ATHENS

G7 foreign ministers seek to provide Ukraine with much-needed arms support amid expanding Russian advances on the battlefield, Italian media reported Thursday.

Immediate and extensive support for Ukraine will be among topics discussed on the second day of the meeting on Italy’s Capri Island with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg attending, said state-run ANSA news agency.

“Helping Ukraine means working for peace, because if Kyiv loses (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will never sit at the peace table,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said at the first session.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Kuleba on the sidelines of the meeting, said, “It is urgent that all friends of Ukraine make every effort to continue to provide it with what it needs to defend itself from Russian aggression.”

Kuleba said: “The only issue on my agenda here at the G7 is air defense.”

“We have to make the deliveries happen as quickly as possible. We cannot delay them until the day after tomorrow. They have to happen tomorrow,” he highlighted.