SCHLOSS ELMAU: The Group of Seven club of wealthy nations on Monday vowed to stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, promising to tighten the squeeze on Russia’s finances with new sanctions that include a proposal to cap the price of Russian oil.

The announcement came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing G7 leaders at their summit in the Bavarian Alps via a video link, asked for weapons and air defences to gain the upper hand in the war against Russia within months. Zelensky also urged the world powers to do their utmost to help end Russia’s invasion by the end of the year.

The G7 statement aimed to signal that its members were ready to back Ukraine for the long haul, at a time when soaring inflation and energy shortages — fuelled by Russia’s invasion — have tested the West’s sanctions resolve.

“We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the statement said.

After missiles rained down on Kyiv on Sunday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the United States was readying a new weapons package for Ukraine that included long-range air defences and ammunition.

“At the top of his mind was the set of missile strikes that took place in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine and his desire to get additional air defence capabilities that could shoot down Russian missiles out of the sky,” Sullivan told reporters about Zelensky’s address.

The G7 countries said they were ready to provide security commitments in a post-war settlement while stressing, after Ukraine had earlier voiced misgivings, that it was up to Kyiv to decide a future peace deal with Russia. The G7 countries said they had also pledged or were ready to grant up to $29.5 billion for Ukraine.

The announcements came as the White House said Russia had defaulted on its foreign sovereign bonds for the first time in a century — an assertion Moscow rejected.

The expanded sanctions would also target Russia’s revenue stream from gold exports, Moscow’s military production and officials installed by Moscow in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

Imposing the oil price cap aims to hit Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest while actually lowering energy prices.

“The dual objectives of G7 leaders have been to take direct aim at Putin’s revenues, particularly through energy, but also to minimise the spillovers and the impact on the G7 economies and the rest of the world,” a US official said on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

Western sanctions have hit Russia’s economy hard and the new measures are aimed at further depriving the Kremlin of oil revenues. G7 countries would work with others — including India — to limit the revenues that Putin can continue to generate, the US official said.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2022