live from washington, this is bbc news. the ukrainian president, volodymr zelensky, is to meet g7 world leaders in person at the hiroshima summit this sunday. the confirmation of the visit follows the us backing the supply of f16 figherjets to ukraine and that they will provide trianing. and former us president barack obama is one of over 500 us citizens now banned from russia in response to new anit—russia sanctions. great to have you with us. two major international summits today, more than 8,000 apart, with the shadow

of the war in ukraine cast on them both. first, the g7, where the world's most advanced economies are meeting in japan. the us has said it will support providing advanced fighterjets including us—made f16s to ukraine and also back training ukrainian pilots to fly them. meanwhile, moscow's closest ally in the middle east, syria's bashar al assad, received a warm welcome at a summit of arab leaders in saudi arabia after years of international isolation. during syria's bloody civil war, it was only massive russian military support, that allowed assad, condemned by many as a war criminal, to cling onto power. the summit was also attented by the ukrainian president, volodymr zelensky, who is due tojoin the g7 group in hiroshima on sunday, where its expected he'll address leaders and hold a meeting with us presidentjoe biden. details on that later

in the programme. but first, the news of more military support for ukraine. a short whie earlier, us national security advisor jake sullivan spoke about the us f16jets plan. just yesterday as you all know, president biden informed his g7 counterparts at the united states that we will support ukrainian pilots and fourth—generation aircraft including f16s, and over the past few months we and our allies have focused on providing ukraine with their systems weapon and training that it needs to be able to conduct effective offensive operations this spring and summer. we have delivered what we promised, we have given ukraine what it needs based on close consultations between our military and there is, and now, we have turned to discussions about improving ukrainian air force as part of our long—term commitment to you in the coming months we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them and how many. mr sullivan also spoke

about how weapons provided by the us are used in the conflict. all of the capabilities that the united states has given to ukraine come with the basic proposition that the united states is not enabling or supporting attacks on russian territory, that will go for the support for the provision that succeeds by any party as well and ukrainians has successfully —— completely indicated that they will follow through on that and they have followed through on that with the provision of western equipment when we have given it to them. former pentagon correspondent at cnn barbara starrjoined me earlier and she gave her reaction to that briefing. sullivan was making the point, he says, nothing has changed other than the war has evolved, russia has moved along in what it is executing, and it has moved from striking near the capital kyiv, over the months, and now is heavily involved in missile attacks, uav attacks, that sort of thing.

so now is the time to think about providing ukraine with these f—16s that have an advanced capability. they can protect ukraine troops on the ground, they can also strike from the air targets at further distances closer to russia, possibly even inside of russia. so that's the reason. now, we all know that ukraine is planning this counteroffensive this summer. sullivan is making the case that the f—16s are not for the counteroffensive, they are further down the road once they get training and the supplying of the aircraft into ukraine, not for the counteroffensive, but keep in mind zelensky, four months, has literally been bagging the allies for accra. he wants them, he firmly believes these fourth—generation advanced fighter aircraft will be key to eventually defeating the russians. we got confirmation during that conference that the japanese covenant has confirmed the ukrainian president

will indeed be attending in person, will be meeting with the japanese prime minister and of course us president biden. we spoke to some guests earlier, for example evelyn farkas, who said that the us could have been faster and some of these announcements, because that is not what we had from jake sullivan, but is the us following the conflict or trying to get ahead of it? how do you see it? i think it is a bit of both, it is very fair to say that one of the enduring concerns, since day one, is that the us would be seen by the russians as participating in an escalation in the russian view of course of the conflict and it wanted to stay away from giving the russians that easy attack message that the united states is escalating the conflict. but look, we have seen it over 18 months or so, the russians are continuing to escalate and not giving ground. they are continuing to fire indiscriminately at civilian and infrastructure targets and the ukrainians feel so strongly of course that that is what they need to do, they need to get a after that

russian capability. it is going to take months to train up enough ukrainian pilots to get those aircraft in there. it may not come in time for the counteroffensive, and then that will be the question, exactly what you said. is it going to be too late? and what about the concerns that fighter jets of this kind could be used to escalate the conflict? what did jake sullivan say about this? well, he is making the case that it should not be viewed that way, that the conflict has evolved, that the us is supporting with it, that they have matched delivering the weapons to the challenge that the russians are posing. you talked months ago aboutjavelins and stingers,

