Muenster (TIP): Top diplomats from the world’s major industrialised democracies on November 5 rallied support for Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s invasion and coalesced around suspicion of China’s increasing assertiveness amid a panoply of global crises. Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations, wrapping up two days of talks in the historic western German city of Muenster, were set to release a statement asserting common positions on Ukraine, Russia, China and recent developments in Iran and North Korea, officials said. A year after warning Russia about the consequences of invading Ukraine, the G7 ministers were expected to endorse further punishments for the Kremlin and additional backing for Kyiv and countries affected by food and energy shortages that the war has exacerbated, the officials said. “It is incredibly important that we retain our strategic endurance, the willingness to stick with this until this is done, both to support the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression but also to lift the pressure off those countries around the world and those people around the world who are already experiencing food insecurity and are even pushed closer to a famine,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

The ministers will also call out Iran for allegedly supplying weapons to Russia and a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters. Their statement will further condemn the recent escalation of tensions in Asia caused by North Korean military activity.

“As a collective G7, our work is to ensure that we maintain peace, bring back peace also to the region, and we are there to protect these international norms,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. Blinken referred to a 374-year-old document at a Thursday event with German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock. He said Russia’s actions were an attack on the concepts of national sovereignty and territorial integrity that the centuries-old treaty established. — AP