G7 and EU representatives are joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, 12 July 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/TIM IRELAND
Washington is opposed to calling Russia the aggressor in a G7 statement timed to coincide with the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Financial Times reported on Thursday citing Western officials familiar with the matter.
The G7 states have traditionally issued statements of support for Ukraine on 24 February, condemning the Russian war in Ukraine as an act of aggression in all three previous statements issued in 2022–2024.
According to the FT, the Trump administration is insisting on “softening the language” of the upcoming statement which the G7 plans to publish on Monday, and replacing the word war with “Ukrainian conflict”, a term often used by Russian state media and government officials, which has recently been adopted by the US State Department.
While one Western official remained hopeful that an agreement could be reached with the US before Monday, as other G7 states remain “adamant that there must be a distinction made between Russia and Ukraine”, the reported disagreement is just another indication of Washington’s shifting policy on Ukraine in recent weeks.
US President Donald Trump was stinging in his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the days following Russia-US talks in Riyadh, which Kyiv did not take part in and refused to recognise. Trump most notably called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” on Wednesday, having already blamed him for starting the war and falsely claiming that he had a domestic approval rating of just 4%.
Last week, Trump also floated the idea of inviting Russia to rejoin the G7, which it was expelled from in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbas, saying it was “a mistake to throw them out”.