as the russians were approaching kyiv, anti—tank weapons to get those weapons backing off, and then use all the the mortars and the artillery, addressing the incoming russian missiles, the russian armed drone attacks, that sort of thing, trying to develop an air defence picture that the ukrainians could execute. but i think one of the most interesting things over the last several weeks, you are seeing the ukrainian military of being able to prosecute targets, to attack russian targets, much further afield, at much greater distances, and possibly even inside of russia, and that may be the ultimate game changer, the ultimate capability, to be able to push the russians back. ukraine has been lobbying for more jets for months. at the start of russia's full—scale invasion, ukraine was believed to have around 120 combat capable aircraft, mainly consisting of aging soviet—era technology.

but officials say they need up to 200 jets to match moscow's air—power, which is thought to be or six times greater than kyiv�*s. president zelensky has primarily been asking its allies for f—16s. first built in the 1970s, the jet can travel at twice the speed of sound and can engage targets in the air or on the ground. evelyn farkas, is the executive director of the mccain institute, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine and eurasia. my colleague carl nasman spoke to her a little earlier. well, madam ambassador, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us now. i want to start, because we just learned that you personally have been sanctioned by russia. you've been included on a list of some 500 americans. among them, barack obama, a comedian, seth meyers, how significant is this? is

hugely — hugely significant, earlier_ hugely — hugely significant, earlier than that, experts have been _ earlier than that, experts have been calling for this. why is it important? it will allow ukraine _ it important? it will allow ukraine to bring the offensive to the — ukraine to bring the offensive to the russians, provide some combat — to the russians, provide some combat support on that ground, and these — combat support on that ground, and these plans can get deep behind — and these plans can get deep behind enemy lines, and can get behind— behind enemy lines, and can get behind and take out trips that are threatening civilians. will are threatening civilians. will this ti - are threatening civilians. will this tip the — are threatening civilians. ii. this tip the balance? are threatening civilians. will this tip the balance? this - are threatening civilians. willj this tip the balance? this will not ti- this tip the balance? this will not tip the — this tip the balance? this will not tip the balance _ this tip the balance? this willl not tip the balance necessarily but the — not tip the balance necessarily but the combination of everything we are now giving the ukrainians, very capable advance _ the ukrainians, very capable advance as we just saw in this past _ advance as we just saw in this past week— advance as we just saw in this past week with the patriot taking _ past week with the patriot taking down hypersonic missiles, very capable artillery in addition to that, just— artillery in addition to that, just a — artillery in addition to that, just a regular ammunition, the tanks. — just a regular ammunition, the tanks. the _ just a regular ammunition, the tanks, the antipersonnel hard

and vehicles, the training and the intelligence, all of these things— the intelligence, all of these things together make for a very competent force. it's still a much — competent force. it's still a much smaller force than the russian _ much smaller force than the russian military of course, and they— russian military of course, and they have _ russian military of course, and they have a very long line that they— they have a very long line that they have _ they have a very long line that they have to defend once they take _ they have to defend once they take the — they have to defend once they take the offensive, and obviously want to keep the territory _ obviously want to keep the territory that they have so the challenges are there but i think— challenges are there but i think how this really does provide _ think how this really does provide an additional really important capability to strengthen the overall effort. president biden was hesitant to provide ukraine with longer range weapons. he is hesitant now and has been called on several times to provide not just training but actionable f-i6s just training but actionable f—16s to ukraine. for the president and should the president have acted sooner on several of these demands that president zielinski has been asking for? i president zielinski has been asking for?— asking for? i think so. i will say there — asking for? i think so. i will say there is— asking for? i think so. i will say there is an _ asking for? i think so. i will say there is an additional i say there is an additional component here that is really not the responsibility of the

