G7 leaders gather in Italy for talks dominated by Ukraine

Leaders of the G7 will meet in Italy this week to discuss various issues, including increasing support for Ukraine

Leaders of the G7 wealthy nations gather in southern Italy this week against the backdrop of global and political turmoil, with boosting support for Ukraine top of the agenda.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Franch President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are among the Group of Seven leaders heading to the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Puglia for the June 13-15 summit.

It comes at a sensitive time, with wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza and with Mr. Biden, Mr. Macron and Britain's Rishi Sunak all facing elections in the coming weeks and months.

With an eye to the global challenges, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the host, has also invited around a dozen non-G7 heads of government, from Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan to India's Narendra Modi.

Pope Francis will also fly in on June 14 to talk about artificial intelligence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a discussion on June 12 on Russia's war on his country, now into its third year, where he will again press for more help from Western allies.

G7 leaders hope to agree on a deal to use the profits from the interest on 300 billion euros ($325 billion) of frozen Russian central bank assets to help Kyiv.