Zelenskyy arrived at Kananaskis with cautious optimism and a list of requests: a bilateral meeting with Trump, a joint G7 statement, new sanctions against Russia. He left with the first two items unfulfilled.
What happened: a three-day timeline
Trump left the summit early — on June 17, citing the situation in the Middle East — without holding the planned bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian president. Canada, which chaired the summit, was forced to remove a joint statement on Ukraine from the agenda after Washington refused to sign a text with strong language regarding pressure on Moscow. This was reported by a Canadian official spokesperson on the margins of the meeting.
Zelenskyy, in turn, also departed earlier. In a post on Telegram, he wrote that he had informed G7 leaders that "diplomacy is currently in a state of crisis" — and called on allies to continue pressing Trump to use his real influence to end the war.
Declaration versus commitments: what was signed and what wasn't
The joint G7 statement on Ukraine, which was supposed to cement Western unity, never materialized. Instead, individual members announced their own packages:
- Canada — 2 billion Canadian dollars (≈$1.47 billion) in military aid and new sanctions against Russian energy revenues and shadow fleet tankers.
- Britain — sanctions against 30 targets in Russia's financial, military, and energy sectors, including 20 oil tankers of the shadow fleet. Prime Minister Starmer also publicly supported lowering the price cap on Russian oil.
- Joint G7 document on Ukraine — absent.
The difference is substantial: bilateral packages lack a mechanism for collective implementation and do not lock in U.S. commitments.
Trump: between Putin and allies
On the eve of the summit, Trump held phone calls with both presidents — Zelenskyy and Putin — and told journalists: "Maybe we can do something" about Ukraine on the margins of G7. That didn't happen.
"The Russians appear to be retreating. Now is the time to press Putin to end this."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican close to Trump, NBC News — before the U.S. president's departure from the summit
However, Trump publicly expressed support for Putin during the summit itself, which complicated the achievement of consensus. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained at the summit after the president's departure — formally negotiations continued, but without American leverage.
"Maximum pressure" without American signature
A draft of the joint G7 statement, which Bloomberg reviewed, contained the language: "We agreed that the time has come to maximize pressure on Russian oil exports." This text never became an official document — the U.S. did not sign it in the agreed form.
Analyst Alexander Lianoschka, in a comment for Kyiv Independent, formulated the dilemma precisely: allies can increase aid, but "without strong American leadership, G7 leaders may not have the confidence to do enough."
Prime Minister Carney insisted during the G7 leaders' dinner on "maximum pressure against Russia" — but the next morning Trump was no longer at the table.
What's next
The G7 summit in Kananaskis revealed a structural problem: six of the seven members are ready to increase sanctions pressure on Russia, but without the U.S., this coalition lacks both the full economic reach and political weight necessary to change the Kremlin's behavior. Zelenskyy directly called this a diplomatic crisis — not merely the failure of one summit.
If Trump does not use the levers, which according to his own Republican allies are now at their strongest, the next window for negotiating pressure will only open when the front-line situation changes again — one way or another.
