Zelensky pledges participation in G7 and NATO summits

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyhas accepted the invitations to the G7 and NATO summits at the end of June. Zelenskyywrote this on Twitter on Wednesday. "I gratefully accepted invitations from partners to important international meetings," he wrote.

To the group of seven leading Western industrialized nations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) invited him, he said. The invitation to NATO came from Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Zelenskyydid not comment on whether he would leave his capital, Kiev, or be video-linked in, as he has been to other conferences. He also left this point open in his evening video address. He spoke literally of "appearances" at the summit meetings.

The G7 meeting is scheduled to take place June 26-28 at the luxury Alpine hotel Schloss Elmau in Bavaria for the second time since 2015. In addition to the U.S. and Germany, the G7 includes Japan, the U.K., France, Italy and Canada, and the EU is also represented at all meetings.

At the summit of the Western military alliance, which begins on June 28 in the Spanish capital, the heads of state and government of the 30 NATO countries want to decide how the alliance will respond in the medium and long term to the threats posed by Russia's war policy. In concrete terms, this means, for example, reinforcing the eastern flank with additional NATO troops.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said Wednesday that it was not yet clear whether Zelenskyywould travel or be connected from his official residence in Kiev. "He is welcome to come in person. If that is not possible for him, he will speak to us by video conference," Stoltenberg said.

Russia invaded the neighboring country on Feb. 24. Ukraine has so far withstood the overwhelming force militarily, but has relied on armaments from abroad to do so. Zelenskyy and his leadership have primarily asked their partners for heavy weapons.