10:10,

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the Group of Seven (G7) Hiroshima summit this weekend, Reuters reported citing a Ukrainian security official.

Zelenskiy will attend the gathering on Sunday, the third and final day, two officials who declined to be identified told Reuters.

"Very important things will be decided there and it is therefore the presence of our president that is absolutely essential in order to defend our interests," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, told state television.

New sanctions targeting Russia are expected to be announced by G7 leaders, according to Reuters.

Earlier on Friday the G7 leaders laid wreaths in Hiroshima, a city that, along with Nagasaki, was destroyed by a U.S. nuclear attack 78 years ago that ended WWII.

Besides announcing new Russia sanctions, the G7 leaders are also expected to debate strategy on more than year-long conflict that shows no signs of easing.

Britain will announce a ban on Russian diamonds and imports of metals from Russia including copper, aluminium and nickel in support for Ukraine, it said in a statement.

Britain will also target an additional 86 people and companies from Putin's military industrial complex, in addition to those involved in the energy, metals and shipping industries, it said.

Europe will also restrict sales of Russian diamonds.

The United States is set to add 70 entities to its export blacklist, and to expand its sanctions authority to 300 entities as well as new sectors of the Russian economy, a senior U.S. administration official said.