President Biden is likely to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when both leaders are in Japan for the Group of Seven summit this weekend, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “I think it’s the safe bet that President Biden will meet him,” Sullivan told reporters in Hiroshima. While he did not have a formal announcement, Sullivan said Biden “looks forward to the opportunity to be able to sit down face to face with President Zelensky.”
The Ukrainian leader is planning to attend the G-7 meeting in person this weekend, though his precise plans remain unclear. He is set to fly into Japan on a French government plane, a French official told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive security matters.
Zelensky will arrive boosted by Washington’s decision not to block allied nations from sending Kyiv the U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets it has long requested. The United States will also support the joint effort to provide training to Ukrainian pilots, Sullivan said.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Ukrainians, crossing Dnieper River, test Russian lines on southern front: Intrigue about where Ukraine’s counterattack will occur has focused on the Zaporizhzhia region, or in the east near Bakhmut, Isabelle Khurshudyan and Kamila Hrabchuk report. Those scenarios are more likely, but Ukraine also has been silently testing its ability to push across the Dnieper and training units in how to conduct a possible river landing.
“In the history of war and military art, there are many examples of crossing a water barrier — a river landing or a sea landing,” Brig. Gen. Mykhaylo Drapatyy, Ukraine’s commander of the operational group of Kherson troops, said. “Certain conditions are being created so that the Dnieper River barrier will not only hinder us but also help us to accomplish our task.”
Matt Viser and Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
