World leaders gather for G7 meetings, ready to pile fresh sanctions on Russia over Ukraine war

Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies gathered Thursday for Group of Seven meetings in Hiroshima, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine high on the agenda for a summit convened in the shadow of the world’s first atomic bomb attack.
The G7 nations, which officials said have reached new levels of cooperation more than a year into Russia’s brutal war, were set to unveil a new round of sanctions against Moscow when the summit officially opens on Friday, as well as announce that they would redouble their efforts to enforce existing sanctions meant to stifle Russia’s war effort and punish those behind it, a US official said.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the US component of the actions would blacklist about 70 Russian and third-country entities involved in Russia’s defense production, and sanction more than 300 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.
The official added that the other nations in the group would undertake similar steps to further isolate Russia and to undermine its ability to wage war in Ukraine. Details were to come out over the course of the weekend summit.