The United States and its G7 allies warned Russia on Friday that failure to agree to a Ukraine ceasefire will lead to more sanctions and possible use of frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv’s defense.
The G7 foreign ministers issued the warning through a joint statement after their meeting in Canada, as President Donald Trump, who is pushing for a truce, tries to get President Vladimir Putin to sign on.
Ukraine had already agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia hesitated. Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, told the G7 that Washington was still trying to figure out if Putin was delaying negotiations on purpose. “The question is, are we actually moving towards a ceasefire, or is this a delay tactic?” Rubio said. While the G7 is threatening economic retaliation, Trump has held back from immediate US sanctions, hoping diplomacy can work first.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images – The Guardian
The €300 billion in Russian central bank assets, mainly cash and government bonds, have been frozen since 2022, and there is increasing momentum to use it against Moscow.
Rubio indicated that any ceasefire deal would require both sides to make concessions. “I’ve never heard Trump say that Russia has a right to take all of Ukraine and do whatever they want there,” Rubio said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s national security team is set to meet after Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy, returns from Moscow with updates on where Putin stands.
For months, Washington focused on pressuring Kyiv to agree to an end to the war, but now that Putin has stalled, the attention has turned to Russia. Trump, in a Truth Social post, described his recent talks with Putin as “good and productive,” but there is still no official agreement from Moscow.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly made it clear that the next move is on Russia. “The ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine,” she said. She added that the G7 was unified in its approach.
The joint statement from the G7 meeting was not easy to finalize, as one official said that the Ukraine section was a subject of tense discussions overnight and the US argued that strong language could disrupt talks with Russia, so the wording was softened to avoid pissing Putin off. Britain and France, though, wanted a harsher tone, pushing for stronger economic pressure on Moscow, which makes sense as those guys have made it pretty clear how much they do not like Putin.
Putin hesitates as Russian forces gain ground in Kursk
While ceasefire negotiations stall, Russia’s military has advanced in Kursk, where Ukraine had previously reclaimed over 1,000 square kilometers. Despite claiming to support a ceasefire, Putin insists that “issues” need to be resolved first, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it an excuse to stall negotiations some more.
Trump, in another Truth Social post, claimed that the Russian military had surrounded thousands of Ukrainian troops and that he personally urged Putin to “spare their lives.” Ukraine’s General Staff denied the claim, saying that fighting in Kursk was ongoing and that no Ukrainian soldiers were surrounded.
The Russian leader cut his teeth as a KGB spy in the 1980s in Dresden, an experience that left him with an enduring fascination for all things German. | POOL photo by Artyom Geodakyan/EPA-EFE – Politico
In response, Putin publicly urged Ukrainian troops to surrender on Friday, saying it would align with Trump’s request. The US had temporarily cut off military aid and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, pushing them to accept the ceasefire deal.
But now that Putin is stalling, the Trump administration has resumed military assistance.
“The devil is in the details, and they will start offering you details to drag you into a dialogue, delay certain processes, and postpone the end of the war,” Zelenskyy said. He is expecting a “strong reaction” from Trump in response to Putin’s lack of commitment.
The biggest challenge in the negotiations remains territorial control. Zelenskyy admitted that this would be the hardest part of any peace agreement. “Ceasefire and territories are the most difficult moments [of a negotiation],” Zelenskyy said on Friday. “The first is difficult because it requires courage and political will, the second because it requires a difficult dialogue.”
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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