Affirming support for Ukraine is expected to be the number one topic on the agenda at the two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the western city of Muenster.

"We will not allow the brutality of this war to lead to masses of elderly people, children, young people and families dying in the coming winter months," Baerbock said.

Western allies will provide generators, heaters, container housing, tents, beds and blankets as some of the items that will be part of a "winter aid package" for Ukraine, she said.

"Russia has chosen a new method of warfare by trying to let people starve, die of thirst and freeze to death," Baerbock added.

"This is exactly what we, as G7 partners, will try to prevent with everything we have, just as we will try to prevent the other perfidious methods of Russian warfare."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was set to address the conference via a video link on Thursday, according to a diplomatic source.

- 'Vital mechanism' -

The meeting comes as Germany prepares to hand over the G7 presidency to Japan and in the wake of political upheaval in several member countries, including Italy and Britain.

A senior US state department official earlier told reporters the gathering was a "vital coordinating mechanism" being held at an "important time" as the world faces multiple crises from Ukraine to North Korea.

Baerbock on Thursday said the G7 condemned "in the strongest terms" the latest salvo of missiles fired by North Korea and described the drills as a "breach of international law".

Relations with China will be discussed at a working dinner on Thursday, just as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz jets off for a controversial visit to Beijing.

Scholz will be the first European Union leader to visit China since late 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the leader of Europe's largest economy has faced a backlash for undertaking the trip, with many concerned about Germany's heavy reliance on increasingly authoritarian Beijing.

- China controversy -

The G7 is ready to recognise China as a "competitor" and "rival" as Japan prepares to take over the presidency of the group, Baerbock said on Thursday.

"Japan... repeatedly points out how important it is that we recognise that China has changed in recent years," she said.

Scholz has insisted that he will "not ignore controversies" during his trip.

A senior US diplomat told reporters on Wednesday: "What we've seen over the last couple of years is increasing alignment between us and Europe on the challenges posed by China".

The G7 foreign ministers are also expected to discuss Iran, which has been rocked by enduring protests in recent weeks over the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Speaking at a forum in Muenster on democracy in the digital age, Baerbock said the international community was "running out of time" to coordinate its response to the protests.

"It's not only women. The diversity of the Iran society is saying, 'This is enough and we want to live in freedom like many other countries'," she said in English.

At the same forum, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Western allies were trying to "make sure that Iranians have the ability to communicate with each other and with the outside world".

"Technology is at the heart of that, making sure that there are no barriers to the extent we have anything to say about it," he said.