NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies met with Ukraine’s foreign minister Wednesday as Kyiv tries to fend off relentless Russian aerial attacks that have brought rolling blackouts across the country ahead of winter.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said at the start of a meeting on Ukraine and defense cooperation, which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts attended, that Kyiv needs to overcome what will be a “very difficult, very tough winter.”
“We need the support of our partners,” Sybiha said. “We have to move forward to pressure Russia, to raise the price for the aggression, for Russia, for Putin, to end this war.”
Canada announced new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, and the United Kingdom a day earlier pledged money toward Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Rubio made no immediate announcements Wednesday about new U.S. initiatives but said on social media that the meeting delved into ways “to strengthen Ukraine’s defense and find an end to this bloody conflict.”
“The United States remains steadfast in working with our partners to encourage Russia to pursue diplomacy and engage directly with Ukraine for a durable and lasting peace,” he posted on X.
The Trump administration’s support for Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have been erratic and marked by repeated policy changes during unsuccessful U.S. efforts to bring Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin together to agree on a peace deal.
U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine have waxed and waned, and Trump has at several points said Ukraine must be prepared to cede territory that Russia has occupied since the start of the conflict, only later to suggest that Ukraine is capable of retaking those areas and back yet again to doubting Kyiv could win.
The Ukraine talks were part of the G7 meeting that Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand is hosting in southern Ontario, coming as tensions rise between the U.S. and traditional allies like Canada over defense spending, trade and uncertainty over Trump’s ceasefire plan in Gaza and his Russia-Ukraine peace efforts.
“We are doing whatever is necessary to support Ukraine,” Anand said.
Zelenskyy has said he wants to order 25 Patriot air defense systems from the United States. Russian missile and drone strikes on the power grid have coincided with Ukraine’s frantic efforts to hold back a Russian battlefield push aimed at capturing the eastern stronghold of Pokrovsk.
Canada on Wednesday announced additional sanctions on Russia that target 13 people and 11 entities, including several involved in the development and deployment of Moscow’s drone program.
“Those who enable Russia’s war will face consequences,” Anand said.
Britain says it will send 13 million pounds ($17 million) to help patch up Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches and Russian attacks intensify. The money will go toward repairs to power, heating and water supplies and humanitarian support for Ukrainians.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who made the announcement before the meeting, said Russian President Vladimir Putin “is trying to plunge Ukraine into darkness and the cold as winter approaches” but the British support will help keep the lights and heating on.
Canada recently made a similar announcement.
The two-day meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, near the U.S. border, comes after Trump ended trade talks with Canada because the Ontario provincial government ran an anti-tariff advertisement in the U.S. that upset him. That followed a spring of acrimony, since abated, over the Republican president’s insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Anand will have a meeting with Rubio, but she noted that a different minister leads the U.S. trade file. Trump has placed greater priority on addressing his grievances with other nations’ trade policies than on collaboration with G7 allies.
Rubio had brief talks with the U.K.’s Cooper, Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, and America’s top diplomat was expected to see several participants others on the sidelines of the larger meeting. The State Department had no immediate comment on the substance of those discussions.
The G7 comprises Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Anand also invited the foreign ministers of Australia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine to the meeting, which began Tuesday.
By ROB GILLIES and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
