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Zelenskyy’s trip offers a chance to confer with allies, but perhaps more importantly to woo key unaligned powers also joining the summit, including India and Brazil.
Photos posted online by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s staff showed the pair shaking hands and holding their first meeting since the invasion, which India has declined to condemn.
“There is an opportunity for Zelenskyy to engage with these non-Western actors, to try to bolster support, or at least weaken what may be seen as ambivalence towards the conflict,” Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund think-tank, told AFP.
“And they do matter. They matter especially in terms of sanctions, of course,” he added.
Zelenskyy also met separately with the Italian and British prime ministers, and talks with the French and US presidents are expected.
“MILITARISATION”
Ahead of Zelenskyy’s arrival, G7 leaders issued a joint statement on Saturday denouncing efforts to “weaponise” trade and supply chains, saying they would “fail and face consequences” – a thinly veiled warning to China.
The bloc said it would also address vulnerabilities in supply chains for “critical goods” like minerals, semiconductors and batteries.
“What we have done over 20 years with China, encouraging development, was right, but maybe we should have been more careful on critical material, supply chains and those elements,” an EU official said.
The grouping also warned China against its “militarisation” in the South China Sea and urged Beijing to press Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine.
The bloc insisted however it still seeks “constructive and stable relations” with China.
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