France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday the G7 summit in Japan is an opportunity to convince emerging nations including India and Brazil to join efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“This war isn't just European,” Mr Macron said in Hiroshima. “It's the opportunity to discuss, exchange and convince partners of this enlarged G7 … India, Brazil, Indonesia and several other countries from the south, who have sometimes not exchanged as much with Ukraine.”
Mr Macron's comments came a day after he called the surprise visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who used a French government plane to land in the Japanese city, a “game changer”.
Brazil and India, the two big nations of the non-aligned “Global South” of low- and middle-income countries, are attending the G7 summit.
They have maintained economic and political relations with Moscow, frustrating western isolation efforts.
Mr Macron praised the trip as “a way to build peace”, calling it an “honour” to have supplied the plane that carried the Ukrainian leader to Hiroshima, Reuters reported.
Mr Zelenskyy is expected to plead for diplomatic and military support in Hiroshima on Sunday as he addresses the G7 allies and the nations that so far declined to condemn Russia's attack.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Mr Zelenskyy. AP -
Mr Yoon with Mr Zelenskyy during a bilateral meeting at the summit. AP -
Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Yoon meet with their respective teams. Reuters -
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, right, shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. EPA -
Crowds outside the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima watching the motorcades of visiting leaders. EPA -
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks. EPA -
Mr Biden at a meeting with Mr Zelenskyy. Reuters -
Leaders and delegates at the Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima during the three-day summit. EPA -
Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea, left, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during their meeting at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. AP -
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, second left, and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, take part in the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment meeting during the second day of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second right, and European Council President Charles Michel, left, at a meeting during the G7 leaders' summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Reuters -
From left: US President Joe Biden, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Quad meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Reuters -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and France's President Emmanuel Macron during their meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
US President Joe Biden, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, centre, in a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, right, in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
Clockwise from left: US President Joe Biden, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Hiroshima. AFP -
Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korean President, left, and his wife Kim Keon Hee arrive at Hiroshima Airport in Mihara for the G7 Summit. AFP -
France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Hiroshima. AFP -
From left: Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the UK, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, at a tree-planting ceremony in Hiroshima. AFP -
Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, and his wife Yuko with US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima. AFP -
Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, and his wife Yuko with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. AFP -
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko, right, with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. AFP -
From left: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima. AFP -
From left: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, US President Joe Biden, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Mr Kishida, Mr Trudeau, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Council President Charles Michel after laying wreaths in Hiroshima. AFP -
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discuss baseball themed socks. Getty -
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives at the Hiroshima airport for the G7 summit. Reuters -
US President Joe Biden salutes troops as he arrives at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on his way to the G7 leaders' summit in Hiroshima. EPA -
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his wife Britta Ernst arrive in Hiroshima. Reuters -
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty board a plane in Tokyo on their way to Hiroshima. AFP -
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives in Hiroshima. Reuters -
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives in Hiroshima for the summit. Reuters -
A robot developed by Ory Laboratory on display at the summit in Hiroshima. AFP -
Anti-G7 protesters demonstrate before the summit in Hiroshima. Reuters -
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum prepares for world leaders. Bloomberg -
The leaders will also visit the Grand Torii Gate at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island. Getty
He will later address the leaders of India, Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia, AFP reported.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, who has accused the West of “encouraging the war”, has yet to confirm if he will meet his Ukrainian counterpart.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he understood Mr Zelenskyy's pain “and the pain of Ukrainian citizens”.
“I can assure you that to resolve this India and, me personally, will do whatever we can do,” he said.
Mr Zelenskyy said he believed India would “participate in the restoration of the rules-based international order that all free nations clearly need”.
Mr Macron said the Hiroshima summit has been one of unity, notably for Ukraine, and aimed to build a framework for a peace that must be durable, not based on a ceasefire that would create a frozen conflict, and must adhere to international law.
He said Mr Zelenskyy would explain the situation on the ground, while the G7 – the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada – would stress the fundamentals of the international order and the importance of keeping to the UN charter.
“This allows Zelenskyy to express himself to powers of the world who at times are exposed to just one discourse. And I say that just a few weeks before a Brics summit,” Mr Macron said, referring to the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
He declined to comment on events in Ukraine's smashed eastern city of Bakhmut, the focus of the fighting for months, where Russia said on Saturday it was now in control.
“I will remain prudent. This battle, which started in December, shows the difficulty with which the Russians have to advance,” Mr Macron said.
