Zelensky still to make decision on attending NATO summit, seeks meeting with Trump
Hoping to avoid a repeat snub after failing to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the G7 in Kananaskis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he hasn't decided whether he'll attend next week's NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Mr. Zelensky has been formally invited to the NATO summit that begins Tuesday in The Hague but hasn't yet confirmed he'll attend. Speaking Friday, Mr. Zelensky said there were several factors that would decide whether he makes the trip – including whether he could secure a 'very important' meeting with Mr. Trump.
'I am not sure that I will go, but still the probability is high. In fact, I will decide the day before,' Mr. Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv, including The Globe and Mail. The remarks were approved for publication by the President's Office on Saturday.
If he gets a chance to speak face-to-face with the U.S. President, Mr. Zelensky plans to ask Mr. Trump to authorize the sale of 10 U.S-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine – systems he indicated that Ukraine was willing to pay for with the help of its other allies. Mr. Zelensky said he also wanted to discuss new sanctions against Russia, as well as how to breathe 'a new breath of air into the diplomatic track,' referring to Mr. Trump's stalled efforts to push Russia and Ukraine toward a peace deal.
'We need more certainty and more pressure from the world on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin – this is necessary for the sake of diplomacy. I would like to talk about these formats with him,' Mr. Zelensky said late Friday, speaking inside the fortified Presidential Administration complex in Kyiv.
'For us, it is a priority to maintain America's support,' he added, saying that having to fight the Russian invasion without U.S. support would be 'the most difficult situation' for Ukraine. 'Putin really wants us to be without America.'
Opinion: The good old-fashioned reason that the G7 still matters
Ukraine received US$64.6-billion in military assistance from the U.S. under former president Joe Biden following the start of the Russian invasion in February, 2022, but no new weapons shipments since Mr. Trump took office in January.
Mr. Zelensky called on Ukraine's other partners to allocate 0.25 per cent of their GDP to helping Kyiv ramp-up domestic weapons production and said the country plans to sign agreements this summer to start exporting weapon production technologies. He said his office was in talks with Canada, Britain, Germany, Norway, Denmark and Lithuania to begin joint weapons production.
Mr. Trump caught the Kananaskis gathering off-guard when he left the two-day meeting after less than 24 hours, saying he needed to return to Washington to deal with the escalating Israel-Iran war. His departure came before an expected meeting with Mr. Zelensky, who said it was evident that 'for President Trump, the Israel-Iran issue is certainly a higher priority' than the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
One of the things Mr. Trump did do in Kananaskis was lobby for Russia to be restored as a member of what used to be called the G8. Russia was expelled from the club in 2014 after it illegally seized and annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky also left Canada early, cancelling a planned press conference, to return to Kyiv after Russia launched one of the heaviest drone-and-missile bombardments of the Ukrainian capital in more than 1,200 days of war. At least 28 people were killed in the nine-hour attack.
Mr. Zelensky repeatedly praised the job Prime Minister Mark Carney did in preserving unity among the G7 leaders, despite the fact the joint statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting made no mention of Ukraine or the Russian invasion.
The communiqué issued at the end of the 2024 summit in Italy mentioned Ukraine 53 times, with leaders vowing 'our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes' and saying 'Russia must end its illegal war of aggression and pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.'
Those words were absent from the 2025 declaration, as U.S. officials reportedly pushed for more neutral language towards the conflict that Canada and the other member countries – France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan – wouldn't accept.
What the G7 statements released by world leaders say and don't say
The same problem is expected to arise again at this week's summit of the 32 leaders of the NATO military alliance, with U.S. officials again seeking to limit references to Ukraine in the final statement. A year ago, the alliance declared 'Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shattered peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area and gravely undermined global security' and pledged to 'bolster our long-term support to Ukraine so it can prevail in its fight for freedom.'
Mr. Zelensky was careful not to criticize the G7 communiqué, saying only 'this is the solution they were able to find.' A separate statement issued by Mr. Carney, as the G7 chair, said the leaders 'expressed support for President Trump's efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.'
Mr. Zelensky said Russia was 'dragging out' ceasefire negotiations in Istanbul, agreeing to occasional exchanges of prisoners of war, and the return of some of the dead bodies of combatants, hoping to show enough progress to convince Mr. Trump to ease sanctions.
Mr. Zelensky said the Russian side had actually sent 20 bodies of their own soldiers to Ukraine in the last exchange, which Mr. Zelensky said revealed the Kremlin's disdain for the entire process. 'They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude towards war, towards their soldiers.'
On Friday, Mr. Putin sounded far less interested in peace than in continuing his war of conquest.
'I consider Russians and Ukrainians to be one people. In that sense, all of Ukraine is ours,' he said in a speech to the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. 'There is a saying: wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours.'
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