G7 urges Russia to accept ceasefire, backs Ukraine’s territorial integrity
Global News
The 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.
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.
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