Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will urge the Group of Seven to provide more backing for the war against Russia even after US President Donald Trump left the summit early due to developments in the Middle East.
Trump said he needed to be back in Washington as soon as possible due to the situation in the Middle East, where the escalating attacks between Iran and Israel have raised risks of a broader regional conflict.
But Trump's absence and a planned meeting with the Ukraine leader will not affect Zelensky's goal.
Last week Zelensky said he planned to discuss continued support for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, and future financing for Kyiv's reconstruction efforts. The Ukrainian embassy in Canada said Zelensky's travel plans had not changed.
Zelensky is due to meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the morning before attending a G7 working breakfast on "a strong and sovereign Ukraine", accompanied by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The G7 has struggled to find unity over conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and Iran as Trump has previously expressed support for Putin and imposed tariffs on many of the allies present.
Donald Trump takes part in a leaders' meeting at the G7. – AP
Trump’s stance on Ukraine puts him fundamentally at odds with the other G7 leaders, who back Ukraine and are clear that Russia is the aggressor in the war.
His sudden departure only heightened the drama of a world that seems on verge of several firestorms. Trump already has imposed severe tariffs on multiple nations that risk a global economic slowdown. There has been little progress on settling the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The US president on Monday suggested there would have been no war if G7 members hadn’t expelled Russian President Vladimir from the organisation.
Speaking alongside Carney earlier, Trump said the former Group of Eight had been wrong to kick out Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.
"This was a big mistake," Trump said, adding he believed Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Putin not been ejected.
"Putin speaks to me. He doesn't speak to anybody else ... he's not a happy person about it. I can tell you that he basically doesn't even speak to the people that threw him out, and I agree with him," Trump said.
Though Trump stopped short of saying Russia should be reinstated in the group, his comments had raised doubts about how much Zelensky can achieve when he arrives.
The Kremlin said Trump was right to assert that it had been a big mistake to expel Russia from the Group of Eight in 2014, but that the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked "rather useless" now.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "We agree with President Trump: it was a big mistake then to exclude Russia from the G8 format."
He said the G7 had "lost practical significance" for Russia, given the state of world affairs.
"Given the declining share of the G7 countries in the global economy, given all the trends that are observed in the G7 countries and, of course, against the background of, for example, such formats as the G20, the G7 looks dull and rather useless," Peskov said.
Giorgia Meloni, Emmanuel Macron, Mark Carney and Donald Trump. – Reuters
With talks on ending the war at an impasse, Starmer said Britain and other G7 members were slapping new tariffs on Russia in a bid to get it to the ceasefire negotiating table.
Britain has since posted a notice on the government website that said Britain's latest sanctions targeted four individuals, six entities and 20 ships, including oil tankers, marine-related companies, and suppliers of goods to Russia - particularly electronics.
Starmer is expected to set out details of the sanctions later in the summit.
He will say he wants "to work with all of our G7 partners to squeeze Russia's energy revenues and reduce the funds they are able to pour into their illegal war," according to advance excerpts of his remarks released by his office.
Britain has already sanctioned over 2,300 individuals, entities and ships as part of sanctions against Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"We should take this moment to increase economic pressure and show President Putin it is in his - and Russia’s interests - to demonstrate he is serious about peace," Starmer is expected to say.
But in a deeper sense, Trump saw a better path in the United States taking solitary action, rather than in building a consensus with the other G7 nations.
World leaders had gathered in Canada with the specific goal of helping to defuse a series of pressure points, only to be disrupted by a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program that could escalate in dangerous and uncontrollable ways. Israel launched an aerial bombardment campaign against Iran on Friday, and Iran has hit back with missiles and drones.
Carney said the world was looking to the G7 for leadership at a “hinge” moment in time.
“We’re gathering at one of those turning points in history,” Carney said. “The world’s more divided and dangerous.”
Trump's departure 'much bigger' than a ceasefire
Trump's early departure from the Group of Seven nations summit had "nothing to do with" working on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, refuting comments by French President Emmanuel Macron who said the US president made a ceasefire proposal.
Macron "mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to DC to work on a 'cease fire' between Israel and Iran," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform as he left the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington.
"Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that."
Macron said earlier Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. "There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions," Macron told reporters at the G7.
Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early to return to Washington due to the Middle East situation.The air war between Iran and US ally Israel - which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes - has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Trump did agree to a group statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict.
"We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza," the statement said.
Getting unanimity – even on a short and broadly worded statement – was a modest measure of success for the group.
The G7 expressed support for Israel, saying it has the right to defend itself and labelled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has left the G7 summit to attend to matters regarding the conflict between Israel and Iran. – AP
Trump left the summit saying: “I have to be back, very important.” He had also warned Tehran that it should consider evacuating residents.
“President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media.
“Much was accomplished, but because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State.”
It came as conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies and the US leader declared that Tehran should be evacuated “immediately” – while also expressing optimism about a deal to stop the violence.
Asked what it would take for the US to get involved in the conflict militarily, Trump said Monday morning: “I don’t want to talk about that.“
But by Monday afternoon, Trump warned ominously on social media: “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”.
Shortly after that, Trump decided to leave the summit and skip a series of Tuesday meetings that would address the ongoing war in Ukraine and global trade issues.
Mark Carney and Donald Trump. – AP
Carney said he understood the need for Trump to depart. “I am very grateful for the president’s presence and I fully understand," he said.
At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran needed to curb its nuclear program before it’s “too late”. He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began.
“They have to make a deal,” he said.
Starmer, Macron, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held an hour-long informal meeting soon after arriving at the summit late Sunday to discuss the widening conflict in the Mideast, Starmer’s office said.
And Merz told reporters that Germany was planning to draw up a final communique proposal on the Israel-Iran conflict that will stress that “Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons-capable material”.
Leaders sit down to meet at the G7 in Canada. – AP
The European leaders wanted to help de-escalate the situation, rather than enflame it in ways that could spread through the Middle East in unpredictable ways.
Trump, for his part, said Iran “is not winning this war – and they should talk and they should talk immediately before it’s too late”.
But by early Monday evening, as he planned to depart, Trump seemed willing to push back against his own supporters who believe the US should embrace a more isolationist approach to world affairs. It was a sign of the heightened military, political and economic stakes in a situation evolving faster than the summit could process.
“AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
It’s unclear how much Trump values the perspective of other members of the G7, a group he immediately criticised while meeting with Carney.
The US president said it was a mistake to remove Russia from the summit's membership in 2014 and doing so had destabilised the world. He also suggested he was open to adding China to the G7.
Trump also seemed to put a greater priority on addressing his grievances with other nations' trade policies. He announced with Starmer that they had signed a trade framework Monday that was previously announced in May, with Trump saying that British trade was “very well protected" because "I like them, that's why – that's their ultimate protection".
Mark Carney and Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. – AP
The G7, which originated as a 1973 finance ministers' meeting to address the oil crisis and evolved into a yearly summit meant to foster personal relationships among world leaders and address global problems.
It briefly expanded to the G8 with Russia as a member, only for Russia to be expelled in 2014 after annexing Crimea and taking a foothold in Ukraine that preceded its aggressive 2022 invasion of that nation.
Beyond Carney and Starmer, Trump had bilateral meetings or pull-aside conversations with Merz and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
He talked with Macron about “tariffs, the situation in the Near and Middle East, and the situation in Ukraine”, according Macron spokesperson Jean-Noël Ladois.
On Tuesday, Trump was scheduled to meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.