At the G7 conference in Hiroshima, Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky hugged.
You made it, the Prime Minister told the leader.
The Ukrainian president grinned, nodded, and responded, “Thank you,” when asked if it was a good day.
Prior to crucial negotiations at the G7 summit, Mr. Zelensky arrived in Japan early this morning.
Japan says his decision to visit Hiroshima stems from his ‘strong wish’ to participate in talks that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia.
Live footage had showed the leader disembark from a French government aircraft around 7.30am British time.
Mr Zelensky will attend the G7 summit in person on Sunday and hold a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his stay.
This morning, he tweeted: ‘Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today.’
Mr Sunak later shared an image of the pair hugging, and added: ‘Ukraine, we’re not going anywhere.’
Mr Zelensky will take part in a session regarding peace and security alongside the G7 leaders and invited outreach countries, according to the Japanese foreign ministry.
His visit to Japan marks the first since October 2019 and the first since the invasion by Russia.
An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Mr Zelensky will take part in two separate sessions Sunday.
The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine.
The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on ‘peace and stability.’
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Mr Zelensky would have direct engagement at the summit.
The news comes after the US pledged support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine’s Air Force.
World leaders have faced a balancing act at the G7 in Hiroshima as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine.
China, the world’s No. 2 economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns.
The G7 leaders are also to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The G7 includes Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.