US President Joe Biden announced another $375 million in military aid to Ukraine on Sunday during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelensky, in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, on the sidelines of the G7.
Biden did not specify the amount of the aid, but a senior US official said the aid package is valued at $375 million and includes weapons the US has already sent to Ukraine such as artillery, ammunition, armored vehicles and artillery rockets from high mobility (Himars).
"The United States continues to help Ukraine defend itself, respond and recover. We are also helping in its search for a just peace. There is one aspect, which is Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is non-negotiable," the leader said. US.
Immediately afterwards, Zelenski thanked him for the new military aid and for standing by his side, "shoulder to shoulder", to face the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
At the end of some initial statements, a journalist asked Zelensky: "Mr. President, is Bakhmut still in Ukrainian hands? The Russians say they have taken Bakhmut." In response, Zelensky stated: "I think not." And addressing the journalist who asked him, he added: "What you must understand is that there is nothing, they have destroyed all the buildings. For now, Bakhmut only exists in our hearts. There is nothing. Well, many dead Russian soldiers, but They came for us."
About an hour later, Zelensky's spokesman told US media that the Ukrainian leader wanted to deny that Russia had taken Bakhmut and that he meant that Russian troops were "not" in control of the city. President Zelensky qualified his words and said that Russian troops were in Bakhmut but that the city was "not occupied", a day after Moscow demanded the total capture of this city.
"Today they are in Bakhmut," Zelensky told a news conference on the sidelines of the G7. But he added: "Bakhmut is not occupied by Russia today." He did not further clarify his comments, which remain ambiguous statements regarding the initials about this city.
The two leaders met at the luxurious Grand Prince Hotel on the island of Ujina, the headquarters of the G7 summit that will end this Sunday after three days of meetings.
Since the start of the war, the United States has provided Ukraine with $36.9 billion in military assistance, according to Pentagon data.
Zelensky arrived in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in the G7 summit. His visit has a two-fold goal: to gain greater Western military support for the war and to engage in talks with countries such as Brazil and India, which have refused to side with the West in condemning the invasion and continue to trade with Russia.
Before coming to Japan, Zelenskiy had already scored several victories by getting the G7 to announce a round of sanctions against Russia and getting Biden to change his mind about the US-made F-16 fighters that Kyiv had been clamoring for months.
Specifically, Biden told his G7 partners that the US will help train Ukrainian pilots in the handling of F-16s and opened the door to delivering those planes to Ukraine in the future. Today was the fourth bilateral meeting between the two leaders since Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021.
The first two were at the White House: one in September 2021 before the war began and the second was in December 2022, marking Zelensky's first foreign visit since the Russian invasion began in February of the year. past.
The third meeting was in Kyiv, where Biden made a surprise visit before a visit to Poland and on the anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion.
At today's meeting, Biden recalled the moment when the air raid sirens began to be heard in Kyiv when he was visiting and how he looked at Zelensky, who did not seem concerned.
"If he wasn't worried about the sirens, then neither am I," joked Biden, who unleashed laughter from those present in the room.
