Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed the G7 nations gathered in Hiroshima and met with individual leaders as he said Ukraine is "united" with its international backers.
Offering tailored messages of gratitude to leaders supporting Kyiv's war effort against Russia, Zelensky thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for "giving meaning to the global brand of security for democracy."
Speaking during a G7 session that included Ukraine, Zelensky also paid tribute to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Across two addresses at the summit, Zelensky told leaders in Japan that "the more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia's insane path."
"For years, we have heard that Russia can attack any country with impunity using hypersonic missiles that seem to be unstoppable," Zelensky said during his speech to a session of the G7.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's military said it had shot down six Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, which Moscow has lauded as impossible to intercept. Russia's Defense Ministry said it had used a Kinzhal missile to take out a U.S.-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. Kyiv said earlier this month that this system had taken down a Kinzhal missile fired at Ukraine. A Patriot system was likely damaged in a Russian strike, two U.S. officials later told the Reuters news agency. Ukraine currently has two Patriot systems.
"Russia wanted us to get scared and to betray our values at some point," the Ukrainian leader continued, according to a readout from his presidential office.
"Well, that's over," he added. "'Patriots' in the hands of Ukrainians have shown what democracy is capable of."
The number of air defense systems Ukraine operates is critical, Zelensky said, adding they "protect life in our cities and thus create a global brand of security for democracy."
In his address to a working session at the summit, Zelensky appeared to reference the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, pointing to the potential for "disaster" at the facility which is now under Russian control.
"Some see that in the event of a disaster at a nuclear power plant occupied by Russia, radiation will reach their land, carried by the wind," Zelensky said.
Russian forces seized the power plant in the first days of the all-out war in Ukraine, although Ukrainian staff still operate the facility. It is close to the front lines of fighting in the southern part of mainland Ukraine, and in March 2022, it became the first operating civil nuclear power plant to experience an armed attack.
"If there will be an explosion, it will be the end to all of us: the end of Europe, the evacuation of Europe," Zelensky said at the time.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, described an "increasingly tense military situation in the area" around the plant.
"It is very simple: don't shoot at the plant and don't use the plant as a military base," IAEA chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said in a statement, adding the situation at the facility was "unsustainable."
Zelensky doubled down on Ukraine's calls for advanced, Western-made fighter jets to the gathered delegates, saying that Ukraine's defenses "can only be complete when ground-based air defense systems are complemented by modern aircraft in the air."
"We are now on the path to eliminating the capability gap," he said.
Zelensky visited a host of European countries providing military aid for Ukraine earlier this month, focusing on what has been termed a "fighter jet coalition." Several countries have committed to training Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter jets, such as the American-made F-16 fast jets, but no nation has jet promised to supply Ukraine with the aircraft it has long called for.
Speaking in Japan alongside Zelensky, U.S. President Biden said the U.S. was "launching some new joint efforts with our partners to train Ukrainian pilots on a fourth-generation fighter aircraft like the F-16."
In a press briefing ahead of this meeting, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Saturday the U.S. was looking at "improving the Ukrainian air force as part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine's self-defense."
"So, as the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many," Sullivan added.
"When our pilots know the F-16 and when these aircraft appear in our skies, it will matter not only for Ukraine," Zelensky said in one address. "This will be a historic moment for the entire security architecture in Europe and the world."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state-run Tass news agency on Saturday that Western countries were running "enormous risks" and that Russia's leadership would account for promises around the training and provision of F-16s to Ukraine.
There is "nothing" left of the decimated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Zelensky said during a press briefing alongside Biden.
Russian forces have "destroyed everything" and Bakhmut "is only in our hearts," Zelensky said in response to a question about whether Bakhmut was still in Ukrainian hands. "There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's a tragedy."
However, his remarks sparked confusion among media outlets, with several reporting that his comments indicated the embattled city had fallen to Russia. Moscow's Defense Ministry and the head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Saturday that Russia now controlled the entire city.
This has been denied by Ukraine. The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Sunday that "fighting for the city of Bakhmut continues," and Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday that "the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, makes it very difficult for the enemy to stay in Bakhmut."
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