Zelensky's G7 Attendance Thrown Into Doubt at Final Hour

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's in-person attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) nations summit in Japan this weekend was thrown into doubt on Friday after a statement said he would participate online.

"President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will take part in the meeting of G7 leaders in Japan online," the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said in a statement.

The three-day G7 summit kicked off in Hiroshima, Japan, on Friday. The G7, which represents the world's wealthiest democracies, includes the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.

The statement was published shortly after Oleksii Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said on Ukrainian television on Friday that Zelensky would be attending in person.

"Very important things will be decided there," Danilov said. "Therefore the physical presence of our president is absolutely important—to defend our interests, to explain, to provide clear proposals and clear arguments on the events that are taking place in our country."

It was also widely reported by U.S. media that Zelensky would attend in-person.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said in a statement on Thursday that Zelensky would participate virtually in Sunday's G7 session at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

If Zelensky attends in-person, it would mark his first trip to Asia since Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. It would also come ahead of an anticipated counteroffensive by Ukraine to recapture its occupied territories, and as Kyiv urges Western allies for more aid and weapons.

Earlier this week, Zelensky made stops in the U.K., Germany, France and Italy. He also attended the the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

On Friday, the leaders of the G7 published a statement on the White House website saying that at a meeting in Hiroshima, they "reaffirmed our commitment to stand together against Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

"We condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia's manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and the impact of Russia's war on the rest of the world. 15 months of Russia's aggression has cost thousands of lives, inflicted immense suffering on the people of Ukraine, and imperiled access to food and energy for many of the world's most vulnerable people."

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