Ukraine war briefing: G7 finance chiefs threaten further sanctions on Russia

[struggle4progress]

G7 finance chiefs condemned what they called Russia’s “continued brutal war” against Ukraine and said that if efforts to achieve a ceasefire failed, they would explore all possible options, including “further ramping up sanctions.” The description of the Ukraine war was watered down from the prior G7 statement issued in October, before Donald Trump’s re-election, calling it an “illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.” Trump has diminished US support for Ukraine and has made statements suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the conflict as he tries to coax Russia into peace talks.

Ukraine should abandon any notion of restoring its borders established with the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule or even those dating from the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion, the country’s former military commander was quoted as saying on Thursday. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine’s ambassador to London, was replaced as top commander in February 2024 after months of reported disagreements between him and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I hope that there are not people in this room who still hope for some kind of miracle or lucky sign that will bring peace to Ukraine, the borders of 1991 or 2022 and that there will be great happiness afterward,” the RBK Ukraine news site quoted Zaluzhnyi as telling a forum in Kyiv. “My personal opinion is that the enemy still has resources, forces and means to launch strikes on our territory and attempt specific offensive operations.”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned on Thursday that Russia threatened security in Europe as he visited Lithuania to mark the official formation of Germany’s first permanent overseas military unit since the second world war, aimed at bolstering Nato’s eastern flank. The decision to build up a 5,000-strong armoured brigade in Lithuania over the coming years came in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “There is a threat to us all from Russia,” Merz told reporters in Vilnius ...

EU lawmakers meanwhile approved tariffs on fertiliser imports from Russia on Thursday, despite European farmers’ fears the move could send prices soaring. The European parliament voted 411-100 for a bill that will enact duties in July and gradually increase them to a point where they would make imports unviable. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the move showed that the Europeans “continue, as always, to shoot themselves in the foot”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/23/ukraine-war-briefing-g7-finance-chiefs-threaten-further-sanctions-on-russia

[Cha]

1. Good on Chancellor Metz!!

And, No Shit!..

Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned on Thursday that Russia threatened security in Europe as he visited Lithuania to mark the official formation of Germany’s first permanent overseas military unit since the second world war, aimed at bolstering Nato’s eastern flank. The decision to build up a 5,000-strong armoured brigade in Lithuania over the coming years came in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “There is a threat to us all from Russia,” Merz told reporters in Vilnius ...

💙🌈

[Emrys]

2. A fuller version of Zaluzhni's remarks is less categoric and hopeless than the Guardian's report suggests:

“Now let's talk about modern war and security. I hope that there are no people in this hall who are still hoping for some miracle or wonder, for some white swan that will bring peace to Ukraine, the borders of 1991 or 2022, and after that there will be great happiness.”

"Whether it's pleasant for anyone to hear or not, Russia's ability to wage war will absolutely depend on its availability, first and foremost, of the resources to do so. And somewhere, probably from the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024, Russia is doing just that. This is a real war to exhaustion.

Ending this war is only possible through the complete destruction of Russia's very ability to wage this war. First of all, I mean the destruction of its military-economic potential.“

”Using new technological capabilities, ensure the following goals:

to make the economic burden of the war unbearable for Russia and its allies, so that it would abandon further waging of the war and accept our conditions on which they could sign an end to the war;

to undermine the economy and social component in order to deprive Russia of the opportunity for scientific and technological development and launch processes of civil unrest and disintegration."

"In addition, when we talk about arms exports, we have to be honest about one more point. Export under management pressure is now absolutely impossible because:

A weapon that is effective now will not be as effective tonight;

Modern technology is not just a tank with improved driving capabilities that can be taken and sold. This is a completely new nature of war. And so the global exporter of security must understand what we have to offer for export:

new weapons;

new technologies for their production;

new forms and methods of their application;

new organizational structures in which this application will be most effective;

then we must also propose new doctrines of application;

new training doctrines;

and as a result – completely new approaches to forming the security sector budget.“

”Before we move on to the final export of technologies, we need coordination between state institutions, public associations, and private businesses to unite around this survival strategy. On such grounds it is necessary to create mechanisms for coordination with the state. And of course, to seek, as far as possible, a balance between the state and business to ensure the level of technologization at the level of state policy."