president, or does not fall at his feet which is to say that providing f16s would be far more costly than providing men with other equipment that we have been giving them, and that means that the president, the current pot of money he has authorised from congress would run out faster if he had to use the money to provide f—16s stuff the money to provide f—i6s stuff i just to the money to provide f—i6s stuff ijust to clarify, you think there might be budgetary constraints on considerations as well? .,. , constraints on considerations as well?- on - constraints on considerations as well?- on the - constraints on considerations as well?- on the far. as well? exactly. on the far ri . ht of as well? exactly. on the far right of the _ as well? exactly. on the far right of the republican - as well? exactly. on the far| right of the republican party in congress, there is a kind of opposition, not i think out of any principled policy but reallyjust any principled policy but really just a any principled policy but reallyjust a desire to oppose president, and the democratic party and i guess mainstream republicans frankly, so i would call these more friends members of congress in terms of their number and their perspective on

foreign policy, they unfortunately wield significant power because the current speaker, the republican speaker has given them this power, so they can in fact block further aid to ukraine potentially. the g7 has been — aid to ukraine potentially. the g7 has been taking place and we had new sanctions coming out of those meetings against russia, many aimed at curbing military technology to the country, of course, economic sanctions have seemingly had a limited impact on russia. what about these new sanctions? how effective will they be? sanctions? how effective will the be? , ., sanctions? how effective will the be? ., they be? they are so important. as time goes — they be? they are so important. as time goes on _ they be? they are so important. as time goes on we _ they be? they are so important. as time goes on we will - they be? they are so important. as time goes on we will learn i as time goes on we will learn about the loopholes all the things we should have sanctioned perhaps earlier or we get more comfortable businesses getting accustomed to the existing sanctions. the russians provide commodities, diamonds, copper, other minerals to the world and for that they get foreign income, and we want to deny them the

revenue that they are using to fuel this despicable war machine. fuel this despicable war machine-— fuel this despicable war machine. ., .,~ fuel this despicable war machine. ., ., machine. zelensky also making a visit to the _ machine. zelensky also making a visit to the league _ machine. zelensky also making a visit to the league and _ machine. zelensky also making a visit to the league and south - visit to the league and south saudi arabia. he accused countries there are turning a blind eye. what you think the impact of his message and visit will be in saudi arabia?- will be in saudi arabia? sadly i don't will be in saudi arabia? sadly i don't think— will be in saudi arabia? sadly | don't think it _ will be in saudi arabia? sadly i don't think it will _ will be in saudi arabia? sadly i don't think it will have - i don't think it will have enough of an impact but you have to show up to even be in the game, if you will, so he has a shot i suppose ad maybe raising awareness among some of the saudi people who are not as familiar with the media landscape but if they are providing coverage that might be an opportunity to have a conversation in saudi arabia, unfortunately, this is happening at the same time that bashar al—assad, also aided by the russians in his brutal chemical attacks on his people in the bombing of innocent civilians, something that russia practised in syria

before they did it to ukraine, he is now being welcomed back by the saudi government and other governments in the middle east, welcomed as a strong word but he is being allowed back in and treated like a regular head of state, which is not appropriate given the human rights violations that he has been responsible for. thank you so much for _ been responsible for. thank you so much for your _ been responsible for. thank you so much for your time. - following reports all day that president zelensky would attend the summit, tonight, the japanese government has confirmed he will arrive on sunday. 0ur reporter nick marsh is in hiroshima following the rumour mill was in full swing yesterday, is he coming, is he not coming? everyone seemed to have a different source. huge conspiracy concerns when it comes to these high—profile visits so it's understandable that kiel, washington, tokyo, would be so tightlipped until now, but have had confirmation that he is

coming here to japan, he will be coming from jeddah where he has been addressing arab leaders in saudi arabia, safe to say that that would be the least receptive audience he has ever had. since he has tried to build diplomatic ties with the rest of the world after his country was invaded last year. now he is u-oin to be now he is --oin to be comin- now he is u-oin to be comin- to now he is going to be coming to japan, a much more receptive audience. we heard from jake sullivan earlier saying he did not have a chance to talk to the ukrainians to see how the meeting went but he will have president biden will have a chance to talk to zelensky when he gets here. the symbolism of this kind of visit is quite clear. it's the first time zelensky will have had a chance to be in the same room as all these other g7 allies, a real message of solidarity. he has been to visit them one by one and they have been to kyiv themselves but when they

