G7 nations to meet in Canada with Putin's next move on Ukraine ceasefire looming large

G7 NATIONS ARE to meet in Canada as Russia considers a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Peace in Ukraine is likely to top the agenda for today’s meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stressing the need to ensure Kyiv is “in the strongest possible position”.

“If we do not achieve lasting peace in Ukraine, the instability and insecurity that has hit the living standards of working people in Britain will only get worse and Putin’s appetite for conflict and chaos will only grow,” Lammy said.

The G7, or Group of Seven, consists of the US, France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.

The meeting, which will also be attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, comes as the Kremlin considers a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire put forward after talks between the US and Ukraine.

American officials were expected to put the proposals directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin overnight yesterday, with Rubio saying “the ball is truly in their court”.

Yesterday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still awaiting “detailed information” on the proposal.

The G7 meeting is the latest in a round of diplomacy as the world scrambles to respond to Donald Trump’s push for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday saw military powers from Europe meet in Paris to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force that could be deployed to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

UK defence secretary John Healey said this work was “accelerating” after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Poland on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to host a summit of the “coalition of the willing” on Saturday.

But while the likes of the UK are set to push for continued support for Ukraine when he meets the G7 foreign ministers on Thursday, the meeting could also see tensions as the US seeks to avoid criticism of Moscow.

The Trump administration has already opposed UN resolutions condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine, and earlier in the week Rubio said the US would not “sign on to any communique that’s not consistent with our position to bring both sides to the table”.

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Trump’s repeated claims that the US should absorb Canada as its 51st state could also prove to be a sticking point, although Rubio told reporters yesterday during a stopover in Shannon Airport it was “not what we’re going to discuss at the G7”.

‘Broad consensus’ among European military powers

Following yesterday’s Paris meeting of key European defence ministers, France said a “very broad consensus” is emerging among European nations on boosting Ukraine’s long-term security through the Ukrainian armed forces.

The European nations at the meeting also included Britain, Germany, Italy and Poland.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu told reporters that the consensus was that “the first of the security guarantees for Ukraine is obviously the Ukrainian army itself”, further ruling out any postwar “demilitarisation” of Ukraine, as sought by Russia.

“On the contrary, the real guarantee of long-term security will be the capabilities that we will be able to give to the Ukrainian army,” Lecornu, a top ally of President Emmanuel Macron, added.

The defence ministers acknowledged the challenges posed by the new administration of Donald Trump in the US — which is seeking direct talks with Russia to end the war sparked by the Russian 2022 invasion of Ukraine — while insisting Europe was ready to stand on its own feet.

Lecornu said that “at this stage, about fifteen countries have shown an interest in continuing this process,” referring to proposed options for a “security architecture” with a view to a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine.

He warned against seeing Ukraine’s post-war security solely in terms of European troops who could be deployed there, repeatedly insisting that this was not an issue to be decided on now.

Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz also welcomed a “real unity of the continent”, referring to the threat from Russia.

In his view, it was a matter of “keeping Russia at a distance from all our states as much as possible, and to do that, we must help Ukraine”.

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton and AFP

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