The Group of Seven countries (G7) on Friday (local time) agreed to establish a coordination mechanism to help Ukraine with critical energy and water infrastructure amid Russian attacks on the power grid that have caused widespread blackouts.
"Today we establish a G7 coordination mechanism to help Ukraine repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure," read G7 Foreign Ministers' statement.
Germany is held a two-day meeting in the western German town of Muenster to discuss Russia's Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine, Iran's deepening military alignment with Moscow over the war as well as China's growing assertiveness.
Discussing Ukraine, the G7 members called on Russia "to immediately stop its war of aggression against Ukraine and withdraw all of its forces and military equipment."
"We condemn Russia's recent escalation, including its attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, in particular energy and water facilities, across Ukraine using missiles and Iranian drones and trainers. Through these attacks, Russia is trying to terrorize the civilian population," added the statement.
Over the past few weeks, Russia has launched waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Kyiv says they have damaged up to 40 per cent of the power system and Ukrainian authorities warned that residents may face hours of blackouts due to the limited supplies.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of sending "kamikaze" drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to Russia which have then been used to devastating effect by Russian forces in strikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure.
"We strongly condemn Iran's continued destabilizing activities in and around the Middle East. These include Iran's activities with both ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), i.e. drones, and transfers of such advanced weaponry to state and non-state actors. Such proliferation is destabilizing for the region and escalates already high tensions," read the statement.
Regarding China's growing assertiveness, the statement said, "We remind China of the need to uphold the principles of the UN Charter on peaceful settlement of disputes and to abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force. We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion."
The G7 members reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and called for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.
They also raised their concern over human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as, over the continued erosion of Hong Kong's rights, freedoms and autonomy.
( With inputs from ANI )
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