get a chance to actually sit down and talk all in the same room, it will definitely be seen as a big diplomatic victory for ukraine and for president zelensky. richard haass, the president of the council of foreign relations, gave his thoughts on about zelensky�*s travels this week. he was looking for several things — one was economic and military and diplomatic support, wherever he can get it from. he's also looking for the opposite — he's looking for support for sanctions against russia. a lot of the world has essentially sat on the sidelines or actively traded with russia and he clearly would like to see less of that. i think he's trying to make a connection with them, and i did not see his speech today but i would have said 30 years ago, it was saddam hussein who invaded and took over all of kuwait, and you all saw

it as a threat, you joined in the coalition against this kind of aggression, this is no different, this is what i am asking you to do today. while at the summit, g7 leaders also agreed on a new raft of sanctions against russia. moscow has responded to those sanctions announced at the g7. russia says it's banning more than 500 us citizens from entering its territory — among them, former us president barack obama and governor of arkansas sarah huckabee sanders. also included on that list was kay bailey hutchison, united states ambassador to nato underformer president donald trump. my colleague carl nasman spoke with her earlier. well, madam ambassador, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us now. i want to start because we just learned that you personally have been sanctioned by russia. you've been included on a list of some 500 americans. among them, barack obama, a comedian, seth meyers, arkansas governor sarah sanders, some other people on that list as well — lots of high profile names. what does this latest development mean for you and what is your response?

well, i'm not surprised at all, although you did give me the news. but i have been very critical of what russia is doing in ukraine and really, all the time i was at nato, i called russia out for what they did in uk with skripal and so, i'm not surprised. and whatever it is, it is, and i'm proud to be with another group of patriots who are calling russia out. well, why do you think you were included on this particular list? well, i've been critical, of course, of russia for the devastating attack on a free country of ukraine and the obliterating of their infrastructure, killing people, torturing prisoners of war — it goes on and on. and when they attempted to murder mr skripal, who lived in the uk and was a former soviet spy, that was just outrageous, too.

it was novichok, the poison that was put on the doorknob of the home where he was living. so, russia has been very... ijust want to hop in and ask you just quickly — because it's an interesting list as well. there are politicians, there are former officials, there are late night comedians, there are journalists. what do you make of this particular mix of people that have been sanctioned by russia? i'm sure that it has something to do with being critical of russia, and they have tried to put things over on other countries. all of the cyberattacks that we saw when we were at nato against some of our nato allies or an ally that was on the cusp of becoming an ally in nato and the cyberattacks on that, so i am certainly very clear in calling out for what it is — the russian disinformation,

the torture, the war crimes that they are producing right now in ukraine — and if that puts me on a sanctions list, i'm fine. speaking of sanctions — at the g7 meetings, at that summit, some new sanctions announced against russia, many of them aimed at military technology. in your mind, do these sanctions go far enough? what would you like to see? well, i would like to see full sanctions of any kind of trade or any kind of monetary enterprise with russia. right now, the russian people — unfortunately, it's not theirfault, it is all on vladimir putin — but nevertheless, if they are not feeling the pain of the sanctions, then vladimir putin is going to continue to have just

mayhem on the ukraine and what they have done to the infrastructure of ukraine, as well as killing innocent people and children. even a maternity hospital was targeted by russia. so, i think that they deserve to have sanctions when they are acting in this way and that's the only thing that we can do, other than help ukraine, which we are doing. the us also announcing that it will support assistance in terms of training with these f—i6 jets but we don't know yet when any jets might arrive in ukraine. do you think that the us is moving fast enough for these militaryjets — which, of course, the ukrainian president has been requesting for many months now? i think we should have done it sooner and i think we ought to do it right away, i think we should do the training, and i do want to give credit — great credit to prime minister

sunak of the uk. he was very upfront early in saying that he would do the things that could really help ukraine. and, of course, borisjohnson was the first european prime minister to visit ukraine, even when it was considered very dangerous, so i think uk has played a great part here. i support that, and i think the united states has also given the lion's share of the equipment and the operative things, the missiles and the operative, bradley fighting vehicles, those sorts of things. right. but obviously, we need to do it quick. we need to help them win. a stalemate is not in the interest of ukraine. winning is necessary, and we should help them win. i do want to be sure to ask you, as the former us ambassador to nato, should nato be acting faster to bring on new members and should ukraine be one of those new members?

