Feb. 21 (UPI) — The United States is reportedly pushing back against any language in a Group of Seven statement portraying Russia as the aggressor in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Financial Times first reported the stance, citing Western officials who said U.S. officials opposed the use of the phrase “Russian aggression” in G7 statements about the war, CNN and The New York Times also reported U.S. opposition, citing two Western officials and four senior officials from countries involved in the talks respectively.
“We are adamant there must be a distinction made between Russia and Ukraine. They are not the same,” an official briefed on the matter told the Financial Times. “The Americans are blocking that language, but we are still working on it and hopeful of an agreement.”
An official told The New York Times that Canada, which currently holds the G7 presidency took the lead on drafting the statement and circulated a draft that retained pro-Ukraine messaging that had been used in previous statements since the onset of the war in 2022.
Terms like “Russian aggression” or “illegal war of aggression” have been used in G7 statements in the past.
Last year’s statement used the term ” Ukraine’s fight for freedom. The G7 has in its annual statement condemned the Russian invasion since it began.
The official told The New York Times that U.S. officials looked over the draft and removed potentially pro-Ukrainian references, resulting in a neutral draft that did not refer to Russia as an aggressor Ukraine as a victim.
The current draft refers to the conflict as “a devastating war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” but has had the terms “aggressor” removed as well as references to breaching sovereignty, senior German and European officials told The New York Times.
One official told CNN that while the talks toward releasing a statment were still happening there was “a lot of concern at equivocating who is responsible for the war.”
The intergovernmental agency expects to issue the statement next Monday, the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday defended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from remarks made earlier in the week by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump publicly labeled Zelensky an unpopular dictator without a democratic mandate, while also accusing Ukraine of starting the war with Russia.
It remains to be seen whether the G7 will invite Zelensky to appear in person when it issues the statement on Monday as it did last year.
