G7 urges Russia to accept ceasefire, backs Ukraine’s territorial integrity – National

Foreign ministers from the G7 nations overcame their differences on Friday to back Ukraine’s territorial integrity and warned Russia to follow Kyiv in accepting a ceasefire or face possible further sanctions.

Their joint communique followed weeks of tension between U.S. allies and President Donald Trump over his upending of Western trade, security and Ukraine-related policy.

Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to spare Ukrainian troops being pushed back out of Russia’s Kursk region and said there was a “very good chance” the war could end.

Trump posted on social media after his envoy, Steve Witkoff, held a lengthy meeting with Putin on Thursday night in Moscow that Trump described as “very good and productive.”

The Kremlin said Putin had sent Trump a message about his ceasefire plan, which Kyiv has agreed to, via Witkoff, expressing “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached to end the three-year-old conflict.

Putin said on Thursday that he supported Trump’s proposal in principle, but that fighting could not be paused until several crucial conditions were worked out, raising the prospect of longer negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after the G7 meetings that there was reason to be “cautiously optimistic” about a ceasefire and peace negotiations after Putin’s remarks, but would not address his stated conditions.

G7 officials had feared they would not be able to agree on an all-encompassing document touching on geopolitical issues from across the world, divisions that they said could have played into the hands of both Russia and China.

“When it comes to different issues, Ukraine and the Middle East, we’ve had sessions talking about these different issues, subjects, and the goal was to keep strong G7 unity,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters.

The Group of Seven ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the European Union, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for meetings on Thursday and Friday that in the past have been broadly consensual.

But in the run-up to the first G7 meeting of Canada’s presidency, the crafting of an agreed final statement had been difficult with wrangling over the language regarding Ukraine, the Middle East and Washington’s desire for tougher wording on China.

The communique “reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence.”

Ukraine’s territorial integrity has largely been absent from the U.S. narrative since the Trump administration came to power on January 20. The U.S. under Trump has so far not ruled out the possibility that Kyiv might cede territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday the issue of territory was discussed during a meeting of Ukrainian and U.S. officials in the Saudi city of Jeddah but it would require difficult dialog.

“The territorial integrity is an important element of the communique and the (reference) to the United Nations,” EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Reuters, referring to a call for a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace in line with the Charter of the United Nations.”

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An earlier text referring to the need for security guarantees to ensure a truce was replaced by “assurances,” but they did warn Moscow to follow Kyiv in agreeing to a ceasefire or face further sanctions, including oil price caps.

“G7 members called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully.

“They emphasized that any ceasefire must be respected and underscored the need for robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression,” they said in a reference to Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the statement “very good.”

Washington had sought to impose red lines on language around Ukraine to not harm its talks with Russia and opposed a separate declaration on curbing Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a murky shipping network that eludes sanctions, while demanding more robust language on China.

In the end the G7 also approved a separate statement on maritime security, including a task force to tackle the shadow fleet, something that Canada had pushed for.

The final communique stated G7 opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait by force or coercion, language that will likely be encouraging to Taipei.

There had been wrangling over language regarding Gaza and the Middle East, notably the notion of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something the U.S. was resisting.

The final version made no mention of a two-state solution, dropping language that had stressed its importance in earlier drafts of the text.

“They underscored the imperative of a political horizon for the Palestinian people, achieved through a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that meets the legitimate needs and aspirations of both peoples and advances comprehensive Middle East peace, stability and prosperity,” the draft read.

—With additional files from Global News and Reuters