well, i think that we take every country that asks to be a member and we consider if they have the qualifications to be a member, and that includes a resilient democracy, anti—corruption laws, rule of law, treatment of human rights. in your mind, does ukraine meet those qualifications? not now, they do not, and that's why they were not in the cusp, and they knew that. they knew, because their own people had an anti—corruption campaign going — that's what president zelensky ran for and won. but they had not yet been able to achieve what needed to be done before this invasion. so, they were not, but i think that they will. i truly believe they will eventually become a member of nato, an ally. but i don't think that they're even asking. they weren't even asking when russia made the claim

that they were trying to get into nato. they weren't. they knew that they were on a list that we would hope someday to be able to give their request a yes but they were not there yet and they were trying, but they were not. ambassador kay bailey hutchison, thank you so much for your time. thank you very much, carl. president biden will cut short his asia—pacific visit after the g7 summit to attend to the issue of the us debt ceiling at home, returning to washington on sunday. republican and democratic lawmakers remain at loggerheads over allowing the us to borrow more. their negotiators did hold two meetings today aimed at avoiding default, but broke with no progress cited by either side and no additional meeting set. less than two weeks remain untiljune i, when the treasury department has warned the federal government may no longer be able to pay all its bills, seeing the world's biggest economy default on its $31.4 trillion worth of debt.

speaking at the g7 summit injapan, white house press secretary karinejean—pierre set out what could happen if the us is unable to pay its bills. states could not be higher microvolts steaks. a default would plunge our economy into a recession, economists estimate that millions of americans could lose theirjobs, hard—working families could ha rd—working families could lose hard—working families could lose their retirement savings, so our team will stay at it, we will stay focused and we hope that speaker mccarthy's team will negotiate in good faith as well. and before we go — a reminder of those latest developments at the g7 summit of world leaders in hiroshima. the ukrainian president volodymr zelensky will meet g7 world leaders in person at the hiroshima summit this sunday. the confirmation of the visit follows the us backing the supply of f16 fighterjets to ukraine and that they will provide training. it's not yet clear who will ultimately supply the aircraft but the news was welcomed by mr zelensky, who called it "historic".

thank you for watching bbc news. hello again. whenever we talk about showers, you can get vastly different weather from one place to the next. if we look at friday's weather in redding, we had hazy spells of sunshine coming through this cloud. it was quite a nice day. butjust down the road, 15 miles away in benson in 0xfordshire, got a direct hit from a pretty big shower. it brought 19 millimetres of rain in the space of two hours — that's a third of a month of rain — and instead of it being a nice day, it was a day where you might�*ve needed to paddle to get back to your car. now, over the next few hours, it's essentially dry across england and wales, most places having clear skies. do have some thicker clouds starting to move in across scotland and northern ireland, the cloud thick enough for an occasional spit of rain but nothing particularly significant. and here are your temperatures

as you head into the first part of your weekend. now, the weekend across england and wales, lots of sunshine on the way and it is going to be mostly dry. for scotland and northern ireland, a bit more in the way of cloud but it'll still be bright. however, the cloud at times will be thick enough to give just a little bit of rain. now, any rain that we do see across these north—western areas isn't going to be that heavy because these weather fronts are weak. they're running into an area of high pressure which is tending to squish them. so, saturday morning, we start off perhaps with a nice sunrise for some across scotland, maybe north west england, north—west wales. the thickest cloud across scotland and northern ireland. an odd spit of rain, but not much. england and wales, dry with plenty of sunshine from the word go and we'll keep those sunny skies all day. it is going to feel warm in the sunshine with temperatures widely18—21. a little bit cooler around some of our north sea coasts, given the developing onshore wind. and a reminder at this time of the year, the may sunshine is a strong sunshine and so, we'll have high levels of uv. so, if you're outside for any length of time, might be worth just thinking about slapping on a bit

of sun cream. 0n into sunday's forecast, it's a similar kind of split to the weather, really, with the cloudier skies across scotland and northern ireland. still some bright weather getting through. again, there could bejust a few spits of rain falling from this weather front that's very weak. england and wales, dry, more sunshine and warm again — temperatures high teens to low 20s. in fact, this weekend, we could see the warmest day of the year so far — not that temperatures are that high. it says more, really, about the fact that the weather's not been that warm so far this year. but into next week, high pressure's in charge and for most, it will stay fine and dry.

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