The world’s leading economic powers plan to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin against using chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine in a draft statement the Group of 7 plans to issue on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
The G7 leaders also plan to say that they will continue to impose “severe consequences” on Russia by fully implementing the sanctions that countries have already imposed and stand ready to apply additional measures.
“We task the relevant ministers in a focused initiative to monitor the full implementation of sanctions and to coordinate responses related to evasive measures, including regarding gold transactions by the Central Bank of Russia,” according to the draft statement obtained by Bloomberg.
In Brussels, Western leaders will warn Putin his country will pay “ruinous” costs for invading Ukraine during a series of NATO, G7 and EU summits over Thursday and Friday. U.S. President Joe Biden is among those attending, Reuters reports.
Western leaders meeting will agree to strengthen their forces in Eastern Europe and increase military aid to Ukraine as the Russian assault on its neighbour entered its second month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged them to go further and repeated his call for a no-fly zone over his country, where thousands of people have been killed, millions become refugees, and cities pulverised since Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his invasion on February 24.