Washington: US President Joe Biden met with his counterparts from the Group of Seven allies on Thursday morning to map out more severe measures against Russia after President Vladimir Putin launched what Biden called a premeditated war against Ukraine.
Biden, who spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy late on Wednesday, convened his National Security Council earlier on Thursday to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine, according to a White House official.
He planned to make his first public remarks on the new conflict in Ukraine at 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT), the White House said. Biden and his G7 colleagues are scrambling to respond to a worst-case scenario by imposing harsh sanctions on Russia that may cause gasoline prices in the West to go up.
The virtual meeting between the United States and its allies ended at 10:27 a.m., the White House official said.
Biden met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
The group was looking at ways to respond to what Biden in a statement late Wednesday called “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces” on Ukraine.
“President (Vladimir) Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden wrote.