The U.S. also moved to limit Russia's power to raise money abroad. Sanctions are imposed on individuals listed on a Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The list has expanded to include people and companies around the globe allegedly involved in supporting Russia's military. It works with the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs Task Force, a multi-agency group that cooperates with other countries to investigate and prosecute oligarchs and others allied with Putin. On Friday, the Department of State announced new sanctions on more than 200 entities, individuals, vessels and aircraft, targeting Russia's energy, military, technology, and metals and mining sectors. They also focused on entities and people involved in unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children and seizures of Ukrainian grain. The EU has enforced sanctions largely in line with those imposed by the U.S., Britain and Canada. Since all 27 of its members must agree unanimously, the process can be a bit slower, officials say. The EU has imposed 10 rounds of sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Banks, companies and the energy sector have been hit. Well over 1,000 officials are subject to asset freezes and travel bans. Japan stepped up its sanctions in February, freezing assets of Russians and Russian companies and suspending visas for some. It froze the assets of some financial institutions and banned exports of items that can be used for military purposes, dual-use goods, some commodities and semiconductors. Canada has sanctioned dozens of Russians and Russian companies, including leaders of Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom and six energy sector entities. WHY THEY SAY MORE SANCTIONS ARE NEEDED G7 officials say they are seeing more and more evasion of sanctions. "High tech exports to third countries, from micro-processors and sensors for Russian cruise missiles to chips in military communications equipment, make their way onwards to Russia and end up in weapons used against Ukraine on the battlefield. We must put a stop to this," von der Leyen said Friday. THE IMPACT OF SANCTIONS SO FAR Western sanctions have hit Russian banks, wealthy individuals and technology imports. Initially, the ruble plunged, foreign businesses fled and prices soared. A top Treasury Department official said U.S. sanctions and export controls have degraded Russia's ability to replace more than 9,000 pieces of military equipment lost in the war. But economic life for ordinary Russians hasn't changed much. Russia's exports to China, India and Turkey have surged since sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine, while those to Western countries and their allies Japan and South Korea have fallen sharply. The sanctions on Russian fossil fuels — such as the price cap on oil — have worked but their impact has been blunted by surging exports to China and India. Russia has managed to continue importing computer chips and other high tech items from the U.S. that have been routed through other transit points like Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Leaders of the world's most powerful democracies warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, pivoting to major northeast Asian crises ahead of the arrival later Saturday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The focus on Asia at the Group of Seven summit comes as leaders tighten sanctions meant to punish Moscow and change the course of its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Japan confirmed that Zelenskyy's decision to attend the G7 in person stemmed from his “strong wish” to participate in talks that will influence his nation's defense against Russia. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit, a day after Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine’s Air Force. World leaders have faced a high-stakes balancing act in Hiroshima as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine. Also read: Bangladeshi youth demand G7 nations stop financing deadly fossil fuels China, the world's No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns. There is increasing anxiety in Asia that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear bomb program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China's “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability.” North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace in an attempt to perfect a nuclear program meant to target the mainland United States, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, the leaders said, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under" international nuclear treaties, the statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. “We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward,” Sullivan said. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions Sunday. The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on “peace and stability.” The G7 leaders also used their summit to roll out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. “Our support for Ukraine will not waver,” the G7 leaders said in a statement released after closed-door meetings. They vowed “to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.” “Russia started this war and can end this war,” they said. Zelenskyy has consistently called for the supply of Western fighter jets to bolster his country’s defenses against Russia’s invasion, but has until now faced skepticism from the United States that they would turn the tide in the war. Now, as Ukraine has improved its air defenses with a host of Western-supplied anti-aircraft systems and prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russia, officials believe the jets could become useful in the battle and essential to the country’s long-term security. Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The F-16 training is to be conducted in Europe and will likely begin in the coming weeks. That’s according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Biden’s private conversations with allies. Zelenskyy said Friday that he had opened a visit to Saudi Arabia, where Arab leaders were holding their own summit. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. The financial penalties have been primarily focused on sanctions evaders connected to technology procurement for the Kremlin. The Commerce Department also added 71 firms to its own list. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Friday sanctions “will further tighten the vise on Putin’s ability to wage his barbaric invasion and will advance our global efforts to cut off Russian attempts to evade sanctions.” In addition, new reporting requirements were issued for people and firms that have any interest in Russian Central Bank assets. The purpose is to “fully map holdings of Russia’s sovereign assets that will remain immobilized in G7 jurisdictions until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine,” the U.S. Treasury Department said. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said going into the summit that while G7 countries “deserve credit” for their sanctions, “Russia still maintains capacity to fight this war in the long term.” She added that war's costs are "easily manageable for Russia in the next couple of years at least, and the cumulative effect of sanctions is just not strong enough to radically alter that.” The G7 nations said in Friday’s statement that they would work to keep Russia from using the international financial system to prosecute its war, and they urged other nations to stop providing Russia with support and weapons “or face severe costs.” World leaders Friday visited a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world’s first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The peace park contains reminders of Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, a city that has become synonymous with anti-nuclear peace efforts. Biden, who scrapped plans to travel on to Papua New Guinea and Australia after his stay in Japan so that he can get back to debt limit talks in Washington, arranged to meet Saturday on the G-7 sidelines with leaders of the so-called Quad partnership, made up of Japan, Australia, India and the U.S. As G7 attendees made their way to Hiroshima, Moscow unleashed yet another aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions thundered through Kyiv during the early hours, marking the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the city after weeks of relative quiet. In a bit of dueling diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting the leaders of the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a two-day summit in the Chinese city of Xi’an. The G7 leaders are also to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A U.S. official said the leaders on Saturday would issue a joint communique outlining new projects in the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars. The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.